Karen is a recognised executive search specialist in senior in-house legal roles, including General Counsel, Head of Legal and Head of Compliance positions. She has extensive experience in partnering with clients across both Financial Services and Commerce & Industry. Her clients include corporates in the life sciences, technology, energy and renewables and FMCG sectors and also asset managers, funds (PE, Real Estate, Infra, VC) and banks.
Karen builds strong partnerships with her candidates and clients. She immerses herself in her clients’ business and uses this in-depth understanding to act as a brand ambassador, ensuring the CEOs, CPOs and GCs she partners with as clients have their expectations met when building their executive legal teams.
She started her career as a lawyer with CMS Cameron McKenna and moved into legal recruitment in 2008. Karen previously worked as a Director in a boutique agency where she recruited lawyers into FTSE 100 companies. She is also a licensed career coach.
Karen is an outstanding recruitment partner. She successfully led and filled our company’s CLO opening. Every candidate I spoke with said their experience working with her was exceptional. The time, energy and thoughtfulness as well as her deep knowledge and understanding of the skills required for the role made all the difference. I will use Karen for any legal searches in the future and highly recommend Karen and Marsden.
Global Head of HR, Teva (Multinational Pharmaceutical Company)
I had the pleasure of working with Karen during my job search. Karen has a keen understanding of the job market and has a strong commitment to helping candidates find the right opportunities. Karen is also very personable, listened to my concerns, was a great sounding board and always kept me informed throughout the entire hiring process, all traits that I deeply value. I definitely recommend Karen.
Legal Director, FinTech Company
Marsden, and Karen Glass in particular, came highly recommended by a former colleague. From the very first conversation to our chosen candidate accepting it could not have been a better process. It was clear from the get go that Marsden had a deep network of General Counsels and real insight into what it takes to be successful in an organisation like ours. We were really impressed by the long list, Karen worked with us to get to an excellent short list, supported us through the interview process and steered us through our chosen candidate accepting our offer. We could not have asked for better support.
CEO, HC-One
Karen listens to her clients very carefully and gains a solid understanding of what they are seeking to achieve. She then combines this with a deep knowledge of the legal market, and very careful assessments of potential candidates. She is also skilled at working with both sides to negotiate a package once the right candidate has been found. It is fair to say she is one of the best in the business that I have worked with in the past few decades.
Investment Group General Counsel, Investment Firm
I have worked with Karen over a number of years, and the key skill she has as a recruiter is a desire and a capability to understand the brief and translate that into producing meaningful shortlists and advice on candidates. This is in my experience a skill that all recruiters and headhunters claim, but few can deliver on: Karen does so in spades. Besides that she is a pleasure to work with and endlessly enthusiastic, which is of course a huge bonus!
General Counsel and Company Secretary, Wellcome Trust