After 35 plus years experience in Big Law and as a corporate Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel, its CEO, Karen Layng, formed M.A.I.T. Co. Karen’s LinkedIn profile can be accessed here.

Her significant experience includes as a trusted corporate Board member, a Dispute Resolution Board member, experienced Arbitrator and mediator, a strategic advisor to clients and their boards turning around businesses and handling companies’ bet-the-company trials, mediations, and arbitrations, and as an Adjunct Professor on ethics, alternative dispute resolution, crisis management and due diligence in the Northwestern University Engineering Masters of Science in Design Construction program. Recent articles featuring Karen in the University of Illinois Alumni Association Magazine’s Fall 2023 and Spring 2022 issue, in conjunction with her receipt of the prestigious 2023 Alumni Comeback Award at Homecoming as pictured below and the 2021 Social Impact Award from the College of LAS at its 125th Anniversary celebration are here: https://uiaa.org/award-winners/karen-p-layng/, https://uiaa.org/alumni-awards/, KPL - U. of I Alumni Interview. The feature of Karen in the November 2022 Crain’s Notable Nonprofit leaders is also copied below and linked here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/awards/karen-layng.

KAREN’S BOARD LEADERSHIP AND SPEAKING EXPERIENCE

National President of the Girl Scouts of the USA (2020-2023) and Board Member (2017-2023);

President of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association (first woman president);

Chair of the American Arbitration Association Board of Directors (and Chair of Strategic Governance Committees and former Co-Chair of the the National Construction Dispute Resolution Committee);

Board Member of the AAA International Centre of Dispute Resolution Foundation;

Member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners;

Member of the Economic Club of Chicago and former Executive Advisor to the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Council; and

Past Board Chair of the Girl Scout Council of Greater Chicago and NW Indiana

M.A.I.T. CO. EXPERIENCE:

M.A.I.T. Co. serves businesses in the construction, manufacturing, energy and engineering industries. Karen’s legal expertise in these industries includes representing public and major private companies in complex commercial disputes, internal criminal and civil ethical and fraud investigations. She also serves as a licensed arbitrator and mediator on the AAA mega-construction case panel as well as the commercial, construction and joint venture and M&A panels and as a DRB panelist (including on the DRB - for the Brooklyn Dismantle and Swing Space - NYC BBJ Program). This experience allows her to uniquely review claims handling protocols and to develop client compliance programs on all corporate enterprise risks, including exposure ranging from cyber breaches to ethical lapses.

Among its services, M.A.I.T. Co. acts as a strategic advisor to corporate boards, equity investors and bankruptcy counsel and trustees. It provides effective and sustainable cost-savings procedures and innovative business policies and insurance and claims handling services, including investigations of workers compensation and general liability reserve-setting, accruals and capital security needs. M.A.I.T. Co. consults on corporate reorganization, strategic planning and best practices in risk management and ethical leadership compliance reviews. This work includes assisting clients to develop policies providing greater transparency and predictability in accrual and analysis of loss contingencies. The company also develops corporate ethics compliance programs and trains boards and senior executives on their responsibilities to implement and support ethical leadership cultures. 

M.A.I.T. Co. also provides construction management services on rehabilitation projects (specializing in preservation of significant architectural buildings). The above photo is from a building designed by preeminent prairie-style architect, Charles Whitney Stevens. M.A.I.T. Co. saved the residence from the wrecking ball, gutting and rehabbing the historic structure. The project was one of the M.A.I.T. Co. successes featured in Crain's Chicago.

Karen is a frequent lecturer and ethics, and other construction engineering topics. Recent speeches include:

Panelist Construction Super Conferences: (12/2025) on CSI: Construction Site Intel-Tracking Down ESI Without Blowing the Budget; (12/2024) on Navigating New Frontiers in Construction Dispute Resolution and Technology: Ethical Perspectives; (12/2023) on Consequential Challenges in Arbitration Clauses; (12/2018) on SCOTUS Swings the Pendulum Back in Favor of Arbitration: Ensure That Your Next Arbitration Clause Is Effective and Enforceable; (12/2017) on How Effective Preliminary Hearings Ensure Efficiency and Economy and also on panel entitled Streamlining Your Arbitration: How to Avoid Reliving the Construction Project “Brick by Brick;” (12/2016) on Modern Challenges and Ethical Dilemmas at Arbitration; (12/2015) on Ethics in Arbitration; (12/2014) on Ethical Pitfalls of Electronic Communications and (12/2013) on Ethical Lapses and Criminality in Construction Procurement and Staffing; and 

