Stoel Rives’ Legacy of Trailblazing Women Attorneys

Karen O'Connor
Partner, Labor & Employment

Abstract

Karen O’Connor, Partner in the Labor & Employment Group at Stoel Rives, reflects on the firm’s longstanding tradition of women in influential leadership roles. She recalls how, as a young attorney, she looked up to accomplished figures such as Margaret Kirkpatrick, Ruth Beyer, Amy Joseph Pedersen, and Chris Kitchel—leaders whose impact extended across the legal community. Their success and visibility served as a powerful source of inspiration and a model for what was possible in the profession. Now, as part of the same firm, O’Connor takes pride in contributing to a legacy defined by strong women pioneers who have shaped Stoel Rives’ reputation and culture.

Transcript

My name is Karen O'Connor. I am a partner in the Labor and Employment Group, formerly of the Portland office, recently moved to the Boise office. I counsel clients in complex employment situations and then help them navigate those situations when they become litigation.

One of the things that I always looked at and admired at Stoel was that it has a long, strong history of powerful women leaders, and that was really inspiring to me. So, whether it was Margaret Kirkpatrick, Ruth Beyer, who was a firm managing partner as well, Amy Joseph Pedersen, Chris Kitchel, there are just so many, and there are too many to name, frankly. But as a young woman attorney, which I was a long time ago, it was really inspiring to me to see those women as leaders and pioneers in the field and to now be a part of the firm that they were a part of too.