Karen Petch

Admitted to the Bar 2017

Experience

Karen is a commercial barrister with specialist experience in insolvency and corporations law.  She is most often briefed in large commercial litigation and arbitrations involving cross-border issues and complex financial transactions.

She has received recognition as a leading commercial junior.  In 2023 she was included in the Doyle’s Guide as a Recommended Insolvency & Restructuring Junior Counsel and by The Legal 500 in its 2023 Australian Bar rankings as a leading junior in commercial disputes (Tier 3) where she was described as “responsive, commercial and intellectual”.  In 2022 she was recognised as one of the world’s leading young insolvency and restructuring specialists by the Global Restructuring Review in its 40-under-40 list.  In 2021 she was named ADR Practitioner of the Year at the Australian ADR Awards.  In 2018 she was awarded the Christopher Gee QC Memorial Prize for achieving the highest result on the NSW Bar Practice Course.

Karen holds a Master of Corporate Law (First Class) from the University of Cambridge, where she was awarded a Jennings Prize for first class performance in the final examinations.  She holds a Bachelor of Law (Hons 1) and a Bachelor of Arts (Communication) from the University of Technology, Sydney.  Prior to coming to the Bar, Karen was a solicitor at Allen & Overy LLP in London and New York. She was a tipstaff to the Hon. Justice McDougall of the Supreme Court of NSW (Equity Division).

Karen is admitted to practise in all Australian jurisdictions and in England and Wales and she is entitled to appear in the Singapore International Commercial Court.