Karin's Biography
Karin S. Hobbs, a professional mediator for the past 20 years, is known for her ability to close complex and emotionally charged cases. She has mediated over 6,000 cases, including complex commercial cases, class actions, family cases involving substantial assets and contested custody, catastrophic injury, sexual assault and abuse, personal injury, insurance, probate, construction, employment and appellate cases. She has mediated and co-mediated many complex multi-party cases.
Ms. Hobbs graduated from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney School of Law in 1985. Upon passing the bar exam, she prosecuted attorneys for ethical violations, including disbarment trials, in her role as Bar Counsel for the Utah State Bar. In 1987, she became Judge Pamela T. Greenwood's first law clerk at the Utah Court of Appeals. In 1989, she became a Staff Attorney for the Utah Court of Appeals, working with 7 appellate court judges for over 8 years, reviewing thousands of appeals, including reading docketing statements, motions, and briefs and preparing per curiam opinions. In 1995, Ms. Hobbs left the court briefly to serve as Deputy Director of the Division of Child and Family Services where she managed implementation of a Consent Decree. She returned to the Utah Court of Appeals and began working with the court to conceptualize and implement the Appellate Mediation Office. In 1998, she was selected as Chief Appellate Mediator for the Utah Court of Appeals. Ms. Hobbs mediated approximately 400 appellate cases for the Utah Court of Appeals over her 4 years. In 2001, Ms. Hobbs opened her private mediation practice and has maintained a busy and varied mediation practice.
Ms. Hobbs founded the Dispute Resolution Section of the Utah State Bar. She is currently the President of the International Academy of Mediators, an invitation-only group of commercial mediators worldwide who maintain vibrant practices while also teaching and publishing regularly. She is a Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators, and she has served on the Board of Bar Commissioners at the Utah State Bar. In 2004, she received the Peter W. Billings, Sr. Award for Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Ms. Hobbs has also published numerous articles, including "Individualized Mediation Design" in the October 2007 issue of "For the Defense." She has also written a chapter in the American Arbitration Association's Handbook on Mediation entitled, "How to Achieve the Best Results in Mediation" and she has written a chapter in another book entitled, "Stories Mediators Tell." She has taught hundreds of mediation and negotiation seminars to audiences such as the Utah State Bar, the Portland Oregon Bar Association, the American Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Section, the Pepperdine Masters Forum, and the International Academy of Mediators. She is listed in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers in Commercial Mediation for 2011-2019, Best Lawyers in America for 2010-2019, Mountain States Super Lawyers and Utah Legal Elite in the specialty of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Ms. Hobbs mediates throughout the Intermountain West.