The Hon. Melissa R. McCormick is a judge for the Superior Court of Orange County in California. She was appointed by former governor Jerry Brown on July 16, 2015, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Marjorie L. Carter.
McCormick earned a B.A. from Stanford University in 1992. She then received a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995.
McCormick began her legal career as a law clerk for Chief Judge Judith N. Keep of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in 1995. She then briefly worked as a law clerk for Judge Emilio M. Garza of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In 1997 McCormick joined Irell and Manella as an associate. While at Irell and Manella, she specialized in complex business litigation and intellectual property litigation, eventually becoming a litigation partner in 2004.
McCormick is a former president of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. She has also served on the Judicial Board of the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Orange County.
She was a resident of Laguna Beach, California at the time of her appointment to the bench. Her husband, the Hon. Douglas McCormick, is a Federal Magistrate Judge.
She is registered without party preference.
