Karen M. Sandler is an attorney and the executive director of Software
Freedom Conservancy, a 501c3 nonprofit
organization focused on ethical technology. As a patient deeply
concerned with the technology in her own body, Karen is known as a
cyborg lawyer for her advocacy for free software as a life-or-death
issue, particularly in relation to the software on medical devices. She
co-organizes Outreachy, the award-winning
outreach program for people who face under-representation, systemic
bias, or discrimination in tech. She is an adjunct Lecturer-In-Law of
Columbia Law School.

Prior to joining Software Freedom Conservancy, Karen was the executive
director of the GNOME Foundation. Before that,
she was the general counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center. She
began her career as a lawyer at Clifford Chance and Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher LLP.

Sandler has won awards for her work on behalf of software freedom,
including the O’Reilly Open Source Award in 2011. She received an
honorary doctorate from KU Leuven in 2023.