Hon. Karen F. Green (Ret.) | Signature Resolution
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Hon. Karen F. Green (Ret.)

Mediator | Arbitrator

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“Years as a litigator and a trial judge taught me that two people can hold honestly different accounts of the same events, and that listening carefully is the discipline that closes the distance between them. I do not decide the outcome for the parties. I help them reach the one they can live with.”

Case Administrator

Sherry Kiander

(617) 948-6168 skiander@signatureresolution.com

Practice Areas

  • Breach of Contract
  • Business Litigation
  • Commercial Litigation
  • False Claims Act
  • Healthcare
  • Product Liability
  • Real Estate
  • Torts

Education

  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • B.A., Harvard University / Radcliffe College
  • Certificate, Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative

Home Office

Boston

Biography

Hon. Karen F. Green (Ret.) has represented the United States and private parties in high-stakes litigation, chaired the litigation department of one of Boston’s most prominent law firms, and decided complex commercial disputes as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court. That progression, from advocate to trial judge to neutral, lets her take the measure of a complex case with real authority, from what drives it, to where it will likely land before a jury or a judge, and what the parties may forfeit by carrying it to the end. She brings that knowledge and experience to the mediation table alongside a life-long curiosity about how people in conflict behave, a genuine interest in what each side actually needs to move forward, and a conviction that the soundest resolution is often the one the parties reach themselves.

At the table, that engagement becomes discipline. She listens more than she speaks, and because she has absorbed the case in advance, she can draw each side past its stated position to its underlying interests, trusting silence to surface what insistence cannot. Rather than pronounce what a dispute is worth, she guides the parties to test the strength of their own case, confident that a conclusion they reach themselves may better serve their interests and last longer than one that is imposed. Her candor is deliberate and unwavering; she has found that parties sense evasion at once and give their trust only to a neutral who speaks plainly. When a negotiation hardens, she brings both the nerve to confront a deadlock directly and the creativity to open a way forward that neither side had seen.

Judge Green built her foundation in the courtroom as a federal litigator, where hearing after hearing sharpened her understanding of how a judge or jury receives an argument and how readily a seemingly strong case can come undone at trial. She later was appointed First Assistant US Attorney, overseeing civil and criminal litigation by approximately ninety assistant US attorneys, serving as Acting U.S. Attorney when required, and leading its health care fraud enforcement. Between those chapters she served as Chief of Staff to Governor William F. Weld, reconciling competing priorities and finding the common ground among diverse stakeholders. In private practice she chaired the litigation department at Hale and Dorr and co-chaired it at WilmerHale, while defending companies and their executives in complex business litigation, government investigations, and False Claims Act matters in which the stakes ran to the reputational and the existential. Appointed to the Massachusetts Superior Court in 2016, she presided over both criminal and civil cases, including cases in the Business Litigation Session, the forum reserved for the state’s most demanding commercial cases. There she came to see with precision what separates a dispute that should settle from one that truly must be tried.

As a law student, Judge Green founded the Harvard Small Claims Mediation Project and published her earliest writing on the promise of mediation in the courts, persuaded even then that many disputes are better resolved by mediation than by litigation. That belief has shaped every role she has held since. After leaving the bench she established her own firm, Green Law LLC, where she has resolved business cases through mediation and arbitrated as a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Roster of Commercial Arbitrators and National Judicial Payor-Provider Panel. In the spring, she will share some of her learnings with a new generation of lawyers as a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School.

At Signature Resolution, Judge Green brings the whole of her experience to the parties before her. She grasps a complex commercial dispute quickly and completely, speaks plainly about what each side may lose by pressing on, and meets an entrenched negotiation with patience, persistence, and creativity. Judge Green has brought, defended, settled and decided the kinds of disputes she now helps to resolve, and few things move parties toward settlement like a neutral who has experienced litigation from every side of the courtroom.

Experience

  • Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School (2026-Present)
  • Neutral, Green Law LLC (2023-Present)
  • Associate Justice, Massachusetts Superior Court (2016-2022)
  • Partner; Executive Committee Member; Co-Chair, Litigation Department, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (WilmerHale) (2004-2016)
  • Senior Partner; Executive Committee Member; Chair, Litigation Department, Hale and Dorr LLP (1996–2004)
  • First Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts (1993-1996)
  • Chief of Staff, Office of Governor William F. Weld (1993)
  • Senior Partner; Junior Partner; Litigation Associate, Hale and Dorr LLP (1987-1993)
  • Assistant U.S. Attorney, Deputy Chief, Civil Division; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, United States Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts (1984-1987)
  • Litigation Associate, Hale and Dorr LLP (1982-1984)
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., United States District Court (1981-1982)

Professional Achievements and Memberships

  • Member, Litigation Section, American Bar Association (1994–Present); Member, Judicial Section (2018–Present); Executive Board Member (2019–2022, 2025–Present) and Advisory Board Member (2022–2025), Center for Human Rights
  • Boston Bar Association: Member, Litigation Section (1985–Present); Chair, Federal Practice and Procedure Committee (1995–1996); Member, Annual Meeting Luncheon Committee (2015);Chair, Law Day Dinner Committee (1997); Chair, Annual Dinner Dance (1993); Member, Council (1988–1991); Chair, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee (1985–1988); Member, IOLTA Committee (1989–1992)

 

