Above, Katie Johnson speaking at RISMedia’s CEO & Leadership Exchange on Sept. 5, 2024. Photo by AJ Canaria.
Katie Johnson, longtime general counsel for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), who also served as the organization’s chief member officer, is stepping down, a spokesperson for NAR confirmed to RISMedia. Johnson had spent 17 years with the organization, and the reason for her sudden departure was not immediately clear.
“Katie Johnson is stepping down as Chief Legal Officer and Chief Member Experience Officer after 17 years of dedicated service to NAR,” an NAR spokesperson said in a statement. “Having joined NAR in 2007, Katie has spent the bulk of her career committed to fulfilling NAR’s mission to make homeownership a reality for all Americans. We are grateful for her service.”
The spokesperson added, “As we make this transition, our priority is ensuring business continuity and remaining laser focused on shepherding NAR through this time of significant industry change.”
Johnson presided over what almost certainly has been the most tumultuous period in recent history for real estate, particularly in terms of legal troubles. Apart from the commission lawsuits, Johnson was caught up in the sexual harassment scandal that late last year forced former NAR President Kenny Parcell to step down, with an anonymous group of staffers calling for her resignation in September of 2023 based on alleged mishandling of complaints.
Johnson could not immediately be reached for comment. NAR did not immediately name a replacement or transition plan for Johnson’s role.
As chief legal officer, Johnson was at the head of a strenuous and long-running legal defense against multiple class-action lawsuits, the first of which were filed back in 2019. While she never made a court appearance in either of the landmark cases (known as Sitzer/Burnett and Moehrl), Johnson was often the face of NAR’s legal strategy, appearing at numerous industry conferences and making other media appearances.
NAR chose to take the Burnett case all the way to trial, where the organization was found liable by a jury for conspiracy and price fixing, eventually resulting in a $418 million settlement and major practice changes.
Just last month, Johnson made a high-profile appearance at RISMedia’s CEO & Leadership Exchange on Sept. 5, breaking down the current state and likely future paths for legal challenges to the industry. In her address, Johnson focused on continuity and how the industry can forge a path forward despite legal uncertainty.
Notably, though, Johnson opened her remarks with an acknowledgment that the settlement did not cover every company, as companies have had to strike their own agreement or pay millions to receive immunity through the NAR deal.
“It remained our goal through the settlement process to obtain a release that covered the most amount of agents, the most amount of brokerages and associations and MLSs as possible, because that was critical to paving a path forward for the industry,” Johnson said at the time.
Now no longer part of NAR’s legal effort, Johnson will not be part of NAR’s dispute with the Department of Justice, which it has promised to take all the way to the Supreme Court.
She also will not see the culmination of the seller class-action lawsuits, which will receive a final approval hearing on Nov. 26.
“We’ll go to Kansas City to seek the judge’s approval in the run up of that date,” Johnson said at the CEO & Leadership Exchange. “What happens if it doesn’t approve is a question that I heard in an earlier panel, and we will have to navigate those waters when we get to it.”
