The $5 Baby, cont. from page 29
Have any interesting stories from those days? Well I do remember meeting a couple from California who said they wanted “an older home.” I showed them some lovely homes from the 1700s. Turns out what they meant was that they wanted a tract house from the 1950s!
At some point you must have switched to law? One day I was driving around with my real estate business partner—we were arguing about something—and in the middle of our discussion, he looked at me and said, “You should have been a lawyer.” This was the exact same thing my parents always said to me, so I thought “maybe he’s right.” He drove me to Northeastern University and we got the LSAT paperwork that same day.
I ultimately decided that family law was the perfect fit for me: Real estate issues, one-on-one work with people and lots of problem-solving.
to record it and watch afterwards. Otherwise, I get so involved in the game that my heart starts pounding too hard.
After graduation, I accepted a job with Peter Lowenstein’s firm. He was very pleased to learn that before I could start work, I would have to serve as a juror in a three-week murder trial in Judge (now Justice) Mark Simon’s department.
What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
I was elected foreperson of that jury and learned more about criminal law in those three weeks than I ever did in law school. I got my bar exam results during the trial and everyone on the jury was very happy for me—it was sweet.
Rumor has it that you’re a sports fan. I love watching the Warriors and the Oakland A’s. Harrison Barnes is my favorite player because he is such a decent guy. Much as I love basketball, though, if I am not watching it at the arena, I have
I watch “The Walking Dead.”
What is one thing that most people don’t know about you? My sisters and I used to sing. We were known as “The Murphy Sisters” and sang folk and pop—back then I even played guitar. s Madga Lopez joined the Contra Costa Superior Court after 20+ years in civil practice. As the Director of Court Programs and Services, her responsibilities include supervision of all aspects of family law, the legal research attorneys, alternative dispute resolution programs and the interpreters.
How was law school? During my first year of law school, my husband got a job in California. He moved in the middle of the year while I went to school, took care of the kids and sold the house. When I finally got to Concord, it was 104 degrees the day we moved in. Shortly thereafter, I took BART to the University of San Francisco, where it was 55 degrees—nothing can prepare you for that!
You made it through law school—and then what led you to family law? I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do—med mal? Real estate? Insurance defense? At some point, I took a community property class that I thought was really interesting. Then I found an internship at a family law firm in Walnut Creek (thank you, John Manoogian).
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NOVEMBER 2015
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MEDIATION CENTER
“A unique and effective style a great mediator” Candice Stoddard Ron Mullin
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