Judge Mark S. Millard spent most of his time as a lawyer and all of his time as a judge in the narrow niche of Family Law. He is a double USC graduate (an undergraduate degree in 1960 in economics and business – numbers, and a JD degree in 1963 from the USC law school). After graduation, then lawyer Millard worked for a general litigation law firm in Orange County, Hurwitz & Hurwitz, plus two other firms before forming his own practice, Millard, Castle & Monarch. Governor Gray Davis appointed about-to-be Judge Millard to the Orange County Superior Court in August 2003 to succeed Christopher Strople. By the time of his appointment, the O.C. Courts had opted for specialization in judging such as civil, criminal, juvenile, probate and family law. Given his emphasis in family law in his law practice, he was an obvious choice to become a family law judge. In 2008 and again in 2017, Judge Millard was awarded Outstanding Judge of the Year by the Family Law Specialist of the Orange County Bar Association and American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Judge Millard states that he enjoys being a family law judge despite the occasional high emotion. He has no immediate plans to change this, although a number of his colleagues have gone into private judging with the many retired-judge mediation services that now populate the legal community. Being a former business major, Judge Millard confesses that he enjoys the numbers side of family law (translated: dividing up the gold rather than more emotionally-charged custody battles). And he acknowledges in family law, emotions run high. This is compounded by the fact that someone is going to lose. This typically leads to emotional disappointment versus the discipline of a CEO of a corporation who loses a battle in court and, in most instances, moves on irrespective of the unfavorable decision. Judge Millard observes that family law judging is not for the faint at heart; many judges avoid the emotionally-charged family law for fear it will taint their reputations. To Judge Millard, it is just part of the (sometimes challenging) assignment.

Regarding his perspective on today’s Orange County legal community, Judge Millard observes that when he started his legal career after USC, Orange County was the land of opportunity where a few lawyers controlled the business. With today’s growth in population and the staggering growth in the number of lawyers, Orange County now appears to be an extension of the more competitive LA market.

The personal side of Judge Millard seems to be a little racy – well, he enjoys racing cars. In the photo below, there he is behind the wheel racing to court lest he be late for his ex parte calendar. His specialty, not Formula 1, but none the less Formula racing cars. He also enjoys tennis.

With regard to receivers, Judge Millard subscribes to the belief that receiverships and the receiver are an extreme remedy and should be used sparingly. Receivers are expensive. Judge Millard has appointed many over the years but only where there was a complex piece of real estate or business to sell or divide that required outside input to advise the Court. His pattern is to attempt to get the Petitioner and Respondent to divide the assets willingly versus having to go to the expense of a third-party receiver. But when the job is not getting done, receivers can provide the Court and the divorcing couple with expertise and neutral thinking. His experience with receivers has been favorable and the parties are warned about the expense (and given an opportunity to resolve the issues themselves) before the appointment.

Among other interests, Judge Millard played football in high school and his freshman year at USC (where he attended based on an academic scholarship). He jokes that he used to be 6’6” tall but after years on the bench, he is alas only 5’8.” While he was born in LA and prior to college, Judge Millard spent some of his early years in San Francisco with his family – enough time to become a life-long fan of the San Francisco Giants and the 49ers (where he had season tickets for a few decades). A high point of memorabilia in his chambers is a seat from the old Candlestick Park along with Joe DiMaggio’s shirt when he played for the San Francisco Seals (see photo above).

On the personal side, Judge Millard’s has two grown daughters: Nicole lives in Austin, Texas and Michelle lives in Albany, California. He has three grandchildren from the two daughters: Olivia is going to Northwestern State University in Louisiana on a soccer scholarship and her brother Alex is in high school in Texas. Stella is undecided (maybe a future family-law judge)? Thanks to Judge Mark S. Millard for giving Receivership News a glimpse into his unique background and accomplishments.