Karen P. Layng

Shareholder

T: 312-609-7891 F: 312-609-5005

Chicago

Chair, Litigation Practice Area

Chair, Construction Law Group

Karen P. Layng, Litigation Practice Area leader of Vedder Price P.C., is also the chair of the Construction Law Group, chair of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Board of Directors. Ms. Layng’s extensive litigation experience includes successfully representing national companies in complex litigation matters before federal and state courts, the I.C.C., the AAA, and other alternative dispute resolution forums. Ms. Layng is a member of the AAA Panel of Arbitrators.

Ms. Layng’s extensive litigation experience includes successfully representing major companies such as GMAC Commercial Finance, Royal Numico, Ingersoll-Rand Corporation, Oil-Dri Corporation of America, Keebler Company, the Chicago Transit Authority and Household Manufacturing (parent of Eljer Manufacturing) in complex litigation matters. Ms. Layng has also arbitrated or mediated over 50 cases for significant clients such as Bobcat, Inc., Blaw-Knox Company, Nycomed Amersham, Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, Kenny Construction Company and Thermo-King.

Ms. Layng is a past President of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association (the first woman president of the Association in its 51-year history) and served as Secretary of the organization for four years. She is the President-elect of the Riverside Elementary Education Foundation, past President of the Board of Directors of the University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Alumni Association and received the Distinguished Service Award from the University for her exceptional service to the Alumni Association and was also a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Illinois Alumni Association.

Ms. Layng has taught civil litigation, ethics and intellectual property courses at Roosevelt University for its legal assistants’ programs and persuasive speaking and writing at the University of Illinois, and has frequently spoken and authored on the above topics and is co-author of the IICLE Unfair Competition Franchising chapter. In 2008, Ms. Layng was named to the panel of arbitrators and mediations for commercial and construction disputes by the American Arbitration Association.

Ms. Layng is recognized by her peers with the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating and is an Illinois Leading Lawyer in Commercial Litigation and is a member of the Construction Law Advisory Panel for Leading Lawyers.

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• Commercial Litigation
• Construction Law
• Construction Litigation
• Construction, Developer, Engineering & Procurement Contracts
• Dealer Termination/Franchise Litigation
• Intellectual Property Litigation
• Manufacturers Liability
• Subprime Lending and Mortgage Task Force
• Trade Secrets/Unfair Competition

• J.D., University of Illinois, 1987
• B.A., University of Illinois, 1984
• University of Dijon, France, 1982

• Illinois, 1987
• U.S. District Court: Northern District of Illinois, 1987 (Trial Bar, 1991)
• U.S. District Court: Central District of Illinois, 2002
• U.S. District Court: District of Columbia, 1989
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, 1991
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, 1992
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, 2005

• Past President and former Secretary of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association (the first woman president of the Association in its 51 year history)
• Member, Board of Directors, Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Girl Scouts Council
• Member, Chicago Bar Association  
• Member and former Board Member, University of Illinois Alumni Association (recipient of the University's Distinguished Service Award)