Karine Faden Fiore: Antitrust, advocacy and a little adventure along the way

The path from early member of a Washington, DC antitrust practice to President and CEO of a nonprofit championing neurodiversity isn't one you'd find in any career playbook. Yet for Karine Faden Fiore, who now leads CHAT (Communication Health, Advocacy & Therapy) in Chicago, the journey makes perfect sense.

The skills that once helped her navigate billion-dollar mergers now drive her mission to break down communication barriers and champion inclusion. And it all began with lessons learned in the fast-paced setting of Freshfields' early days in Washington.

The unscripted journey into Antitrust

Fresh from completing a joint JD/MPH from Georgetown Law and Johns Hopkins, Karine had chosen Freshfields specifically for its global reach and offices in Barcelona and Madrid — aligned with her fluency in Spanish and Catalan. When the project finance group where she had been a summer associate consolidated in New York, she had a choice to make: relocate, or join the tax or antitrust practice in DC.  

"I was in my fourth year of a four-year joint degree program with virtually no background in tax, economics, or competition law," Karine explains. "Tax was not an option, so antitrust it was." What followed was an intensive education — not just in antitrust law, but in how to build relationships, write with precision, and work across complex global frameworks.

Her mentor, retired Freshfields partner Paul Yde, taught her invaluable lessons that extend far beyond legal practice. "Paul taught me many things, but two stand out—the importance of precise writing, and to take a win," she reflects. "I always think of him when I edit words like ‘very’ out of drafts, and remove passive voice. And I’ll never forget one call with Justice, when we got the answer we wanted, and I kept talking. Paul called me afterwards and kindly but firmly said, ‘never do that again.’ I can’t count the times since that I’ve applied this advice in negotiations, and shared it with others." 

Karine also learned another crucial skill at Freshfields: relationship building. "I wasn’t the most technically skilled antitrust lawyer. My success came from connecting with clients, making our advice accessible, and building trust," she explains. Her advice to young associates? "Make friends with the non-lawyer team members in your practice group! They will teach you as much as anybody across your career." In Karine’s case, this was Diane Tuomala, now the firm’s US Antitrust Practice Support Manager and a close friend to this day.

Taking flight

What began as an unconventional entry into antitrust quickly turned into a thriving career for Karine. After returning from her second maternity leave in 2007, she increasingly worked on matters for Continental Airlines, eventually becoming Continental's go-to outside counsel alongside Paul, their longtime relationship partner. "My whole life changed because of this," she says. The work was groundbreaking: including leading first-impression joint ventures helping Star Alliance airlines develop partnerships across Asia and Europe, requiring antitrust clearances, "from authorities in dozens of countries where antitrust was still relatively new."

During her eight-plus years at Freshfields, Karine worked on major international M&A transactions and antitrust matters. One particularly memorable engagement took her to Chile for the K+S Morton Salt deal. "I finally needed my Spanish for an antitrust deal, leading the team in Chile, pulling documents not far from the actual salt mines. It was such great experience, and I don't think most law firms offer opportunities like that."

After moving to Chicago years later, Karine would commute past the Morton Salt building, which featured the iconic "Morton Salt girl" logo. That building has since been transformed into a concert venue called the Salt Shed, a local reminder of that unique experience.

A merger that changed everything

In 2011, Karine made the leap to United Airlines — formed from the merger of Continental and United — in another trailblazing role. "I was the first ever antitrust lawyer for United Airlines, which was then the biggest airline in the world," she explains, soon transitioning to a Managing Counsel role overseeing a broader portfolio of regulatory matters.

These transitions required deploying all the skills she'd honed at Freshfields — but with a different mindset. Rather than being "the department of no," she focused on being "the department of how." She used what she calls "the Officer Edwards approach," named after her children's crossing guard in DC. "Maybe you couldn't cross the second you wanted, maybe you couldn't cross exactly where you wanted, but eventually there was going to be a way to cross safely."

Karine's legal adventures continued at United, taking her around the world for hearings, trainings, and negotiations. Of these, two moments stand out. "One matter took me to Brasilia, where several international airlines faced potentially significant penalties," she recalls. "I was the only in-house lawyer who traveled there for it and wanted United to stand out in a good way, so I read a statement in my poor Portuguese. It's impossible to know if this was why, but we did get a better result than the others!" The other moment was a side trip while on a compliance training trip to Asia. "No one in my family believed that I actually bobsled down the Great Wall of China, but I did," she recalls with a smile.

