Roberta Karmel

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| name = Roberta Karmel

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| birth_name = Roberta Sarah Segal

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1937|5|4}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|3|23|1937|5|4}}

| death_place = Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.

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| nationality = American

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| education = Radcliffe College (BA)
New York University School of Law (LLB)

| occupation = Attorney and law professor

| years_active = 1962–2024

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| employer = Brooklyn Law School

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{{marriage|Paul Karmel|1957|1994|end=died}}
{{marriage|David Harrison|1995|2021|end=died}}

}}

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| known_for = First female Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission

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| title = the Centennial Professor of Law, and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of International Business Law

| boards = New York Stock Exchange (1983–89)

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Roberta Sarah Karmel ({{nee}} Segal; May 4, 1937 – March 23, 2024) was an American attorney and the Centennial Professor of Law, and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of International Business Law, at Brooklyn Law School.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/29/style/weddings-roberta-karmel-s-david-harrison.html|title=Weddings; Roberta Karmel, S. David Harrison|date=October 29, 1995|work=The New York Times}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZZ85aVw6G4C&q=roberta+karmel&pg=PA1|title=Nominations of Roberta S. Karmel and Eloise A. Woods: Hearing Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, First Session, on the Nominations of Roberta S. Karmel, to be Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Eloise A. Woods, to be Chairman, National Credit Union Board, September 16, 1977|author=United States Congress Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs|date=October 16, 1977|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|via=Google Books}} She was the first female Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Early life and education

Karmel was born in Chicago, Illinois, grew up in its Austin neighborhood, and has one sister.[https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:hr655yg4563/hr655yg4563_KarmelR_Transcript.pdf "Transcript of Interview with Roberta S. Karmel (Feb. 20, 2013; Mar. 28, 2013; July 16, 2013; July 24, 2013; July 30, 2013),"] ABA. Both of her parents had also been born in Chicago, and her father was a lawyer. She had by her own account a liberal New York Jewish background, which initially made her pro-government intervention in the economy; a sentiment that changed over time.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1982/03/21/taking-stock-of-big-business-and-the-sec/01aee8c3-80b2-4ec5-93b2-be0a68707418/|title=Taking Stock of Big Business and the SEC|first1=John F.|last1=Berry|date=March 21, 1982|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

She attended Austin High School, graduating in 1955, and the University of Michigan in 1955.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sechistorical.org/|title=Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society|author=SEC Historical Society|website=www.sechistorical.org}} She received a B.A. from Radcliffe College (cum laude; American History and Literature; 1959).{{Cite web |title=ROBERTA S. KARMEL |url=https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/mutualrecognition/bio/rkarmel.pdf |website=SEC.gov}} She married her husband Paul Karmel, who died in 1994, after her sophomore year of college. She earned an LL.B. from New York University School of Law (cum laude; 1962), where she was on the NYU Law Review.{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2009/01/06_karmel/|date=February 28, 2009|author=Roberta S. Karmel |title=Life at the Center: Reflections on My Career|website=www.americanbar.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2016/06/member_spotlight/|title=An Interview with Roberta S. Karmel|website=www.americanbar.org|date=June 20, 2016 }} Her law school class had about 4% women.

