Karen Fulton

Karen Fulton is a Partner in the Cape Town office's Employment & Benefits Practice at Bowmans, specialising in Employment Law. She has almost 30 years of experience advising on all aspects of South African employment law, including executive exits, corporate restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, bonus disputes, restraints of trade, unfair dismissal, unfair discrimination, sexual harassment and cross-border disputes.

Karen has a particular interest in gender equality and conducting investigations, and has handled confidential "under the radar" matters including investigations into allegations of "sex for jobs" and identifying employees making bomb threats. She frequently manages cross-border disputes and has advised on changes to management and board structures where shareholders and boards were in conflict. She has served two periods as an acting judge of the Labour Court and has sat on private tribunals in employment disputes, and was the first woman to serve on Bowmans' executive committee.

Karen holds a B.A. and an LL.B. from Stellenbosch University and is an accredited Tokiso mediator and arbitrator.

She is consistently recognised by Chambers Global for Employment in South Africa (Band 2, 2025–2026) and by The Legal 500 as a Leading Partner for Employment (2025–2026). She has also been ranked by Who's Who Legal as a Thought Leader in Labour & Employment.