Before moving back to Wyoming, Karen served for three years in the Reagan Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior, as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. She later served as a law clerk to the Assistant Solicitor for Water and Power. Karen has also worked as an attorney at Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest legal foundation located in Denver, Colorado. In addition to representing local governments and private citizens, Karen currently serves as legal counsel to the Arizona\New Mexico Coalition of Counties for Stable Economic Growth. Karen grew up as a fifth generation rancher on a family-owned ranch in Big Piney, Wyoming. She received her undergraduate degrees and her law degree in 1987 from the University of Wyoming.