Karl is actively involved in the community of appellate practitioners. He currently serves as chair of the Appellate Advocacy Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and is a charter member of that Committee, having been a member since its formation in 2003. He also serves as chair of the Appellate Advocacy Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. Karl serves as Pennsylvania State Chair of the Council of Appellate Lawyers of the ABA's Appellate Judges Conference, the first and only national appellate bench-bar organization. He also is an active member of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Historical Society and the Third Circuit Bar Association, and serves as chair of the Administrative Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
The roots of Karl’s appellate capabilities run deep, and include experience from within the appellate courts, as he served as a law clerk for the Hon. Russell M. Nigro of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania immediately following law school, and also served as a clerk for the Hon. John T.J. Kelly Jr. of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania while still in law school.
In addition to his appellate practice, Karl also is an experienced trial court lawyer who has handled disputes from inception through verdict, decision or resolution in hundreds of cases pending before the state and federal courts in the region. Karl’s diverse litigation practice has touched virtually every type of civil matter, including insurance coverage and bad faith cases, commercial disputes, and contract, tort and personal injury matters.
Karl also has adjudicated dozens of civil cases as a state and federal court-certified arbitrator, usually serving as the arbitration panel’s chairperson. He has been trained as a civil mediator by the American Arbitration Association. Karl also assisted in the judicial selection process by serving three terms as a reviewer in the Investigative Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention, a body that interviews, evaluates and rates state court judicial candidates.
During his distinguished law school career, Karl was selected as a member of the Appellate Moot Court Board, Dickinson Law Review and Woolsack Honor Society. At that time, he also served as a clerk for the Hon. Yvette Kane of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Karl began his legal career as an intern for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.