Karen Rabenau is a versatile and dedicated litigator, representing clients in many areas of civil litigation and communications law. Prior to joining SMVT as counsel, she was a partner with Twiggs Strickland & Rabenau in Raleigh and Research Triangle Park, where she practiced for twenty-six years. Ms. Rabenau’s litigation experience encompasses a wide range of tort cases, including unfair and deceptive trade practices and theft of intellectual property on behalf small business owners, professional negligence, vehicular negligence, and premises liability matters on behalf of individuals and estates. Ms. Rabenau also represents media outlets, small business owners and journalists in media and First Amendment law.

Ms. Rabenau is an AV Preeminent rated attorney in Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America every year since 2003. She has also been named a North Carolina Super Lawyer every year since 2005

Ms. Rabenau’s professional service in the legal community includes the board of governors for the North Carolina Bar Association as well as the board’s Audit & Finance Committee. She has also chaired the North Carolina Bar Association Litigation Section, convening meetings at our state’s law schools to connect current and future litigators. As chair of the Noth Carolina Bar Association Medico–Legal Liaison Committee, Ms. Rabenau produced an educational video for North Carolina physicians to practically illustrate the North Carolina Medical Legal Guidelines and promote understanding about day-to-day situations in which the worlds of physicians and attorneys often intersect and sometimes collide.

Ms. Rabenau has also served on the North Carolina Bar Foundation Board of Governors, a nonprofit proving pro bono legal and public service programs. Within the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, Ms. Rabenau has served on its Board of Governors and in roles ranging from annual convention chair, founding member and later chair of the Young Lawyers Division, to chair of the Professional Negligence section.

Ms. Rabenau’s community service includes seven years as a trustee at Durham Academy, a local independent K-12 college preparatory day school, and most recently a two-year commitment as chair of the Durham Academy Board of Trustees. Locally, Ms. Rabenau serves as President of the Friends Board at Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art, and previously on the board of Caring House, a non-profit devoted to housing for cancer patients at Duke Cancer Center. Nationally, Ms. Rabenau serves as a trustee at Hollins University, a private women’s college in Virginia.

While at UNC Law School, Ms. Rabenau was one of two students in her second-year class to be chosen as a member of the Holderness Moot Court National Team. During her undergraduate studies at Hollins College, Ms. Rabenau was a Hollins Scholar and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Karen and her husband David and their children are curious travelers, enthusiastic cooks, and avid runners. They may be spotted most weekends on Duke’s Al Buehler trail with their family and dogs in tow.