Other Community & Professional Activities

  • Co-Chair, Rule of Law Leadership Council, World Justice Project (2022–Present)
  • Chair, Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Preserving the Rule of Law, Retired Judges Committee, National Association of Women Judges (2025–Present); Member (2007–2013, 2016–Present)
  • Member, International Association of Women Judges (2016–Present)
  • Instructor, Trial Advocacy Workshop, Harvard Law School (2026 and prior years)
  • Rower and Racing Team Member, Dharma Voyage, Inc., Westport, MA (2023–Present)
  • Executive Committee, Justice Bridge, Inc. (2016–2025); Advisory Board (2013–2025)
  • Co-Chair, Programming Committee, Harvard-Radcliffe 45th Reunion Committee (2023)
  • Executive Director’s Advisory Council, Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music (2017–2022)
  • Non-Resident Tutor, Quincy House, Harvard College (2015–2016, 1978–1981)
  • Host, Harvard International Office’s International Host Program (2015–2016)
  • Society of Fellows Upgrade Committee, Boston Bar Foundation (2013–2016)
  • Appointee, Advisory Committee on Rules and Internal Operating Procedures, First Circuit Court of Appeals (2009–2011)
  • Appointee, Stern Commission (to investigate allegations of inmate abuse and mismanagement at the Suffolk Sheriff’s Department, appointed by Governor Jane M. Swift) (2001–2002)
  • Vice-Chair, Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1997–1999)
  • The Boston Club: Chair, Corporate Board Resource Committee (1996–1998); Corporate Advisory Board (1994–1996); Member (1991–2016)
  • Appointee, Gender Bias Task Force, First Circuit Court of Appeals (1996–1999)
  • Chair, Harvard Law School Class of 1981 Fifteenth Reunion (1996)
  • Appointee, Committee to Revise the Local Rules, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (1994–1996)
  • Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (1994–1996)
  • Executive Committee, Judicial Nominating Council, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1991–1993)
  • Cabinet Coordinator, Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Governor-Elect William F. Weld’s Transition Team (1990–1991); Personnel Committee (1990–1991)
  • Co-Chair, Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1978 Fifteenth Reunion Committee (1992–1993); Forty-Fifth Reunion Committee member
  • Radcliffe College Alumnae Association: Chair, Radcliffe-Harvard Relations Committee (1993–1995); Board of Management (1991–1994); Chair, Nominating Committee (1991–1992)
  • Radcliffe College Public Policy Initiative Partners Committee (1992–1994)
  • Attorney General Scott Harshbarger’s Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution (1991–1993)
  • Harvard Mediation Project Advisory Board (1984–1992)
  • District Court Community Mediation Advisory Board (1988–1991)
  • Radcliffe College Mentor Program (1989-1990)
  • Dispute Resolution Alternatives Sub-Committee, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Special Advisory Committee on Time Standards (1987–1988)
  • Radcliffe Alumnae Council Planning Committee (1986–1987)

 

Awards & Honors

  • Trailblazer, Women’s White Collar Defense Association Annual Awards Gala (2021)
  • Perelman Award for Community Service, Litigation Counsel of America (2018)
  • President, Litigation Counsel of America (2016); Fellow (2007–Present)
  • Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, White-Collar Criminal Defense (2008–2017)
  • “Top Women in Law,” Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (2011); “Circle of Excellence” Honoree (2015)
  • “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon (2014–2016)
  • Who’s Who Legal: Investigations and Who’s Who Legal: Business Crime Defense (2015)
  • International Who’s Who of Investigations Lawyers (2014); International Who’s Who of Business Crime Lawyers (2008–2014)
  • Ranked, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, White-Collar Criminal Litigation & Government Investigations (2005–2013, 2015–2017), and Healthcare (2014–2015)
  • “Life Sciences Star,” LMG Life Sciences (2012–2014)
  • “Leading Lawyer,” Government Enforcement & Investigations, PLC Cross-border Life Sciences Handbook (2009/2010)
  • Recognized for work on behalf of pharmaceutical, medical device, and other healthcare companies, Lawdragon (2006)
  • Profiled, Super Lawyers Magazine / New England (2014)
  • Named “New England Super Lawyer” (formerly “Massachusetts Super Lawyer”), White-Collar Criminal Defense, Boston Magazine (2004–2016); ranked “Top 50 Women Massachusetts Super Lawyers” (2004, 2006, 2012–2015) and “Top 100 Massachusetts Super Lawyers” (2004–2005)
  • Women in Law Awards, Lawyer Monthly Magazine (2014)
  • Honoree, Granada House Annual Dinner (2002), for pro bono legal work on behalf of a group home for disabled persons
  • Women’s Business Hall of Fame Award (2001)
  • Leading Women Award, Patriots’ Trail Girl Scouts Council, Inc. (2000)
  • Arlington Catholic High School Hall of Fame (1998)
  • Park Street Forum Award for Outstanding Service to the City of Boston (1997)
  • Profiled as one of Boston’s Top Women Lawyers, The Boston Globe (1996)

 

Directorships & Trusteeships

  • Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and Director, Providentias Corporation (2015–2016)
  • Director, CareGroup, Inc. (2009–2016); Vice-Chair, Board of Directors; Chair, Finance Committee; Member, Executive and Audit Committees
  • Trustee, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (2011–2016); Member, Executive Committee (2013–2016); Chair, Search Committee for New President (2014)
  • Director, Harvard Club of Boston (2010–2015)
  • Trustee, Corporation of the Foundation of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (2001–2016); Chair, Trustee Nominating Committee (2010–2015)
  • Director, Fiduciary Trust Company (1997–2007); Chair, Compensation Committee; Member, Succession, Audit, and Governance Committees
  • Trustee, The Fenn School (1997–2000)
  • Director, Harvard Alumni Association (1998–2001, 1992–1994)
  • Director, Park Street Corporation (1998–2000)
  • Director, The Boston Club (1996–1998)
  • Director, The Children’s Trust Fund (1991–1993)
  • Trustee, Boston Bar Foundation (1988–1991)

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