Marni von Wilpert is an American attorney and politician serving as a member of the

San Diego City Council The San Diego City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of San Diego, California. The city council was first established in San Diego in 1850. The council uses a strong mayor system with a separately elected mayor who acts ...

representing the 5th district. She assumed office on December 10, 2020, succeeding

Mark Kersey Mark Kersey (born ) is an American politician who was a member of the San Diego City Council for District 5 from 2012 to 2020. He was elected in June 2012 and re-elected in June 2016. Kersey was council president ''pro tem'' in 2016 and 2017. ...

Early life and education

Marni von Wilpert was raised in the

Scripps Ranch Scripps Ranch is a community of San Diego, California in the northeastern part of that city. Its ZIP code is 92131. It is located east of Interstate 15, north of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and south of Poway. Scripps Ranch is a coastal/i ...

neighborhood of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. After graduating from

Scripps Ranch High School Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) is a public school located in northeast San Diego, California, United States, that serves the Scripps Ranch community as well as students participating in the Voluntary Enrollment Exchange Program (VEEP) busing pro ...

in 2001, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in peace and conflict studies from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. She then earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test take ...

Career

After receiving her degree from the University of California, Berkeley, von Wilpert served as a

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

volunteer in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. After graduating from law school, von Wilpert founded a legal clinic associated with the Mississippi Center for Justice. Additionally, von Wilpert served as a law clerk for

James E. Graves Jr. James Earl Graves Jr. (born November 19, 1953) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Early years The son of a Baptist minister, Graves was born and raised i ...

and worked as an attorney for the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...

. She was also a detail staffer on the United States House Committee on Education and Labor and served as an advisor to committee chair Congressman Bobby Scott. In 2017, von Wilpert joined the Economic Policy Institute as Associate Labor Counsel. Since 2018, she has served as Deputy City Attorney in the San Diego City Attorney's Office. In the 2020 election for the

, von Wilpert placed first in the nonpartisan blanket primary and defeated Joe Leventhal in the November general election. She assumed office on December 10, 2020. In December 2020, she was appointed to serve on the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board of directors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:von Wolpert, Marni Living people Politicians from San Diego Lawyers from San Diego Scripps Ranch High School alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Fordham University School of Law alumni California Democrats 1980s births San Diego City Council members 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Women city councillors in California 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers