Term Ends: 2026
Party: D

Karen K. Herman is a judge for the Orleans Parish Criminal Court, Section I, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. She was elected to this position on October 4, 2008. She was re-elected in 2014 for a term beginning on January 1, 2015 and expiring on December 31, 2020.

Herman began her career in 1991 as a law clerk in the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office. She worked in that capacity until 1994 but continued to work there as a prosecutor until 1999, when she left to raise a family. From 2004 through 2007, she practiced commercial litigation with law firm Herman, Herman, Katz and Cotlar, LLP. She served as the executive director for Court Watch NOLA (a watchdog organization she helped create that sends volunteers into courtrooms to monitor cases) prior to her judicial election in the fall of 2008. Herman received her B.S. from Emory University in 1991 and her J.D. from the Tulane University School of Law in 1994.