Attorney Karen Long of Tulsa appointed today to OK Ethics Commission

Tulsa attorney Karen Long was appointed by House Speaker Chris Benge to the State Ethics Commission today. She replaces Commissioner Don Bingham whose term expired.

“Karen Long has a strong, diverse legal background that is coupled with a familiarity with the legislative process that makes her an ideal selection to serve in this vital position,” said Benge, R-Tulsa. “Her experience gives her a unique base of knowledge that will serve her well in this new role.”

Long is a partner with Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Christopher Newport College of the College of William & Mary, and a J.D. degree from Oklahoma City University. Her practice emphasizes collective bargaining, labor, employment discrim­ination, education law and federal and state court litigation involving those areas.

She is a member of the Tulsa County Bar Asso­ciation, Oklahoma Bar Association, American Bar Association, National School Boards Association, and Council Oaks / Johnson-Sontag Chapter of the American Inns of Court. In 2002, Long was nominated for and elected to membership in the Fellows of the Oklahoma and American Bar Foundations. She has been honored as an Oklahoma Best Lawyer for the past eleven years, and has been recognized as an Oklahoma Superlawyer and one of the top 25 Oklahoma women lawyers since 2006.

In 2008, she received the John Athens Award from the Council Oak/Johnson-Sontag Inn in recognition of her work in Oklahoma’s Title IX litigation related to girls’ and boys’ sports. In addition, Long serves as the 2009-2010 President of the Council Oak/Johnson-Sontag Inns of Court.

She is a member and past President of the Oklahoma School Board Attorneys’ Association. She has served as one of three members of the Public Employees Relations Board, which is the Oklahoma state board respon­sible for resolving collective bargaining disputes between police and fire personnel and their municipal employers.

From 1979-1989, she served as the General Counsel of the Oklahoma Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. She serves as a speaker regarding a range of legal issues including employee termination, sexual harassment, an employer's response to discrimination, family and medical leave, employer decisions involving employees with disabilities, religion and schools, Title IX and gender discrimination in school sponsored sports, and other issues.

Since 1999 she has served as an Adjunct Settlement Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. In addition, Long serves as a lawyer with Tulsa Lawyers for Children, a non-profit organization that provides no-cost legal representation to children who have been identified by the court system as deprived and neglected. Her five-year appointment to the Ethics Commission begins Monday.

Source. Press Secretary, Oklahoma House of Representatives