Professional Experience
Councilmember Marni von Wilpert represents District 5 on the San Diego City Council and was previously a San Diego Deputy City Attorney. She is proud to serve as Chair of the Committee on Public Safety, Vice Chair of the Committee on Environment, Vice Chair of the Committee on Community Neighborhood Services, and Member of the Committee on Active Transportation and Infrastructure.
Councilmember von Wilpert also serves as a Member on the San Diego Regional Airport Authority Board, Chair of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority Capital Improvement Program Oversight Committee, Member of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority Executive-Finance Committee, and a Member of both the San Dieguito River Valley Regional Open Space JPA and the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.
Councilmember von Wilpert now lives in Scripps Ranch, just miles from her childhood home. She received a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley and served in the Peace Corps in Botswana, Africa where she helped improve access to healthcare and worked on treatment, prevention, and care for children and adults living with HIV/AIDS.
After returning from Botswana, she obtained her law degree from Fordham University School of Law in New York and graduated Magna Cum Laude. She was admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 2011 and was awarded the Skadden Fellowship for Public Interest law, where she worked with the Mississippi Center for Justice to create the first HIV/AIDS civil rights law practice in the state. She provided free legal services to people facing discrimination based on race, HIV-status, and LGBTQ identity.
Councilmember von Wilpert served as a Law Clerk from 2013 to 2014 for Hon. James E. Graves, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, and worked as an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law teaching legal writing, research, and analysis. From 2014 to 2017, she was a litigator in the National Labor Relations Board’s Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Branch, where she represented the federal agency in the United States Courts of Appeals. During 2016, she served as an attorney in the U.S. House of Representatives for Congressman Robert C. Scott, drafting national legislation to promote workers’ rights on the job. Councilmember von Wilpert then served as an Associate Labor Counsel for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., drafting state legislation and regulations affecting workers’ rights, wages and working conditions.
After she was admitted to the California Bar, Councilmember von Wilpert became a Deputy City Attorney in the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit of the San Diego City Attorney’s Office. She represented the City and people of the State of California in court, enforcing laws that protect consumers, employees, and the environment. She initiated legal action to protect public health and safety, restore environmental quality, and sustain economic vitality in San Diego.
Councilmember von Wilpert will continue serving on the boards of several community organizations, including San Diego Youth Services, Teen Health Mississippi, and the National Women’s Political Caucus.