Karen Getman

Partner

Karen Getman is a founding partner of Olson Remcho LLP, and served as its first Managing Partner.  She previously was a partner at Remcho, Johansen & Purcell.

Ms. Getman served as Chairman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission from 1999-2003, and as a member of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board from 2003-05.  She was a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley School of Law from 2004-2011, co-teaching the course on Regulating Public Integrity, and was the first Executive in Residence at the U.C. Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, where she also served as a member of the National Advisory Council.  She previously served on the Assembly Speaker’s Commission on the California Initiative Process.

Ms. Getman advises government entities and private parties on complex matters of statutory and constitutional interpretation; ballot measure drafting, qualification, and challenges; reporting and disclosure laws, conflict of interest laws, open meeting and public record requirements, and use of public funds.  She has served as an expert consultant on conflicts of interest, campaign finance and lobbying requirements. 

Ms. Getman was lead counsel in CTA v. Schwarzenegger (2006), which resulted in restoration of billions in school funding, and associate counsel in CTA v. Gould (1996), which also secured billions in K-14 public school funding. An expert on Proposition 98, Ms. Getman helped draft and defend Propositions 30 (2012) and 55 (2016), which dedicated sales and income tax increases to public school funding.  

Her recent cases include representing the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties as amici in Vargas v. Salinas, 46 Cal.4th 1 (2009); representing the California Teachers Association as amicus in California Redevelopment Assn. v. Matosantos, 53 Cal.4th 231 (2011); representing the City of Oakland in its successful defense of Measure Z, the Hotel Minimum Wage and Working Conditions ordinance, in Cal. Hotels & Lodging Ass’n v. City of Oakland, 393 F. Supp. 3d 817 (N.D. Cal. 2019); and representing the California Legislative Women’s Caucus as amicus in United States v. Rahimi, 144 S. Ct. 1889 (2024), in which the Court upheld gun restrictions in domestic violence restraining orders.

She received her B.A. with distinction from Yale College and her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Women’s Law Journal.  She was named to Capitol Weekly’s Top 100 list in 2022 and 2023.

Representative Highlights

Results described below were dependent on the facts of that particular case. Prior results do not guarantee or predict similar outcomes.

  • California Redevelopment Association v. Matosantos, 53 Cal. 4th 231 (2011).  Filed amicus curiae brief on behalf of the California Teachers Association in support of the State’s efforts to restructure California’s redevelopment agencies and provide additional funding for California’s public schools. 

  • California School Boards Association v. California State Board of Education, No. C060957, 2010 WL 1692760 (Cal. App. 2010).  Represented the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction in a successful challenge to the State Board of Education’s effort to force schools to comply with an unfunded mandate that all eighth graders take Algebra I.

  • Vargas v. City of Salinas, 46 Cal. 4th 1 (2009).  Filed amicus curiae brief on behalf of the League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties in case defending the rights of local governments to expend public funds informing citizens of the effects of upcoming ballot measures.

  • California Teachers Association v. Schwarzenegger, Sacramento County Superior Court, Case No. 05CS01165 (2006).  Represented the California Teachers Association and the Superintendent of Public Instruction in a successful challenge to efforts to reduce education funding far below the amount agreed upon in the 2004-05 budget compromise.  Recovered $3 billion in Proposition 98 funding for schools.

Education

  • Yale College, B.A., with distinction (1980)
  • Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Women’s Law Journal (1985)

Admissions

  • California
  • District of Columbia (not active)
  • New York (not active)