Karen Maxwell is an experienced barrister and arbitrator, specialising in shipping and commercial disputes. She started her practice at Twenty Essex in 1993, and subsequently worked at Practical Law, establishing and leading the Practical Law Arbitration on-line know-how service. She returned to practice at Twenty Essex in 2016.

Karen is an experienced and directory-ranked arbitrator and has been appointed as chair, sole and party-appointed arbitrator in arbitrations under the LCIA and LMAA Rules and in ad-hoc arbitrations. She was elected a full member of the LMAA in 2025.

Karen is also an accredited mediator and a member of the Baltic Exchange.
She writes and lectures widely on arbitration, private international law and shipping topics. Karen is the co-author of London Maritime Arbitration, the fourth edition of which was published in 2017.