Karen Merrill Tjapkes is a staff attorney and Director of Strategic Litigation at Legal Aid of Western Michigan in Grand Rapids. Her practice is concentrated primarily on consumer and bankruptcy law, housing law, mortgage litigation and an occasional public benefits case as well as supervising the Homeownership Preservation Project and the West Michigan Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at LAWM. She is also an Expert Advisor with the Center for Survivor Agency and Justice concerning consumer rights for domestic violence survivors. Ms. Tjapkes sits on the Steering Council and is past chair of the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness. She is a current member and past chair of the Consumer Law Section Council of the State Bar of Michigan and has been appointed to the State Bar of Michigan’s Steering Committee for Innovation and Implementation. Ms Tjapkes has presented on housing, bankruptcy and mortgage lending issues for many audiences including the Michigan Foreclosure Prevention Project, the Michigan Poverty Law Program, the Debtor’s Bar of West Michigan, the Michigan Conference on Affordable Housing and the National Consumer Law Center’s Consumer Rights Litigation Conference. She earned her B.A., with honors, from James Madison College at Michigan State University in 1997, and her J.D., cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2000.