Karrigan Börk graduated with Distinction and Pro Bono Distinction from Stanford Law School in 2009, and completed his PhD dissertation in Ecology at UC Davis in September 2011. He received the Shapiro Family Award in 2011 as the Outstanding PhD Graduate in Ecology at UC Davis. He clerked for Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Mary Beck Briscoe, U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson, and Judge Janice Karlin on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas.

Karrigan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas in 2002, and was named a Truman Scholar in 2001 and a Switzer Fellow in 2010. Karrigan's publications run the gamut from the definitive text on the history and application of California Fish and Game Code Section 5937 to a hatchery and genetic management plan for spring-run Chinook salmon. Karrigan is currently examining legal and ethical issues in ecological restoration. His past work has focused on the management of guest species, those invasive species that managers invite in and make comfortable, and on the evolution of law via administrative actions. He is currently working on local governance issues in ecosystem management.