Career

Karmel served as an enforcement attorney, Branch Chief, and Assistant Regional Administrator in the Securities and Exchange Commission's New York Regional Office from 1962 to 1969.{{Cite web|url=https://capital-markets.law.columbia.edu/people/roberta-s-karmel|title=Roberta S. Karmel | Capital Markets|website=capital-markets.law.columbia.edu}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/457451/roberta-karmel-presented-with-the-albert-nelson-marquis-lifetime-achievement-award-by-marquis-whos-who|title=Roberta Karmel Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who|website=24-7 Press Release Newswire|date=October 16, 2018}}[http://3197d6d14b5f19f2f440-5e13d29c4c016cf96cbbfd197c579b45.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/collection/oral-histories/2005-0708-RobertaKarmelInterview-T.PDF "Interview with Roberta Karmel,"] SEC Historical Society, July 8, 2005. She later served as a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission from September 1977 to February 1980, and was the first female SEC Commissioner in the SEC's 48-year history.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SXyjAQAAQBAJ&q=roberta+karmel&pg=PR11|title=Petticoats and Pinstripes: Portraits of Women in Wall Street's History: Portraits of Women in Wall Street's History|first=Sheri J.|last=Caplan|date= 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781440802669|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20181117/BLOG09/181119989/hester-peirce-all-women-do-not-speak-with-the-same-voice-and-sec|title=Hester Peirce: All women do not speak with the same voice, and SEC commissioners are no different|first=Hester|last=Peirce|date=November 17, 2018|website=www.investmentnews.com}}[https://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1980/dig012380.pdf "Commissioner Karmel Resigns,"] SEC News Digest, January 23, 1980. Having been appointed at 40 years of age, she was one of the youngest Commissioners ever appointed.

She practiced law in New York City at Willkie Farr & Gallagher (1969–72), Rogers & Wells (1972–77; 1980–86), and Kelley Drye & Warren (1987–2002).

Karmel was an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School from 1973 to 1977 and from 1982 to 1985, and was a full professor there starting in 1985. She was Centennial Professor of Law, and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of International Business Law, at Brooklyn Law School. She taught securities regulation.[https://aseca.memberclicks.net/assets/past-dinner-programs/2017_ASECA_Program.pdf "Roberta S. Karmel,"] aseca, February 24, 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.brooklaw.edu/Contact-Us/Karmel-Roberta|title=Brooklyn Law School - Karmel Roberta|website=www.brooklaw.edu}}

Karmel served as a public director of the New York Stock Exchange from 1983 to 1989, the third woman to serve on its board of directors. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 1991-92.

Karmel was a trustee and Chair of the Practising Law Institute. She was Co-Chair of the International Coordinating Committee of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association and Chair of the AALS Section on Securities Regulation. She was a member of the Advisory Committee on capital markets law to Unidroit, a member of the American Law Institute, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Karmel wrote 50 articles in books and legal journals, and has written a regular column on securities regulation for the New York Law Journal. Her book entitled Regulation by Prosecution: The Securities and Exchange Commission vs. Corporate America was published by Simon and Schuster in 1982.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/regulat_kar_1982_00_4384|url-access=registration|quote=roberta karmel.|title=Regulation by Prosecution: The Securities and Exchange Commission Vs. Corporate America|first=Roberta S.|last=Karmel|date=1982|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=9780671434083 |via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5v1cGp1Fi0C&q=roberta+karmel&pg=PA978|title=Karmel on the S.E.C.: New Directions?|first=Greg|last=Gryzebielski|work=ABA Journal|date=August 16, 1982|publisher=American Bar Association|via=Google Books}} Her book Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation was published by Practising Law Institute in 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pli.edu/faculty/hon.-roberta-s.-karmel-787|title=Hon. Roberta S. Karmel - Practising Law Institute|website=www.pli.edu}}

Karmel received the William O. Douglas Award from the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni, the Direct Women Award from the Sandra Day O'Connor Board of Excellence, the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the American Bar Association, and the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who's Who.{{Cite web|url=http://www.americanbarfoundation.org/fellows/news/122|title=New York Life Fellow Roberta Karmel - American Bar Foundation|website=www.americanbarfoundation.org}}

Death

Karmel died in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York at the age of 86 on March 23, 2024 due to pancreatic cancer.{{cite web|title=Roberta Karmel, First Woman Named to the S.E.C., Dies at 86|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/15/obituaries/roberta-karmel-dead.html|date=April 15, 2024|last=Traub|first=Alex|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 15, 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/securities-law/roberta-karmel-first-female-sec-commissioner-dies-at-86|title=Roberta Karmel, First Female SEC Commissioner, Dies at 86 (1)|work=Bloomberg Law|date=15 April 2024|access-date=15 April 2024}}