If you only knew that Karen Lisko is famous for her full-hearted, full-throated belly-laugh you’d miss entirely the serious impact she has had on the trial consulting profession. Her arrival in the ASTC Hall of Fame is no surprise; she has followed directly in the footsteps of her cherished mentors.

Karen arrived on the scene as a student of one of ASTC’s founding members – Dr. Ron Matlon – with whom she studied Speech Communication at The University of Arizona. From there she continued her passion for learning and teaching at The University of Kansas, earning a Master’s in Communication Studies and the first Doctorate of its kind, focused on legal communication, social influence and quantitative research methods. She began her trial consulting work while in Lawrence with Dr. Tom Beisecker, co-creator of the Master’s and Ph.D. programs that have continued to populate the consulting landscape and ASTC membership with talented graduates.

Karen continued her early work under the guide of another ASTC Founder, Joyce Tsongas, at Tsongas Associates in Portland, Oregon. She then moved with her incredible husband Brian and their growing family (three children) to Denver, where she succeeded Dr. Richard (Dick) Crawford, the very first trial consultant to create a position in-house at Holland & Hart law firm. While there, Karen founded Persuasion Strategies and continued her passion for collaboration with several other members (Spiecker, Broda-Bahm, and Boully) who have made similarly big splashes in the talent pool that is ASTC. Currently she is a Senior Litigation Consultant at Perkins Coie law firm, based in Phoenix.

Karen has consistently excelled in every practice area of trial consulting throughout her career, but that has never been enough to satisfy her enormous appetite to teach, lead and train attorneys, business leaders, and trial consultants alike. Her titles include: Professor, Editor, Co-Founder, Instructor, Teacher, Trainer, Author, President, Board Member, Committee Chair, Mentor, Advocate, Ally, Wife, Mother and Friend. She is a prolific writer and speaker who has published hundreds of articles and speeches on topics ranging from, “Productive Conversations in Polarized Times” and “Deftly Diverse: Communicating Across Cultures” to “Effective Virtual Communication” and “Being Your Authentic Self.” She has authored and co-authored three books on the topics of proven jury arguments in civil trials, intellectual property litigation, and remote technology in the courtroom. A fourth book – the follow-up to Patently Persuasive (2013) – will be her next.

Her colleagues and friends describe her as an authentically kind, honest, supportive, creative, productive, encouraging, enthusiastic, smart and funny leader in our field.