Karen L. Corman

Corman didn't plan to become a labor and employment lawyer. She went to law school to become a criminal lawyer, but that didn't last long.

"I just couldn't figure out whether I could be effective in the long term. ... There are a lot of things in the criminal system that I don't think work," Corman explained. "Along the way I took a labor and employment class." Employment law had "the human interaction element ... and the relevance to people's daily lives that had drawn me to criminal law," Corman continued. "It also had a strong policy or social impact component."

The pivot turned out to be a good one. Since the spring of 1989, Corman's been at Skadden, where she's represented employers in individual and class wage and hour cases, as well as discrimination, harassment and retaliation matters. She also advises clients on labor and employment issues that arise out of corporate transactions. Over the past year, Corman's worked on many transactional matters, including one involving PayPal Holdings Inc. She and her team advised the company in a $4 billion acquisition of Honey Science Corp. on potential employment issues, as well as developing post-closing contractual arrangements. She was also part of the Skadden team advising Coty Inc., a beauty company, in its $600 million buy of a 51% stake in Kylie Jenner's beauty business. Food delivery app DoorDash Inc. in its $410 million acquisition of Caviar Inc. from Square Inc., a mobile payment company, is another deal she worked on.

"These are interesting deals because they exist in the on-demand economies space and the social media space," Corman said. "These types of transactions, these industries didn't exist when I started to practice law."

"I think it's an extraordinary time to be an employment lawyer," she added, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic and a need to address racial and social injustices. The latter, she said, is something she aims to address through pro bono work in the future.

"My goal is -- especially at this point in my career -- to find a place to make a positive impact."

-- Jessica Mach