Anne Marie Murphy

Anne Marie Murphy is a Principal at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP, where she practices civil litigation focusing on complex commercial litigation, class actions, public nuisance litigation, consumers’ rights and elder abuse litigation—however, her litigation practice is far ranging and includes being the court appointed co-lead counsel for a nationwide securities class action, litigating against Major League Baseball over the Baseball Antitrust Exemption and representing taxpayers in a suit to stop Governor Schwarzenegger from selling major Californian historic properties and courthouses.

Ms. Murphy received her Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College and her Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center. While attending Georgetown, she worked full time as a Legislative Assistant in the U.S. Senate.

After graduating from law school, she initially practiced law in San Francisco, handling complex commercial litigation. She also worked on a pro bono basis for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel.

Ms. Murphy’s jury trial experience includes cases involving elder abuse, business disputes, real estate, probate and trust. Ms. Murphy has also acted as co-lead counsel in several consumer class actions which have returned millions of dollars to consumers across the country. Ms. Murphy has argued before the Ninth Circuit as well as the Joint Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Ms. Murphy is on the Advisory Board of Berkeley’s Civil Justice Research Institute. CJRI is a think tank chaired by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

Ms. Murphy serves on the Board of Directors of Consumer Attorneys of California ‘s (CAOC) Executive Committee, is past Chair of the Women’s Caucus, and current co-chair of CAOC’s Convention and its Sonoma Seminar. She has received numerous CAOC Presidential Awards of Merit and is a past finalist for the Consumer Attorney of the Year Award.

Ms. Murphy served for many years on the Board of Directors of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (“CANHR”), including as President. CANHR is one of the largest and most respected non-profits in the country devoted to the protection of senior citizens.

Ms. Murphy is on Super Lawyers’ Northern California list of the top 100 lawyers and top 50 women lawyers. She has been elected to the Litigation Counsel of America (as a Fellow) and to the Irish Legal 100. She has been honored by the Daily Journal as one of the top 100 women lawyers in California and one of the top 25 plaintiff attorneys in California.

In 2010, Ms. Murphy was appointed as a Commissioner on the California Commission on Access to Justice (now CalATJ) and served on the CalATJ for thirteen years.

Ms. Murphy is a long-standing member of Consumer Attorneys of California, the American Association for Justice, the San Mateo County Bar Association, the San Mateo Trial Lawyers Association, and is a lifetime member of California Women Lawyers.

Ms. Murphy has provided frequent commentary on consumer issues and has appeared on local as well as national news broadcasts including Morning Joe, ABC 7 On Your Side, View From The Bay and Good Morning America (ABC).

Ms. Murphy serves on the Editorial Board of CAOC’s Forum Magazine. Her publications include:

Forum Magazine’s (CAOC) 2022 Civil Rights Issue (Issue Editor); “Everything we do is About Civil Right’s," Forum Magazine July/August 2022; “Charles Bonner interview: Tip of the Arrow,” Forum Magazine July/August 2022; “Financial elder abuse: Holding institutions liable for aiding and abetting abuse,” Forum Magazine, May/June 2019, Vol. 49 No. 3; "Same Road, Different Stops" (Elder Abuse Litigation), The Docket, San Mateo County Bar Association, Volume 49, No. 1, Jan/Feb 2013. “Upcoming Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure”, Plaintiff Magazine, October 2015. “Pennies From Heaven” (re Cy Pres), San Francisco Daily Journal, November 22, 2013.

Ms. Murphy was profiled by Plaintiff Magazine in 2016 “Profile: Anne Marie Murphy She made the transition from defense, enjoyed some early success and never looked back.” She was also profiled by Forum Magazine in 2015 “Volunteer spotlight – Anne Marie Murphy.”