Karen Abrams is a partner with Paris Ackerman, LLP and has been with the firm since 2013. Karen heads the firm’s Commercial Real Estate Leasing practice and devotes her time to handling a broad array of commercial matters including commercial lease negotiations, business and franchise sales and acquisitions, entity formation, partnership agreements, loan closings, asset sales and acquisitions, and real estate sales, acquisitions and financing.
Karen has extensive experience in counseling both individuals as well as local, regional, and national commercial landlords and tenants in connection with the preparation, review and negotiation of commercial real estate leases for retail, office, and industrial locations. Karen’s leasing experience extends to prime leases, subleases and ground leases for locations in office buildings, shopping centers, strip-malls, food courts, and stand-alone locations. Karen also advises clients in the acquisition and disposition of commercial property.
In addition to handling commercial leasing transactions, Karen represents commercial lenders and borrowers in a variety of complex financing transactions, with particular emphasis on commercial banking, asset and cash-flow based lending, and real-estate secured transactions. She has significant experience handling secured and unsecured financings at all levels for acquisitions, project and working capital purposes.
Karen also represents businesses and business owners in a wide variety of corporate transactional matters, including sales and acquisitions, corporate formation and governance matters, and contractual and business counseling.
Perhaps most importantly, like many of her clients, Karen is also a successful entrepreneur in her own right, owning multiple franchised locations. In fact, Karen represents clients in numerous national franchise systems, including Club Pilates, Wingstop, Jersey Mike’s, Premier Martial Arts, CycleBar, StretchLab, Great Clips, Row House, AKT, European Wax Studio, Pure Barre, Safesplash / SwimLabs, Moxie Salon and Beauty Bar, Dunkin’, Baskin-Robbins, Mayweather Boxing, K9 Resorts, Rumble Boxing, Drybar, Amazing Lash Studio, Cookie Cutter Haircuts, Phenix Salon Suites, Saladworks, Wendy’s, Goldfish Swim School, Body20, Gold’s Gym, Lightbridge Academy, Elements Massage, Starting Strength, The NOW Massage, 4Ever Young, The Great Greek, Silverlake Ramen, School of Rock, Tropical Smoothie Café, Paris Baguette, Goddard Schools, Body Fit Training, YogaSix, and many more. Karen’s personal experience as a franchise operator affords her a keen insight into the legal issues faced by franchisees and business owners and operators generally, who comprise a large majority of her client base.
2022 marks the twelfth consecutive year Karen has been selected as a Super Lawyer and the ninth consecutive year she has been nominated as a Legal Eagle by The Franchise Times. In New Jersey and nationally, she frequently speaks and presents on, and writes about, matters relating to commercial real estate for organizations such as the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education and the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Karen earned her law degree, with honors, at the George Washington University Law School where she simultaneously earned her M.B.A., with honors, in Finance and Investment. Karen received her undergraduate degree, with honors, from Washington University in St. Louis. Karen is currently admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia as well as the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.