Karl L. Chen

Unique and Unconventional

I began my law career at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., after seven years as a financial services professional. It was an incredible experience as I had responsibility for reviewing and commenting on various initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and periodic corporate filings. Over the next seventeen years my experience included working for three major U.S. corporations as their corporate counsel. Those experiences included serving as lead counsel on securities offerings, corporate compliance, advertising, corporate sponsorship negotiations, contracts, labor and employment matters and counseling through a massive $3.5 billion merger.

I dreamed about going to law school and coming out and making a difference in people’s lives, but in reality, I ended up working in “corporate America”, where my legal experience was totally transactional and didn’t truly serve individuals and small business owners in the way I do today.

When I opened my practice in April 2011, I followed the mantra of many other law firms and performed work primarily on a billable hourly rate that was as high as $400. And, as you can imagine my clients wanted me to do everything as quickly as possible with as little communication as possible. They didn’t want to talk about certain concerns or issues, they were afraid to call because they didn’t know how much that call would cost them and whether it was worth it.

I opened this firm with the idea of bringing back the Personal Family Lawyer relationship - where initial planning is just the beginning of the relationship and we’re focused on putting in place a plan we know we will work for you and the people you love. Over the last ten years, the firm has grown into the type of service provider where we do things differently based on my experience.

University of Baltimore School of Law

J.D. (1994)

1994

Editor in Chief, University of Baltimore School of Law – Law Forum

Ohio University

B.B.A. (1985) | Finance

Managing Attorney

CHEN Law, LLC

2011 - Current

Senior Counsel

Towers Watson & Co. (f/k/a Watson Wyatt Worldwide)

2006 - 2011

Corporate Attorney responsible for securities reporting and compliance for publicly-traded company and lead counsel for investment adviser division. Served as part of the M&A team in the $3.5 billion merger of Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Associate General Counsel Securities Compliance

Fannie Mae

2003 - 2006

Developed, Implemented and Monitored Compliance Plans for several business units within Fannie Mae.

Special Counsel

Nextel Communications, Inc.

1997 - 2003

Corporate Attorney handling securities reporting and compliance, transactional, marketing and advertising matters.

Attorney-Adviser

U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission

1994 - 1997

Attorney in the Division of Corporation Finance with responsibility of review of IPOs, M&A, shareholder proposals, proxy statement reviews and providing comments to registrants and their respective counsels to ensure disclosure conformed with securities rules and regulations.

DC Bar Association

Member

Current

National Bar Association

Member

Current

American Bar Association

Member

Current

Maryland Association for Justice

Member

Current

Association of Black Estate Planning Professionals

Member

Current

The American Association For Justice (AAJ)

Member

Current

Anne Arundel County Estate Planning Council

Member

2022 - Current

Prince George’s County Bar Association

Member

2012 - Current

Maryland State Bar Association

Member

1996 - Current

Sigma Delta Tau Legal Fraternity

Member

1992 - Current

District of Columbia

District of Columbia Bar

Since 2005

Maryland

Since 1996

• Free Consultation
  We offer a FREE 15 MINUTE CONSULTATION regarding all matters we handle. For planning sessions fee is $750/estate and probate and $950/business for up to 2 hours. Fee is applied toward any legal work that firm is hired to perform.
• Credit Cards Accepted

Estate Planning

Guardianship & Conservatorship Estate Administration, Health Care Directives, Trusts, Wills

Business Law

Business Contracts, Business Dissolution, Business Finance, Business Formation, Franchising, Mergers & Acquisitions, Partnership & Shareholder Disputes

Probate

Probate Administration