through 2017, she served as the City Attorney of Santa Monica. Marsha was born in the San Francisco Bay area. Her parent
Marsha Jones Moutrie Marsha Jones Moutrie is a southern California attorney, specializing in public law, policy and process. She has worked extensively in local government and in both the private and nonprofit sectors. From 1994 through 2017, she served as the City Attorney of Santa Monica. Marsha was born in the San Francisco Bay area. Her parents loved nature and generously shared that love with their children, frequently taking them to nearby beaches, tidepools, mountains, rivers and lakes for recreation and learning. On summer vacations, the family camped at parks throughout the western United States and backpacked in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Marsha attended the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles (UCLA). After graduating from UCLA law school in 1975, she taught in its clinical program for two years, while simultaneously working for the Legal Aid Society of Long Beach. At legal aid, she enforced her low-income clients’ legal rights and helped them secure government benefits, safe housing, and educational opportunities. In 1982, to enhance local access to justice, she founded the Orange County Volunteer Attorneys Program. Today, it continues to provide a variety of civil legal services to needy county residents. In 1984, Marsha began working for the City of Santa Monica as a Deputy City Attorney, defending the city in state and federal court against various individual and corporate claimants, including a major oil company. In 1987, she joined Richards, Watson & Gershon, a municipal law firm representing cities throughout California. Marsha represented numerous cities and other public entities in state and federal trial courts and on appeal. In 1994, Marsha was appointed City Attorney of Santa Monica. She held that position for 22 years, until her retirement. As the chief attorney for a city long recognized as a leader in environmental sustainability, Marsha drafted many ordinances protecting human and environmental health. Most notably, she prepared the city’s Sustainability Rights Ordinance. It extends existing city policy by recognizing the legal rights of both humans and of nature to flourish, now and in the future. It is the first ordinance in the western United States to recognize the rights of nature. Marsha’s major environmental work for Santa Monica also included directing its landmark lawsuit against all the major oil companies. The city sued those multi-national corporations to safeguard its water wells, which had been polluted by the gasoline additive commonly known as MTBE. The case helped eliminate the additive’s use in the United States, yielded a state of the art water treatment facility for the city, and garnered national attention. April 2018
