Karen I. Ward is Senior Counsel for Equip for Equality, Inc., the Illinois Protection and Advocacy System for persons with disabilities. She has been with Equip for Equality since September of 1997, and has been a major force in the agency’s expanded litigation efforts, including serving as lead counsel in several individual Olmstead cases, and as co-counsel in a major Olmstead class action. She has prepared and filed Amicus Curiae Briefs in the federal district and appellate courts, the Illinois Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court, on significant issues affecting persons with disabilities. She has given numerous presentations regarding disability issues and federal court litigation, and has participated in a variety of local, state and national initiatives important to individuals with disabilities. Ward also serves as corporate legal counsel for Equip for Equality.
Prior to joining EFE, Ward had extensive experience in federal litigation and legal management, with service in private practice, public service, and both corporate and non-profit enterprises. She served as Associate Solicitor of Labor for Special Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation in Washington, D.C.; as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil and Appellate Divisions in Washington, D.C.; and as an adjunct professor of law teaching Federal Courts at Georgetown University. Ward also served as law clerk to the Honorable Albert J. Engel of the Sixth Circuit. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School where she served as an editor of the Law Review, and she received her A.B. from Vassar College.
