COVER STORY Ryan Harrison, Sr. – Ryan serves as the Immediate Past President of the Wiley Manuel Bar Association, and Board Member for the California Association of Black Lawyers. He is a senior attorney at Webber & Egbert Employment Law, P.C.
2023 Judge of the Year: Lifelong Public Servant, Hon. TROY NUNLEY By Ryan Harrison, Sr.
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t’s a regular Wednesday for Eastern District of California, Federal Judge Troy Nunley. After hearing arguments from the bench, he heads over to Lincoln Law School where dozens of second-year law students eagerly await his arrival. Since 2007, Judge Nunley has been a law professor teaching Business Associations and Corporations to the next generation of legal practitioners. He thoroughly enjoys teaching and mentoring. Judge Nunley is a beloved member of the Sacramento community. A father of four, husband, mentor, and role model to members of both the bench and the bar, one must wonder where he draws his seemingly endless source of positive energy and patience. Those who come to know him are inspired by his consistency,
reliability, and good nature. Sacramento attorney and past president of the Wiley Manuel Bar Association of Sacramento County (“WMBA”), Carmen-Nicole Cox, says about Judge Nunley, “I have always been inspired by Judge Nunley’s unabashed pride in culture, his willingness to show up for others, and his reliability as a mentor. His intelligence and temperament have made him a much-respected jurist.” After graduating from Saint Mary’s College in 1986, Judge Nunley began his professional career as an employee of the State Bar of California. His work at the State Bar reaffirmed his lifelong desire to be an attorney, originally inspired by his mother’s work as a probation officer and the Perry Mason shows he watched with his grandmother.
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He earned his juris doctor from UC Law San Francisco (formerly known as UC Hastings College of the Law) in 1990. After becoming an attorney, Judge Nunley worked as a prosecutor for more than a decade. As a prosecutor, he sought to protect the citizens of our state through facilitating justice, fairness, and equity. He served as a deputy district attorney for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, and deputy attorney general at the California State Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General. Additionally, Judge Nunley had his own private law practice in the Bay Area, after leaving the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. In July 2002, Judge Nunley was