by Cathrine M. Castaldi
This year, the OCBA honors Julie M. McCoy with the Franklin G. West Award for a lifetime of contributions to the OCBA and the greater Orange County legal community. As female aviator Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman once said, “[i]f I can create the minimum of my plans and desires there shall be no regrets.” With quiet determination, Julie has plotted and realized many of her desires to live a life of service, adventure, and meaning.
It all started in Dallas, Texas, where Julie was raised by Gene and Betty McCoy. Gene was a leader in the community and a prominent real estate and oil and gas lawyer. Julie followed in her father’s footsteps, attending Baylor and then Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas, Texas, where they each graduated Order of the Coif. Fortunately for us, unlike her father, Julie decided that she wanted to live and work in California.
Julie began her legal career in California at Stradling, Yocca, Carlson & Rauth, where she became their first female partner and practiced for nearly twenty years. In 2003, Julie formed her own firm, where she continued to focus on appellate advocacy and business litigation. I had the good fortune to work alongside Julie on a difficult matter, where her skills in managing people and difficult legal arguments were on display. Bob Gilroy, one of Julie’s clients, praises Julie for her ability to quickly analyze complex issues and marshal the critical facts necessary to make a compelling legal argument. As Bob says, “I don’t know if there is a perfect appellate lawyer, but Julie sets the standard, as far as I am concerned.”
Some lawyers would be satisfied with a successful practice and paying clients, but Julie always had a broader plan for her career. She has served as president of the Orange County Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association of Orange County, and the Public Law Center, among other leadership roles. Julie left each organization better than she found it, and in each case, she has continued meaningfully participating even after serving in leadership positions. Her community service has always focused on improving the justice system and access to justice for the underserved. Again, Julie followed in her father’s footsteps. The genesis of Julie’s personal ethic is readily apparent when you read Julie’s 2009 Orange County Lawyer article about her father Gene. She wrote:
[M]y father unselfishly gave of his time to others without expecting anything in return. His pro bono legal service was performed humbly, under the radar. Never one to broadcast his virtues, my father quietly championed the cause of virtually every neighbor, family member, or friend that ever approached him in need. He volunteered his time for numerous charitable and civic endeavors. I don’t think he ever said “no” to any needy person or organization that sought his help.
These same words could easily be said of Julie. As OCBA President in 2006, Julie McCoy asked us to test our capacity for good.
In 2013, Julie was recognized with the State Bar of California President’s Pro Bono Service Award for providing legal services to individual low-income clients and nonprofit organizations. Pro bono service has consistently been part of Julie’s career as a lawyer. She started by volunteering at Human Options, a women’s shelter, and at pro bono legal clinics co-sponsored by the OCBA and the Public Law Center. Gradually, she began taking on more and more challenging pro bono cases.
These cases are the ones that have brought Julie some of her most cherished and fulfilling experiences as a lawyer. Julie concentrated her efforts in representing immigrants in their efforts to obtain legal status in the United States. Numerous clients have obtained visas, permanent resident status, or in some cases U.S. citizenship with Julie’s help. Many of these clients feared for their very lives if they were forced to return to their countries of origin. When asked to describe Julie’s work with the PLC, Ken Babcock said, “Julie has been so many things to us at PLC—leader, champion, supporter, volunteer—but some of our clients for whom Julie has provided life-changing pro bono legal services put it best when they called Julie their ‘angel.’” According to Julie, her pro bono work has given her more than it has required: “No amount of money could buy the experience of sharing in someone’s life being permanently changed for the better—witnessing a human being moved from despair to hope.”
As Amelia Earhart said, “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” Julie’s support of pro bono legal services led to two of her greatest passions: her love for flying and her beloved husband, Jack Schafer. At an OCBA Charitable Fund Auction in 1994, Julie bid on a one-hour flying lesson in a single engine Cessna. That lesson was the start of Julie’s love of flying or what she calls a “bad habit.” Julie took lessons at a flight school on the grounds of the Orange County Airport. She continued her lessons and earned her pilot’s license and then an instrument rating. One day after a flying lesson, Julie returned to her car to find that it wouldn’t start. Before she could call AAA, Jack Schafer, a nearby business owner, offered to help, and the rest is history. In Jack, Julie’s adventurous spirit met its match. Jack is a former professional boat racer, commercial pilot, and airplane broker, and is truly one of the most entertaining people I know. Julie and Jack were married in 2004 and share adventures in Julie’s twin-engine Beechcraft Baron. Julie often co-pilots for Jack when he pilots a Citation jet aircraft for private clients. They are a formidable team, both in the air and on the ground.
Flying became a passion for Julie, so she searched for a way to combine that passion with her desire to help people. In 1999, a few years after earning her private pilot license, Julie found her outlet in The Flying Samaritans and Liga International: The Flying Doctors of Mercy, charitable organizations providing medical and dental relief in remote areas of Mexico. Julie regularly piloted her plane loaded with doctors, nurses, and dental personnel. The medical professionals would operate the clinics, typically treating 3,000 patients in a single weekend. Not content to merely pilot, Julie also pitched in to help in the makeshift pharmacy, and served as President and General Counsel for Liga. In this work, Julie literally changed and saved lives. Julie has an extraordinary capacity for good, and her example challenges each of us to be better.
Jacqueline Cochran, another famous female aviator, said, “I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand. . . . Adventure is a state of mind and spirit.” Julie, too, is always looking for adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and close at hand. In 2017, Julie started a new venture, Dragonfly Coaching. While she still serves as counsel to several long-time clients, she has embarked on a career as a life coach. Here again, Julie is helping people recognize and realize their true potential. She has transferred skill sets honed in years of legal practice to benefit her clients. Julie listens to what her clients are saying and knows when to challenge their beliefs or self-doubt to help them achieve their goals. She already has a healthy roster of clients through referrals and will launch her website at www.dragonflycoachjulie.com early in 2018. No doubt, like everything Julie does, it will be an amazing, successful, life-changing adventure.
Cathrine M. Castaldi is a partner at Brown Rudnick in the Bankruptcy and Corporate Restructuring group. Like Julie, she was a past president of the Orange County Bar Association. She can be reached at ccastaldi@brownrudnick.com.