About Karen M.
Karen M. Hawkes began her legal path after completing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 1996 and earning her J.D. from California Western School of Law in 2003. She took the standard path from law school to bar admission, joining the State Bar of California in 2005 and adding federal admissions in the Central and Southern Districts of California.
Early in her career Hawkes became involved in a range of professional organizations. She has been a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, the Lawyer’s Club of San Diego and the Association of American Trial Lawyers since 2005. In 2016 she joined Provisors, a professional networking organization. Those memberships have kept her connected to peers across both local and statewide legal communities.
Her career includes running a practice under the name Hawkes Law, APLC. Over time she cultivated courtroom familiarity and the procedural knowledge required for handling matters in state and federal venues. Admission to the Central and Southern Districts of California permitted her to take cases beyond state court, and she has maintained active status in the California bar throughout her career.
Colleagues describe Hawkes as methodical in litigation preparation. She pays attention to procedural detail and to the demands of courtroom advocacy. Her work has involved the day-to-day demands of case management, filing in federal courts and coordinating with co-counsel when matters extend across jurisdictions.
Outside the courtroom she has stayed active in bar and civic organizations that emphasize legal education and professional networking. That engagement has included participation in local bar events and programs run by San Diego legal groups. Her Provisors membership reflects ongoing ties to a referral and business development network that includes attorneys and other professionals.
Throughout her career Hawkes has balanced courtroom duties with the administrative responsibilities of managing a small firm. She established Hawkes Law, APLC to provide a structure for client work and to allow coordination of litigation tasks across state and federal dockets.
She remains an active member of the State Bar of California and the San Diego legal community. Her current practice focuses on matters that arise in California state courts and in the Central and Southern Districts of California.
