IGS National Advisory Council
KAREN GETMAN
Karen Getman is a partner at Remcho, Johansen & Purcell, one of the state's leading constitutional, public policy and election law firms. She formerly served as Chairman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission from March 1999 through April 2003.
Ms. Getman advises candidates, committees and public agencies regarding compliance with the state Political Reform Act, the federal Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act, and other legal matters. She also advises the California Teachers Association on matters relating to the constitutional school funding guarantee and served as lead counsel in CTA v. Schwarzenegger (Sac. Sup. Ct.), which resulted in a settlement that provided $3 billion in Proposition 98 funding for the public schools. Ms. Getman has successfully challenged a local ordinance's ban on inter-candidate transfers of campaign contributions; succeeded in contesting certification of a proposed manual count voting system; represented the League of Women Voters in litigation over the counting of write-in ballots in the San Diego mayoral race; and is representing the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties in Vargas v. City of Salinas, a case pending in the California Supreme Court concerning the right of public entities to publish informational materials on local ballot measures.
From 2003-05, Ms. Getman served as the first Executive in Residence at the Center on Politics at the Institute of Governmental Studies. She is an adjunct professor at Boalt Hall School of Law, where she co-teaches the course on Regulating Public Integrity.
Ms. Getman previously was an appointed member of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board. She served on the board of Women Executives in State Government and as a member of the Speaker's Commission on the California Initiative Process. She was on the strategic planning team for the Walnut Creek Intermediate School and the School Site Council at the Murwood Elementary School. She currently is an active volunteer with Students Run Oakland, which each year trains Oakland public high school students to run the L.A. Marathon.
Ms. Getman was admitted to the New York Bar in 1986, the District of Columbia Bar in 1987 and the California Bar in 1988. She is a graduate of Yale College (B.A. with distinction, 1980) and Harvard Law School (J.D. cum laude, 1985), where she was Editor in Chief of the Harvard Women's Law Journal, and recipient of a Revson Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship in 1985-86. She is the author of numerous publications, including most recently a chapter on campaign law in Win the Right Way (UC Berkeley Public Policy Press 2005).
