Mary Ann Murphy

Judge Mary Ann Murphy has served on the Superior Court for 33 years, presiding over more than 400 civil jury trials. She currently sits in a trial court at the Spring Street Courthouse. She was the first judge to lead Best Practices for Mosk Central Civil judges, a role she held for nine years. Her leadership produced numerous improvements to the administration of justice, including the first asbestos working group. Elected to five terms on the Superior Court's Executive Committee, she has also served on the Judicial Council Civil and Small Claims Committee and on statewide working groups and court committees. She is a former officer and executive board member of the California Judges Association, and she was named a 2023 Metropolitan News Person of the Year. For seven years, Judge Murphy served as an Associate Editor of Weil and Brown, Civil Procedure Before Trial. She has taught and moderated numerous programs for judges and attorneys, and she enjoys legal writing, teaching, and mentoring law students. Each summer, she supervises students from law schools in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Since 2017, she has been an invited member of the Irish Legal 100, the annual compilation of the most distinguished Irish American judges, scholars, and lawyers in the United States. A past president of the Irish American Bar Association, she received the Daniel O'Connell Award for her service to the Irish American community.

The views expressed in this article are Judge Murphy's own; she does not write on behalf of the court or any other judge.