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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 18, 2018—The Orange County Bar Association will present attorney Julie M. McCoy with the Franklin G. West Award at its 2018 Judges’ Night & Annual Meeting tonight at the Irvine Marriott in Irvine, Calif.
First established in 1971 in honor of the late Judge Franklin G. West, the Franklin G. West Award represents the highest honor awarded by the OCBA.
Practicing law for more than 35 years, Ms. McCoy has distinguished herself as a business litigator and appellate advocate, first as a part of nationally recognized firms and in recent years as a solo practitioner based in Newport Beach, Calif. However, in the Orange County legal community, her reputation is as synonymous with exceptional character and service as it is with an outstanding legal career.
Ms. McCoy served as OCBA President in 2006, and then OCBA Charitable Fund President the following year. A few years after her term as president, in 2012, she co-founded and chaired the OCBA Masters Division, a special division of the OCBA that boasts nearly 1,000 members who have practiced law for 25 years or longer. As a part of the founding group, she was instrumental in developing the division’s Legends of the Law Awards program.
Additionally, she was president of the Federal Bar Association of Orange County and a board member of the Orange County Chapter for Association of Business Trial Lawyers. She also served as a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council. However, Ms. McCoy’s career has included more than professional titles and accolades.
Since 2008, Ms. McCoy has been a supporter of the Public Law Center. She received the Public Law Center’s Attorney of the Year Award in 2013 for her representation of immigrant victims of crime and immigrants fleeing persecution in their home countries. That same year, in October, Ms. McCoy received the California State Bar’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award at the State Bar Annual Meeting for her work in providing and enabling the direct provision of legal services to low-income clients. Several years later, in 2014 and 2015, she served as president of the Public Law Center.
Apart from legal services, Ms. McCoy volunteered for a local women’s shelter, Human Options, as well as coached high school students as a part of the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Orange County’s mock trial competition. Most notably, she is a pilot for Liga International and the Flying Doctors of Mercy, a charitable organization that provides free medical and dental care to remote, impoverished regions of Mexico. For years, she has regularly flown doctors, nurses, dentists, and provisions to Liga’s clinics in Sinaloa, Mexico. From 2001 to 2002, Ms. McCoy served as president of Liga International.
Before establishing herself as a solo practitioner in 2003, Ms. McCoy was a partner at the 100-attorney Newport Beach-based firm Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, where she practiced for almost 20 years. Prior to joining Stradling, she was an associate with the prestigious firm Locke, Purnell, Boren, Laney & Neely in Dallas, Texas.
Ms. McCoy earned her undergraduate degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. In 1983, She received her J.D. from Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas, Texas.
About the Orange County Bar AssociationEstablished in 1901, the Orange County Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary bars in California. The mission of the Orange County Bar Association is to enhance the system of justice, to support the lawyers who serve it, and to assist the community served by it.
About the Franklin G. West AwardEstablished in 1971 in memory of the late Judge Franklin G. West, a highly respected jurist who served on the bench from January 1939 to March 1965, the West Award is bestowed upon an outstanding attorney or judge who has made significant contributions to advance and elevate justice and law. Judge West’s 26 years and two months on the bench constituted the longest term ever served by a judge in California.
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