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.
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