Profile

Trish K. Murphy
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Trish K. Murphy | Principal

Trish Murphy is an attorney and the founder of Northwest Workplace Law PLLC, a law firm devoted to independent investigations and labor and employment law.

With decades of experience in workplace law, labor relations, and investigations, Trish has developed a finely honed understanding of organizational dynamics and issues affecting workplaces and campuses.

A seasoned investigator, Trish focuses the majority of her practice on conducting high quality, impartial investigations of a diverse range of claims. She has performed more than 250 workplace investigations and Title IX/campus investigations, many involving highly charged situations with complex facts and sensitive allegations.

Trish is an Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH), a certified Title IX/civil rights investigator, an approved sexual misconduct investigator for United Educators, and a licensed private investigator in Washington and Oregon.

Trish’s background includes representing employers, employees, and unions and serving as a neutral for a civil rights enforcement agency. From this varied experience, she offers a well rounded perspective from all sides, ensuring a fair and even-handed process.

Clients rely on Trish’s expertise in conducting high caliber investigations that provide reliable insights and a full picture that requires no guesswork. To learn more, visit our Approach page.

Trish’s experience includes a wide spectrum of employment law issues, labor arbitration and unfair labor practice cases, and over a decade of experience serving as chief spokesperson in labor negotiations. She also has served as a Contributing Editor for the American Bar Association’s Bloomberg BNA labor law treatise, The Developing Labor Law, since 2015.

Professional Leadership

Trish is active in the professional legal community and has held a number of leadership positions, including Chair of the King County Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section and Chair of the Pacific Coast Labor and Employment Law Conference. She was a Trustee of the KCBA Labor and Employment Law Section for nine years and chaired the Mary Ellen Krug Scholarship Committee for eight years.

Trish has been an active member of the Pacific Coast Labor and Employment Law Conference Planning Committee for more than two decades, including serving as Conference Chair (2012-13), Labor Co-Chair (2016-17, 2019-21, 2022-23), EEO Co-Chair (2007-08), Marketing Co-Chair (2017-18), Scholarship Chair (2009-17), and Arrangements Chair (2008-11).

Education

Trish holds a juris doctor from the University of Washington School of Law, where she served as an editor of the Washington Law Review and received the Mary Ellen Krug Award for excellence in labor and employment law. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Washington, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Admission to Practice

State of Washington
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

Professional Affiliations

American Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section
Washington State Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section
King County Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section
Association of Workplace Investigators
Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA)