NFIB

NFIB Names Harned to Fight for Small Business in the Courts
03/29/2002

The small-business group NFIB today announced that Karen Harned will be the new executive director of its Legal Foundation.

The Legal Foundation is a nonprofit organization that challenges federal government agencies that do not adequately consider the impact of their regulations on small business. The Legal Foundation also publishes informational guides on areas of the law that have a major impact on small business.

Harned is no stranger to fighting for small businesses in their quests for justice. She previously was an associate at Olsson, Frank, and Weeda, P.C., specializing in food and drug law. Harned represented several small businesses and their trade associations before Congress and federal agencies. She also worked as an assistant press secretary for U.S. Sen. Don Nickles (Okla.) before getting her juris doctorate at George Washington University.

"NFIB's Legal Foundation plays a critical role in ensuring that the voice of small business is heard in our nation's courts," said Harned. "I am pleased to lead the Foundation in its work to hold federal agencies accountable when they treat small businesses unfairly and arm small-business owners with useful information regarding their regulatory obligations."

"The Legal Foundation has been very successful in protecting small business interests in the legal arena for the past two years," said Jack Faris, president of NFIB. "With Karen's detailed knowledge of the regulatory issues to be tackled by the Legal Foundation we look forward to her leadership in taking the case for small business to the American courts."

NFIB has a long history of aggressively pushing Congress and the IRS to lighten the tax burden that can overwhelm small employers. The most recent victory for the Legal Foundation was when it filed a brief in the appeal of U.S. Freightways, Inc., v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. This ruling allowed small businesses to simply deduct certain annual expenses rather than run through a confusing maze of tax calculations.