Mary G. Murphy

At 5 feet 5 inches tall, Murphy was positioned as a shooting guard by her school basketball coach. But she had a yearning to get down below and muscle her way through the opposition.

She's getting her chance as an attorney at Gibson Dunn working on land use deals redefining San Francisco.

"People like to joke in San Francisco that land use is a blood sport," Murphy said. "It's a contentious area, there's a lot of opposition, and people feel very passionately about land development."

This past year, Murphy has been able to guide a significant project through the turbulence. Her client, the Golden State Warriors basketball organization, is developing a new mixed-use event center in the Mission Bay area of San Francisco and has had its fair share of opponents. The team faced three lawsuits in three different counties - San Francisco, Sacramento and Alameda - challenging the project's approvals. Mission Bay Alliance v. Office of the Community Investment & Infrastructure et al., S239371 (Cal. Sup. Ct., Jan. 17, 2017).

Murphy successfully defeated each claim without costing delay in construction. She even thought about it in basketball terms.

"With the Warriors, playing defense is part of playing a full game," Murphy said. "On a personal level, having played sports doesn't make you accepting of losing but it does make you more philosophical about it. I'm a competitive person, but I've learned how to roll with the punches."

Murphy does not do litigation but she feels her competitive side come out in what she calls a "hybrid" function: she can negotiate real estate deals but she also attends administrative hearings in front of planning commissions and city councils where, she said, presentations can mirror litigation.

"It's a similar set of activities on a slightly less formal scale," Murphy said. "My practice lets me do all of it."

— Paula Lehman-Ewing