Karina is a senior lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Wollongong. She publishes in the area of legal ethics and is a co-author of Lawyers in Australia (Federation Press, 4th ed, 2019 – latest edition). She is working on her PhD on directors of incorporated legal practices. In addition to legal ethics, she researches in the areas of the legal profession and legal education.
Since joining UOW in 2006 she has coordinated a range of subjects, including Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Foundations of Law, and Interpreting Legal Texts. In 2015, she received an Australian Award for University Teaching as a member of the UOW First Year Law Integration Team. She was recognised in 2013 with the Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning (OCTAL) as part of the First Year Law Integration Team, having already received an individual OCTAL award in 2011. She was invited to be inducted as a fellow of the Wollongong Academy of Tertiary Teaching and Learning Excellence (WATTLE) in 2014.
She was the Academic Program Director and Discipline Leader for the School of Law from 2017-2020. In this role she led a number of initiatives in teaching and learning, including blended learning as well as the move to online delivery during the 2020 pandemic.
In her previous career, Karina worked in a number of positions in the public sector, before moving into executive director roles within the Department of Human Services. She is a founding member of the NSW Women Lawyers' Association Wollongong sub-committee and took a break from academia in 2016 to update her skills, managing a regional law firm across 6 locations.