by The Honorable Kathleen E. O’Leary
The OCBA Masters Division was founded in 2011 to serve the unique abilities, needs, and agendas of practitioners with twenty-five years or more tenure in the practice of law. The founding co-chairs were Thomas Malcolm and the late Honorable Alicemarie Stotler. The Masters Division seeks to uphold the honor and dignity of the legal profession, apply the knowledge and experience of its members to promote the public good, and cultivate social discourse among its members. Among its activities, the Masters Division selected judges or lawyers who have an outstanding reputation in the legal community to receive a Legend of the Law Award.
On September 14, 2023, the Masters Division of the OCBA honored two new Legends of the Law. Justice John K. Trotter (Ret.) and Marjorie G. Fuller. A sell-out crowd was on hand at the Pacific Club to celebrate the honorees.
Presiding Justice John K. Trotter (Ret.) Justice Trotter began practicing in Orange County in 1964 when there were only sixteen Superior Court judges in the county. He was the second president of the Orange County chapter of American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in 1969. In 1978, he was the OCBA president. He received the Franklin G. West Award in 1985. In the early 1980s, Justice Trotter was one of a small group of legal community leaders who helped form Amicus Publico, which ultimately became the Public Law Center. In an interview several years ago, Justice Trotter stated that his efforts in helping form Amicus Publico was one of the proudest moments of his legal career.
Justice Trotter served as an Orange County Superior Court judge from 1979 until 1982 when he was appointed to serve as an Associate Justice on the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two. In 1982, he was appointed to serve as the Presiding Justice of the newly created Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three. When Division Three was established, the other two divisions in the Fourth District immediately transferred all pending writs and appeals (roughly 300 cases) that had originated in Orange County to the new division. The court inherited an immediate backlog despite the fact the court had no court facility, no clerk of the court, and no staff. The court’s first conference was held in the breakfast room at Presiding Justice Trotter’s home.
Presiding Justice Trotter worked with his colleagues assiduously to manage the flow of cases. To speed up the process, he instituted an automation program to enable individual justices to type their opinions directly into a computer, rather than writing them by hand. This was very innovative at the time when most legal writing was still done on typewriters. Because of Justice Trotter’s innovative leadership, by 1985, he and his colleagues were averaging about 140 opinions per justice, per year—more opinions per justice than elsewhere in the state.
In 1987, Justice Trotter resigned his position at the court of appeal and joined Judge Warren Knight (Ret.) at JAMS. Judge Knight’s idea that private dispute resolution could serve a useful purpose was questioned by many: “Why would anyone pay for services that are available for free in the courts?” Justice Trotter embraced the concept of private dispute resolution and worked tirelessly throughout the state to persuade lawyers to accept the private dispute resolution process as a quicker and more efficient process. Justice Trotter was selected as a 2011 “Most Influential Attorney” for Alternative Dispute Resolution by the National Law Journal.
In addition to his extraordinary career as an attorney, a judge and justice, and a neutral, he is a very accomplished family man. He has been married to Katharine N. Trotter for sixty-three years. They have seven children, nineteen grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren. Justice Trotter is a true Renaissance man.
Marjorie G. Fuller Ms. Fuller is a former trial attorney who now limits her practice to civil appeals and writs and trial consultation. She has been principal attorney on more than 750 appeals, writ petitions, and petitions for review in state and federal reviewing courts; sixty of her cases resulted in opinions published in California Official Reports. She has authored numerous articles, and has been a featured speaker on the law, appellate procedure, and legal writing for bar associations, law schools, and professional groups.
The story of her career path is interesting, just like Marj. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and University of Southern California Law School. She originally planned on being a concert pianist or a journalist, and she was going to travel, but a blind date with her husband Earl changed all that. While Earl went to medical school, Ms. Fuller taught high school and later went on to get a master’s degree in English. She also worked as a professional writer and editor. Her experience as a professional writer may be why she gravitated towards specializing in appellate work in recent years.
Ms. Fuller grew up in a time when it was uncommon for Jewish women to pursue a career as a lawyer; even her father initially wondered about a woman becoming a lawyer. But there is nothing common about Marj. In her life, she has faced antisemitism, gender discrimination, and other challenges, but rather than be intimidated, she worked to address the injustices. She co-chaired the historic Orange County Bar Gender Equity Committee and was one of the first women to sit on the board of directors of the OCBA.
Among her many honors, Ms. Fuller received the Franklin G. West Award, from the OCBA, its highest award for lifetime achievement in law and justice. She was named Attorney of the Year by the Orange County Women Lawyers and received the Anti-Defamation League’s Marcus M. Kaufman Jurisprudence Award. In 2014, she was awarded the Presiding Justice David G. Sills Award for Appellate Excellence from the Orange County Bar Association Appellate Law Section. Ms. Fuller has also been selected as a 2019 and 2020 Southern California Super Lawyer.
Ms. Fuller has received a Pro Bono Publico Award from the Orange County Bar Association for serving as Co-Chair of the Bar’s historic Gender Equity Committee, and the Orange County Bar Association President’s MVP Award. In addition to serving on the OCBA Board of Directors, she was the president of the Family Law Section of the OCBA. Her memberships have included the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the Orange County Trial Lawyers’ Association, the Southern California Skeptics’ Association, and Mensa.
