Caren I. Friedman | Partner
Caren joined the firm in January 2020. Prior to that, she ran a solo appellate practice in Santa Fe for over fifteen years, representing clients on a wide array of substantive issues in civil and criminal appeals in state and federal courts. Caren was certified as an appellate specialist from 2003 to 2019, during the tenure of the New Mexico Board of Legal Specialization. Since 2007, Caren has been recognized by Southwest Super Lawyers as one of the top appellate attorneys in New Mexico. In 2024, she was invited to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Frequently called upon to serve the appellate Bench and Bar, Caren was appointed by the New Mexico Supreme Court as Chair of the Appellate Rules Committee from 2007 to 2010. The Court also appointed her as a member of the Committee from 2005 to 2007 and again in 2020. The Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of New Mexico nominated Caren to the Board of Directors from 2006 to 2008 and again from 2012 to 2014. She served as Chair of the Appellate Practice Section in 2007 and as the Section’s Budget Officer from 2012 to 2014. The Board of Legal Specialization appointed Caren to serve as a member of the Appellate Practice Specialty Committee, a post that she held from 2005 to 2009.
Caren did her undergraduate work at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland and Santa Fe, New Mexico. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she won the prize for excellence in legal research and writing for her thesis, “When Human Beings are Chattel: The Jurisprudence of Involuntary Servitude.”
Upon graduating from law school, Caren served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Santiago Campos in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico and then went on to clerk for the Honorable Robert Henry in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. After her clerkships, Caren moved to Washington D.C. where she practiced in the Appellate Section of the Office of General Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In that capacity, she briefed and argued federal appeals in circuits throughout the country. After returning to New Mexico, Caren joined Rothstein Donatelli, where she focused on Federal Indian Law and Employment Law, at both the trial and appellate levels.
Caren is licensed to practice in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits, the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, as well as all state trial and appellate courts in New Mexico.
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Livingston Land, LLC v. Brooker, No. A-1-CA-38948, 2023 WL 2017517 (N.M. App. Feb. 15, 2023)
Successfully convinced New Mexico Court of Appeals to affirm judgment rejecting contract and fraud claims against state licensed medical cannabis growers for failure to prove damages.
Read OpinionWalker v. Carlsbad Med. Ctr., LLC, No. A-1-CA-40662, 2023 WL 209184 (N.M. Ct. App. Jan. 17, 2023)
Successfully convinced the New Mexico Court of Appeals to reverse summary judgment in a medical malpractice case in which the defendant hospital administered incorrect blood pressure medications to the wrong patient, causing a life-threatening drop in blood pressure. The Court of Appeals found that the grant of summary judgment was error because plaintiff’s medical expert’s testimony permitted a reasonable inference of causation.
Read OpinionAquifer Science v. Verhines, et al., 2023-NMCA-020, 527 P.3d 667 (2022)
Successfully defended decision to deny developer’s water application that would have impaired existing wells and would have been contrary to conservation of water in New Mexico, along with cost award, including post-judgment interest, to prevailing public interest group that opposed water application.
Read OpinionCollado v. Fiesta Park Healthcare, LLC, 525 P.3d 378 (N.M. Ct. App. 022)
Assisted with briefing and strategy in defeating nursing home’s effort to overturn $11M verdict and, on cross-appeal, reinstating a jury finding that the various defendant-entities operated as a joint venture, making them all responsible for the nursing home’s conduct.
Read OpinionRawlings v. Rawlings, 505 P.3d 875 (N.M. App. 2021)
Successfully convinced New Mexico Court of Appeals to reverse the final decree in a domestic relations case where district court violated the Rules of Civil Procedure by failing to conduct a hearing on mother’s objections to a domestic relations hearing officer’s recommendations regarding child custody.
Read Opinion -
Caren Friedman and Philip Kovnat win in the New Mexico Court of Appeals!
Congratulations to Santa Fe attorneys Caren Friedman and Philip Kovnat who successfully convinced the New Mexico Court of Appeals to affirm the judgment in its entirety in this consolidation of two domestic relations appeals in which DP&S represented the Father as Appellee. The Appellant had argued that the district court abused its discretion in refusing to modify child support and concluding that Father could claim Child on his tax returns. DP&S argued that the appeals were untimely, depriving the Court of Appeals of jurisdiction. In the alternative, DP&S argued that the district court did not err. The Court of Appeals agreed with DP&S that one of the appeals was untimely. The Court also agreed that the district court correctly decided the issues in the remaining appeal.Caren Friedman to become a Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers!
Congratulations to Santa Fe partner Caren I. Friedman, who has accepted an invitation to become a Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. AAAL was founded to recognize outstanding appellate lawyers and promote the improvement of appellate advocacy and the administration of the appellate courts. Membership in the Academy is by invitation only. Fellows face stringent membership criteria, undergo rigorous screening, and must be approved by the Academy’s Board.Caren Friedman named a 2024 Southwest “Super Lawyer”!
Congratulations to Santa Fe partner, Caren Friedman, who was named a 2024 Southwest “Super Lawyer” in the appellate practice category. Southwest Super Lawyers magazine covers New Mexico and Arizona. Caren is one of only seven New Mexico appellate practitioners, and the only one from Santa Fe, to be recognized. This is Caren’s 18th consecutive year to be included on this list.Santa Fe office wins in the New Mexico Court of Appeals!
Congratulations to Santa Fe partners, Caren Friedman, Justin Kaufman, and Roz Bienvenu, who successfully convinced the New Mexico Court of Appeals to affirm the judgment in this probate case involving a dispute over the decedent’s property. At the heart of the dispute was the Estate’s claim of a valid contract that allegedly distributed valuable water rights appurtenant to land near Truchas in Northern New Mexico.Caren Friedman and Phil Kovnat win big in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas!
Congratulations to Santa Fe attorneys, Caren Friedman and Phil Kovnat, who, along with Dallas trial counsel C. Kyle Pugh and appellate counsel Jeffrey Levinger, successfully convinced U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas to deny a Motion for New Trial, for Remittitur, or to Alter or Amend the Judgment filed by the United States of America in a Federal Tort Claims Act case. Following a bench trial involving a collision between a United States Postal Service truck and a motor vehicle operated by Michael Le, which rendered Mr. Le a quadriplegic, Judge O’Connor awarded Plaintiffs over $26 million in damages, including damages for past and future physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of consortium. -
Just the Facts: Ethical and Jurisprudential Considerations
Appellate Practice Institute, Albuquerque, 2020Unmoored: A New Harmless Error Era
NEW MEXICO LAWYER, May 2014, Vol. 9, No. 2Taking the Rights Steps – and Avoiding Missteps – Before and After You File a Notice of Appeal
New Mexico State Bar Annual Meeting, Santa Fe, June 2013Give Me Your Tired: Why an Appellate Specialist Should Be on Your Trial Team
New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association Federal Practice and Procedure, Albuquerque, February 2010Calling Daniel Webster: A Message from the Chair
APPELLATE NEWS (Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of New Mexico), Aug. 2007Perseverance: Rehearing & Certiorari
Appellate Practice Institute, Albuquerque, August 2006The Basics of an Appeal: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know
New Mexico State Bar Annual Meeting, Ruidoso, September 2005Citing “Unpublished” Opinions: An Overview of the National Debate
APPELLATE NEWS (Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of New Mexico), Oct. 2004The Methodology of Oral Argument
Appellate Practice Institute, Albuquerque, August 2004
Phone: (505) 986-0600 ext. 122
Fax: (505) 986-0632
✉ Email Caren
Address:
505 Cerrillos Rd Suite A209
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501