Her grandfather, father and uncle (Gomer Smith, Homer Smith and Gomer Smith Jr.) all were lawyers in Oklahoma City.
Ever since she was a girl, Murphy has been fascinated with the law and the excitement of figuring out the facts of a case.
"There's always something new and different,” Murphy said. "It's never boring especially as a litigator.”
But Murphy started working as a first-grade teacher.
"It never occurred to women of my era to do anything but get married and pursue a supportive career,” Murphy, 62, said. "You got your teaching certificate to fall back on, in case your husband died.”
When Murphy became a civil litigator in 1975, her father was more than proud. A district judge in Oklahoma County, he wanted to come across the hall and watch her try her first case, though she convinced him not to.
Thirty-three years ago, women attorneys in the city were few. One big law firm in Oklahoma City didn't hire her because she was a woman, she later learned. When she joined Crowe & Dunlevy in 1975, she was the firm's only female lawyer. Today, 33 percent of its 118 attorneys and a quarter of its partners are women.
Murphy in 1981 was made its first female partner and is completing a two-year term as the firm's second female president, following a stint as president of the Oklahoma County Bar Association.
The lawyer recently sat down with The Oklahoman to talk about her personal and professional life. The following is an edited transcript:
Q: Tell us about your childhood.A: I have one sibling, a brother (Homer Smith Jr.) who is six years younger. I attended Nichols Hills Elementary and Harding High School, where I was president of the Pep Club and a straight-A student. I met my husband, Mike Murphy, when we were both seniors. My mother (who was such a great friend) and I were at Penn Square in September of my senior year and I was telling her about how all the cute boys had gone off to college. There was a dance coming up where the girls asked the boys. Mike walked up and said, ‘Hi.'
After he left, Mother asked "What about him?” We dated from then on. I went to OU and he to OSU and Central State, and then we married after graduation. I think it's worked all these years because he's let me be me. Growing up at that time, girls weren't supposed to outdo boys. But Mike was OK if I made better grades or beat him in bowling. I wasn't a threat to him. He was self-confident and proud of me.
Q: So you started out as a teacher? A: Yes. While Mike was in active-duty Navy, I taught first grade in Rhode Island and fourth grade in Orange County (Calif). I'd basically never left Oklahoma City except for one week at camp, which I hated. So it was a wonderful awakening to live and work somewhere else. I loved the "aha” moments of teaching first-graders to read. There's nothing better. As a teacher, your challenge is to pull together skills and present them in a way to inspire students' interests. Similarly in law, I enjoy gathering facts and presenting them in a winning manner.
Q: And you were a mom when you went to law school?A: Yes. We moved to Madison, Wis., for Mike to take a management opportunity with Carnation Can Co. My older son, Steve, was born in March 1972 and the following September I started law school at the University of Wisconsin. I'd go to school in the morning, be with my son in the afternoons and then study after he was in bed. I know it sounds hectic. But I was most efficient during those years. On class breaks, I'd run to the library to read something for the next class. It was amazing. I could do more in seven minutes under pressure than 30 minutes without. My third year in law school, I and other classmates who were parents traded off watching our kids in a parent-run day care.
Q: Was it tough starting out, when there were so few women in law? A: At first, it was. Soon after I joined, Crowe & Dunlevy had a function in what was then a men-only dining room of the Petroleum Club downtown. The club informed the firm I could not attend. But Fred Dunlevy said if I couldn't, he'd cancel the event and withdraw the firm's membership. I went to the function and the men-only policy soon went by the wayside. Something similar happened with a client's previously all-male golf tournament. But the need for support gradually diminished as the firm took such a strong stand.
At times it's been a strain balancing family and work. My older son was 3 when I joined the firm in 1975 and my younger son was born the year I made partner, 1981. But the firm is accommodating of family obligations. I didn't miss any of the boys' ballgames, plays or school events. I'd just work through lunch, catch up at home or go in early the next morning. Now, Mike and I share the cooking. I typically plan the meals and cook the sides. He grills.
Q: I understand you two just have lived through the toughest several months of your lives.A: Yes, our younger son, Matt, 25, died inexplicably on Sept. 10. He was in his second year of law school at OCU and was working downtown at the Oklahoma County Public Defenders' Office. We frequently had lunch together and talked about the law.
You worry all the time that something could happen to your children, but you never really believe anything would happen. Then something does and you realize you're not bullet-proof and anything could happen to anyone anytime.
Matt has a daughter, Vivienne Grace, now 20 months. We get to watch her grow up ... We're taking her, our three other grandchildren and their parents to Disney World in March. We're looking forward to it.
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Brooke Smith Murphy, president of Crowe and Dunlevy, stands Thursday by a window in her office in downtown Oklahoma City. by NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
Personally speaking
•Position: President, Crowe & Dunlevy law firm.
•Birth date: Sept. 27, 1945.
•Family: Husband, Mike Murphy, director of information technology for the Oklahoma City Community Foundation; sons, Steve Murphy, 36, of New Jersey; the late Matt Murphy; four grandchildren, ages 20 months to 6 years.
•Education: University of Oklahoma; graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree in history; University of Wisconsin School of Law, juris doctorate.
•Pastimes: Hiking, reading (everything from Harry Potter to spy novels to science nonfiction), aerobics, travel and history.
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