Other Representative Speaking Engagements: (09/2025): 2025 CLSA International Conference (Charleston, S.C.): panelist on Taking the Mystery out of Dispute Resolution Boards; (06//2025): 2025 AAA Construction Conference: panel member on AI Ethics Issues Arising in ADR; (5/2024): moderator of the panel session Disputes Under Progressive Design-Build Project Delivery at the DRBF's 23rd Annual International Conference (Washington, D.C.); (4/2024): panelist at 2024 Annual ABA Forum on the Construction Industry Conference (Plenary 4-The Art of Cross Examination); (3/2024) CBA International Women’s panelist on Breaking Boundaries, Building Futures: Inspiring Tales of Women Arbitrators program (virtual); (3/2024) panelist at the 2024 American Arbitration Association Construction Conference on Keeping up with the Jones-Are You Meeting Your Ethical Obligations to Stay Abreast of New and Emerging Technologies? (Miami, Florida); (6/2023) Panelist at the 2023 AAA Construction Conference: Ethics Issues with Virtual Hearings and Document Productions (Santa Monica, CA); (5/2023) panelist for Webinar GA Bar Association Construction Section: Mediation of Construction Disputes; panelist for the Alternative Dispute Resolution AAA-ICDR and Chicago Bar Association Program: Advancing Social Justice Initiatives (2/2023); Panelist at the AAA Annual Construction Conference: Arbitrators’ Impartiality: The Starting Point for Ethical Requirements (6/2022); opening plenary panelist at ABA Annual Meeting: The relationship between the C-Suite and the General Counsel (4/2022); speaker at the National Fireproofing Contractors Association’s hybrid conference: Liability mitigation ideas for fireproofing contractors (10/2021); panelist at AAA Construction Program: Charting Your Path to an ADR Practice: Practical Advice to Help You Prepare to Serve as a Construction Arbitrator or Mediator (7/2021); panelist on 2021 AAA Virtual Construction Conference, Ethical Issues Arising in Multi-Party Mediations and Arbitrations (6/2021); panelist on ABA/ CLC and Ankura Consulting Webinar: "Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" (6/2021); panelist AAA-2020 AAA Construction Webinar Series: How to Effectively Deal With the 300 Change Order Dispute – Who Controls the Process? (10/2020); speaker at the NFCA  Fireproofing Educational (Virtual) Conference: Potential Liability and How to Protect your Business" (9/2020) and the NFCA Fireproofing Webinar: Liability Arising Out of Construction Documentation" (10/2020); speaker at the FCIA Annual meeting on Firestopping 20 Years in the Making: What do We Know About Potential Sources of Liability? (4/2019) and at the annual FCIA meeting: Liability Arising out of Firestopping (11/2019) Miami, FL; panelist on ABA Dispute Resolution Spring Conference Educational Program: I Know You Want to “Beat the Heck Out of Them” and that “Money Doesn’t Matter”–How to Save Parties from Themselves in Construction Arbitration (4/2019) Minneapolis, MN; panelist on ABA's 2019 Insurance Coverage CLE Seminar: Workers Compensation: Disruption is the Only Cure to Saving a Broken System (2/2019) Tucson, AZ.; opening plenary speaker at the 2018 ABA Forum on Construction Annual meeting (April 2018) in NOLA on the Economics of Construction and Obtaining Your Mini MBA; and panelist on AAA Webinar: What Advocates Can Learn From Walking in an Arbitrator’s Shoes (12/2016).

Contact

To schedule a consult to discuss:

• innovative, cost-cutting business strategies or Board governance policies;

• enterprise risk management, turnaround, ethical compliance and fraud reviews and investigations; and

• other services that M.A.I.T. Co. can offer, please fill out the Contact Form below.

To hire Karen as an Arbitrator, Mediator or DRB panelist:

please email her directly at kplayng@mait-co.com or via the American Arbitration Association.