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Karen Foulds

Assistant Crown Solicitor

Karen is Assistant Crown Solicitor of the Government Insurance and Risk 3 Team, commencing the position in 2021.

She graduated university with a Bachelor of Laws in 1997 and was admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of Queensland the following year. Since then, she has worked exclusively in personal injuries.

Karen began working in the private sector defending motor vehicle and WorkCover claims. She then managed common law workers’ compensation claims as an in-house lawyer at Swift Australia before joining Crown Law’s government insurance practice in 2009.

Karen joined Crown Law as a Principal Lawyer in the WorkCover Team where she managed a portfolio of complex common law claims. Since 2011, she has specialised in public liability claims for the Queensland Government Insurance Fund (QGIF). Karen regularly defends allegations of negligence in sensitive and high-profile matters on behalf of State government departments.

During Karen’s career she has personally conducted more than 500 complex personal injuries claims in the private and public sectors and has represented her clients in the High Court of Australia, the Queensland Court of Appeal and the Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts.

Karen oversees and supervises a team that undertakes personal injuries claims made against various State departments including significant, sensitive and complex matters including litigation involving historical child sexual abuse, catastrophic injuries, dependency claims, public liability.

Karen has managed defendant personal injuries claims on behalf of Queensland Government Insurance Fund, WorkCover Queensland, Swift Australia and Suncorp Metway Insurance Limited.

Karen’s litigation experience includes managing and defending complex personal injuries claims in the Supreme and District Courts for the Queensland Government Insurance Fund and on behalf of the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs, Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Department of Education, Queensland Police Service, Hospital and Health Services, Department of Corrective Services and the other government departments, as well as experience handling matters in the pre-proceedings stages .

Karen provides specialist legal advice to clients on government insurance risk management and litigation matters.

Some of the complex and high-profile claims Karen has worked on include:

  • Defending the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs and the Queensland Ambulance Service for dependency claims brought by family members of persons who died while in the care of the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs and the Queensland Ambulance Service.
  • Defending the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs, the Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, the Department of Education, the Queensland Police Service, Hospital and Health Services and the Department of Corrective Services for claims for psychiatric injury caused by historical child sexual abuse.
  • Defending a self-insured employer in the matter of Australia Meat Holdings Pty Ltd v Kazi [2004] QCA 2004. The employee was found not to be a worker under the WorkCover Queensland Act 1996 as he was an unlawful non-citizen under the Migration Act 1958.
  • Defending a self-insured employer in the matter of Australia Meat Holdings Pty Ltd v Hamling [2005] QCA 415 about the interpretation of s 305 of the WorkCover Queensland Act 1996. This matter was successfully upheld by the High Court of Australia.
  • Defending QGIF (Townsville Hospital and Health Service) in the matter of McCormick v Ethnic Community Care Links Inc [2017] QDC 102 in relation to a claim for contribution to a workplace injury incurred in hospital grounds.
  • Defending the Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships in the matter of Willmot v State of Queensland [2022] QCS 167. This was the first permanent stay of proceedings for a historical child sexual abuse claim granted in Queensland.