OWNER and principal attorney

Stephanie Karnavas

I’m Stephanie. I began practicing law in Texas in 2005. In 2007, I transferred to my then firm’s office in San Francisco, and I’ve been in California ever since. I moved to the lovely seaside town of Solana Beach with my husband in 2011.

For the first seven years of my practice, I worked primarily as a commercial litigator, handling a broad range of complex litigation matters for clients in the private sector. Working as a litigator, I became an adept legal researcher and writer, and I developed an expertise in risk assessment, mitigation, and dispute resolution that sets me apart from other transactional attorneys. Perhaps most important to my practice now, as a litigator, I had a front-row seat to legal relationships gone sour. I litigated and advised my clients regarding contract disputes, employment claims, allegations of businesses making false representations to consumers, premises liability claims, alleged regulatory violations, claims against directors and officers and much more. I also practically tested contractual documents and provisions that are critical to risk mitigation in business — indemnity, limitation of liability, disclaimer of warranties, waivers and releases of liability.

In the second half of my career, I went to work in-house for the County of San Diego. With over 20,000 employees, the County operates much like a large business. During my tenure with the County, among other roles, I acted as general advisory counsel for a number of different county departments. In this role, I advised my departmental clients on all legal matters that arose in their daily operations – to name a few — contract negotiation and enforcement, open meetings and public records, development and intepretation of policies and ordinances, and the calculation of business and legal risk. I served as advisory counsel for the Department of Parks and Recreation where I advised on environmental, land use and real estate matters and also for the Registrar of Voters, where I worked on a variety of election matters involving voter initiatives, and legal challenges to petitions, candidate statements and more. Being presented with the challenge of having to advise a number of different clients on such a variety of legal and business matters pushed me to become more than attorney, but also a counselor, a risk assessor, a problem solver, and a team member.

In 2019, I joined a long line of entrepreneurs in my family and launched Canopy Counsel to combine my passion for helping people with my love of business. I am infinitely inspired by those who can go out into the world and make something out of nothing. It’s my goal to use the law to help those people achieve their goals and reach new heights.

When I’m not working, you can find me hiking, surfing, and enjoying this beautiful place I call home. I hope to meet you soon.

Education

University of Houston
Juris Doctor, 2005

University of Texas at Austin
B.A., Goverment, 2002

Bar Admissions

California, Texas