During her remarks, Ms. Fuller recalled what the early days were like for her when women lawyers in the courtroom were somewhat rare. Although she recounted instances of what can only be described as sexism, she did so with typical good humor, but a firm commitment to equality in the law for all.
In her rare free time, Ms. Fuller enjoys spending time with her spouse, Earl Fuller, and her kids Craig, Michael, Eric, and Julia. And she is very proud of her eight grandchildren and her first great-grandchild. Ms. Fuller is also an avid traveler. She and Earl have traveled the world and have made sixty trips to Paris. (I guess that’s a favorite for them.) In addition to family and travel, Ms. Fuller loves art, history, museums, and reading novels.
In Memory of Our Departed Colleagues The evening was a wonderful opportunity for members and their guests to reconnect and reminisce, but it was also an opportunity for reflection. During the pandemic, selection of Legend of the Law Award recipients was suspended, and strong contenders passed away. Those strong contenders were Judge James O. Perez (Ret.), Judge Frank Ospino, Judge Frances Muñoz (Ret.), and Justice D. Richard D. Fybel (Ret.). The contributions of these legal luminaries were recognized at the reception and a family representative was presented a plant from the Masters Division.
Judge Perez, the first Latino lawyer and the first Latino judge in Orange County, passed away November 9, 2019, at the age of 93. He was a founding member of the Orange County Mexican American Bar Association, now the Hispanic Bar Association. Judge Perez was also a founding partner of the law firm of Tuller, Rustin & Perez prior to his appointment to the bench. Governor Pat Brown appointed him to be a judge of the Orange County Municipal Court in December 1966 and in December 1975, Governor Jerry Brown elevated him to be a judge of the Orange County Superior Court. After retiring in 1987, Judge Perez frequently came back to court and sat on assignment. His legacy on the bench continues with sons Judge Joe Perez, Judge Michael Perez, and daughter-in-law Judge Katherine Lewis (spouse of son Robert Perez, a lawyer).
Judge Ospino passed away on February 19, 2022, at the age of 61. He was the son of immigrants and was the first in his family to attend college. He entered the legal profession with a commitment to help those in need and he truly made a difference in every life he touched. Judge Ospino joined the Orange County Public Defender’s Office after law school and became the first Latino to lead the office in 2012. In 2015, he was appointed to the bench, where he served until his untimely death. Judge Ospino was an accomplished trial lawyer, administrator, and judge, but what most will remember are his human qualities—his compassion, his generosity, quick wit and sense of humor, his work ethic, and his collegiality. He will always be remembered for his tremendous sense of humanity and his commitment to respecting the dignity of everyone he encountered.
Judge Muñoz passed away on October 17, 2022, at age 92. She was the first Latina trial judge in California and is believed to be the first in the nation. She also was the daughter of a Mexican immigrant who worked as a coal miner in Colorado. In 1941, the family moved to Corona, California. After law school, Judge Muñoz joined the Orange County Public Defender’s Office in 1972. She was the first Latina to be employed at the office. In 1978, she was appointed to the bench where she served until her retirement and then returned to sit on assignment. Judge Muñoz will also be remembered for all of her community work. She co-founded the Luévano Foundation, a charitable group that awards scholarships to Latino students who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend Catholic schools in the county. She also helped to establish the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund, which offers scholarships to first-generation college students in Orange County.
Justice Richard D. Fybel passed away December 2, 2022, at age 76. Before his appointment to the Orange County Superior Court in 2000, he was a partner in the law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP. Justice Fybel was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court in April 2000, and he was elevated to the appellate court in February 2002. He retired in March 2022 after authoring over 2,000 opinions, including 260 published opinions. Justice Fybel was a statewide leader in the area of judicial ethics. For eighteen years, he chaired the California Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics and co-authored the treatise on judicial ethics, the “California Judicial Conduct Handbook.”
Justice Fybel was the son of immigrants. His father’s family escaped Nazi Germany in 1938 via Holland and his mother, then only sixteen, organized her and her mother’s emigration in 1939 from Lithuania. In addition to his work as a lawyer, judge, and justice, Justice Fybel will be remembered by the promise he lived by: “to always remember where [he] came from and to work diligently to give life in writing and in deed to the principles of democracy, liberty, and justice.”
May our departed colleagues rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.
We welcome Justice Trotter and Ms. Fuller to the distinguished group of judges and lawyers who have previously been honored with the Legends of the Law Award. Prior recipients of the Legends of the Law Award are the Honorable Byron McMillian (2011), Arthur Gray, Jr. and Louis Knobbe (2012), the Honorable Alicemarie Stotler and Thomas Malcolm (2013), the Honorable David O. Carter and Mark P. Robinson, Jr. (2014), the Honorable James V. Selna and Don W. Martens (2015), the Honorable Kathleen E. O’Leary and John B. Hurlbut, Jr. (2016), the Honorable Raymond J. Ikola and Allan H. Stokke (2018), and the Honorable Francisco P. Briseño and Wylie A. Aitken (2019).
The Honorable Kathleen E. O’Leary serves as Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three. She can be reached about this article through the Editor-in-Chief.