Karen Petch

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 was included in the Legal 500 2024 Australian Bar rankings as a leading junior in commercial disputes (Tier 2) where she was described as “a great strategic thinker, highly responsive and hard-working. She is widely admired for her insolvency work but her practice extends to all areas of commercial law. She is often the first choice as a commercial junior in large cases”. She was also included in the 2023 rankings.

She is recognised by the Doyles Guide as a recommended junior counsel in commercial litigation & dispute resolution (2024) as well as in insolvency and restructuring as a leading junior counsel (2024, 2023). She was named by the Global Restructuring Review in its 2022 40-under-40 list.

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. She was called to the Bar in England and Wales in 2024 and since 2022 has been registered as a foreign lawyer in the Singapore International Commercial Court.

In 2023 she was appointed to the ACICA Legislative Committee for a 3-year term. She serves on the NSW Bar Association’s Diversity and Equality Committee as well as the ABA’s International Committee. She is presently undertaking the INSOL Fellowship Course (Global Insolvency Practice Course) (2024 – 2025).