Karen DaPonte Thornton is a member of the adjunct faculty at The George Washington University Law School.  From 2020-2022 she served as  Counsel on the staff of the Committee on Armed Services for the U.S. House of Representatives, where she was responsible for matters related to acquisition policy, acquisition workforce, and small business. Previously, she was director of the Government Procurement Law Program at the GW Law, where she launched the Master of Studies in Law in Government Procurement program. Before her appointment as director, Ms. Thornton was a member of the GW Law legal research and writing faculty.  She began her legal career as an Army JAG officer in the Office of the Chief Counsel at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has also served in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.