Marsha Moutrie is an attorney who has practiced in the public, private and nonprofit sectors since 1975, when she graduated from UCLA Law School. In 2016, she retired from government employment after serving for 22 years as the City Attorney of Santa Monica, California, where she headed the city's in-house law office and was responsible for all of the city's legal matters. Her work included writing and enforcing a wide variety of laws, including many environmental laws. In 2013, she wrote the City's Sustainability Rights Ordinance, which recognizes and codifies the fundamental and inalienable right of natural communities and ecosystems to exist and flourish.