There was one more unexpected benefit to the merger and her eventual transition into her role within United. Karine would meet her current husband, who was at the time an in-house lawyer at United. "This was my life’s most important merger, blending our families," she quips.

The experience of working in-house also revealed something deeper about Karine's evolving professional identity. "Being an antitrust lawyer, you learn a new sector all the time," she reflects, "it taught me how to learn." This adaptability ultimately led Karine into a business role at United, and would become central to her next transformation.

The personal journey behind a purpose‑driven career

The catalyst for Karine's move to nonprofit work was deeply personal. As the mother of a neurodivergent child, she experienced firsthand how difficult it was to navigate special education and healthcare systems — even with her extensive legal background and network. "I was a white, native English-speaking, successful professional with a law degree, resources and connections, and I couldn’t figure out what my child needed," she explains.

That frustration led to a revelation, "If this is my experience, what happens to people who don't speak English, who are on Medicaid, or who are undocumented? What do they do?" This revelation became the inspiration for her life's work.

The early days at CHAT

In 2017, Karine took on the leadership of CHAT (Communication Health, Advocacy & Therapy), a Chicago nonprofit that had existed for decades but was in crisis. The organization was saddled with debt, controlled by a third party that didn't further its mission, and suffered from terrible retention.

Karine with Franco Bibbiano, longtime CHAT client and Inclusion Champion Honoree, at CHAT’s 2025 Speak Easy Gala—in full speakeasy style.

The role demanded versatility. CHAT needed marketing, change management, process improvement, financial oversight, and inspirational leadership — skills Karine had accumulated across law firms, corporate legal departments and business operations.

That breadth proved critical. When COVID hit, CHAT secured emergency funding faster than many comparable organizations. Years of navigating regulatory agencies taught Karine how to navigate federal bureaucracy. "I would never have been that quick if I hadn't worked with Justice for all those years."

Communication justice: A mission rooted in advocacy

Today, under Karine's leadership, CHAT has pioneered the concept of "communication justice" — removing logistical and financial barriers to access for speech and language services. The nonprofit supports underserved children throughout Chicago, accepting Medicaid when most providers won't. The math is stark. "Medicaid only covers half of what a therapy session costs CHAT to provide," Karine explains. The organization’s school contracts help subsidize therapy in underserved communities, from low-income preschoolers to court-involved youth, with fundraising bridging the gap to sustain access to CHAT’s life-changing services.

CHAT's philosophy reflects Karine's approach to problem-solving. "Any success I’ve had in my career ties to my communication skills—while not widely understood, the ability to communicate is absolutely a social determinant of health. When a child who struggles with behaviors learns to communicate their wants and needs and to self-advocate, they not only avoid a lifetime of frustration, they find more success academically, personally, and professionally."

The organization has expanded beyond traditional therapy to include innovative programs ranging from executive functioning to juvenile justice. They've established the Hallie Quinn Brown Internship to increase diversity in the field of speech-language pathology. And they provide consultations to families and companies around the country, sharing their expertise in neurodiversity-affirming support.

Karine (bottom right), with her clinical team on MLK Day, one of CHAT’s two annual Days of Inclusion focused on culturally-responsive care.

A philosophy forged in law, refined in service

Throughout her journey, Karine has carried forward principles learned at Freshfields. "Underpromise, overdeliver, do what you say you're going to do," she emphasizes. "That may be really obvious and important when you're working with well‑resourced clients and many internal corporate stakeholders. But it's even more important when you're working with families that don't have anyone they can trust."

Perhaps most importantly, she's embraced what she calls ‘a possibility mindset.’ "You have to believe in the power of a possibility mindset, because people will tell you all the things your child can't do," she explains. "How about we find a way? If it doesn't exist, we build the path. We find the place to cross." Thank you, Officer Edwards.

Applying this mindset to her own family, and with support from clinicians at CHAT, Karine and her son built a path that worked for him. After graduating college at 18, he works as a biomedical engineering research assistant at Johns Hopkins, where he plans to attend graduate school this fall.

If you had told Karine fifteen years ago that she would be married with four children, a rescue dog named Rosie Rainbow, living in a suburb outside Chicago, and running a nonprofit as the CEO, she would have struggled to believe you. "I would have said you were joking." Yet here she is, applying the precision, vision, relationship-building, and problem-solving skills she learned at Freshfields and United to create communication justice for Chicago's most vulnerable children. One conversation at a time.

Visit CHATwithus.org for more information.