Paul J. McMurdie
Paul J. McMurdie was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, by Governor Doug Ducey in 2016. Previously, Judge McMurdie spent eleven years on the Maricopa County Superior Court having been appointed to the superior court bench by Governor Janet Napolitano in 2005. While serving as a superior court judge, Judge McMurdie presided over civil, criminal, and family cases. Prior to being appointed to the Court of Appeals, Judge McMurdie was the Presiding Family Court Judge.
Judge McMurdie graduated with a B.A. degree in Political Science from Utah State University in 1982. He received his J.D. from Arizona State University in 1985. While in law school, he was selected for the Truman Young Fellowship as the outstanding criminal law student.
After graduating from ASU, Judge McMurdie worked for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in the Criminal Appeals Section. In 1991, he was appointed as the Section Chief for Criminal Appeals. In 2001, Judge McMurdie began working for the Maricopa Attorney’s Office as the Division Chief for Appeals and Research.
As a lawyer for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Judge McMurdie received the following awards: Arizona Prosecuting Attorney’s Advisory Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2004); Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Division Attorney of the Year Award (2005 and 2003); Arizona Attorney Generals’ Criminal Division Attorney of the Year Award (1991); Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council Prosecutor of the Year Award (1990), Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation Board of Director’s Award (2005); and United States Department of Labor Special Recognition Award (1990).
Judge McMurdie served in the following capacity as a lawyer: Family Law Executive Counsel for the State Bar (2015 to 2016); Chair, State Bar Criminal Jury Instructions Committee; Secretary-Treasurer Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation; Co-Chair Joint Legislative/Judicial Study Committee on Post-Conviction Relief; Co-Chair Arizona Supreme Court committee on Reducing Appellate Delay; and the Ninth Circuit Task Force on Capital Cases.