About The Author

Jack F. Govi was born in Vallejo, CA. His family moved to San Rafael when Jack was eight years old. He attended public schools in San Rafael, graduating from Terra Linda High School. Jack attended the University of Santa Clara, graduating with a Bachelor of Science. He attended law school at night at San Francisco Law School, graduating at the top of his class.
Jack is married to Dr. Dolores Murphy. They reside together in San Francisco and Novato (Ignacio). Dolores inspired and encouraged Jack to write WINNING.

College & Law School

During college and law school, Jack had several jobs including truck driver, warehouseman, factory worker and custodian. Jack was the first paid legal intern at the County of Marin’s Public Defender’s Office during his last three years (1977 – 1979) of law school. He became a Certified Legal Intern with the Public Defender, which allowed him to make court appearances, conduct court trials and even jury trials under the supervision of an attorney. He conducted numerous court trials and two jury trials as a legal intern.

Professional Career

Jack graduated from law school in 1979 and passed the bar exam that year. He worked as an attorney and Investigator for the Marin Public Defender until February 1981, when he transitioned to civil law at the Marin County Counsel’s Office. He worked for Marin County Counsel for thirty-nine years rising up to become the Assistant County Counsel for over twenty years and Acting County Counsel for a year. In 1983, Jack worked for several months in the Marin County District Attorney’s Office prosecuting criminal cases on an exchange program.

Practice Areas

During his career, Jack worked in many practice areas including criminal defense, criminal prosecution, civil litigation (police misconduct defense, employment discrimination cases, slip and falls, roadway defect cases, landslide cases, motor vehicle and bicycle cases and hydrological cases). He also litigated extensively in mental health conservatorship cases, juvenile dependency cases, employment termination cases and tax cases.

Professional Achievements

During his career, Jack tried twenty jury trials to verdict, over two-hundred and fifty court trials to verdict, twenty personnel termination cases to decision and numerous administrative hearings to decision. In each of these trial endeavors, he achieved an 85% success rate.

Personal Life

Jack was also extensively involved in the Marin community. He served on the Board of Directors of the Marin County Bar Association, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Marin County, the Marin Athletic Foundation, the Rotary Club of San Rafael and the Marin County Mediation Services Advisory Committee. He was a Big Brother between 1983 and 1991 and was the Big Brother of the Year in 1989 and a Marin County Volunteer of the Year in 1990. He recently was a Big Brother again between 2015 and 2024 with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Bay Area. Additionally, he served as a youth soccer coach, youth basketball coach and high school tennis coach while raising his children.

Jack has two children, Alec and Megan. His children inspired the sport’s caricatures on WINNING’S cover, as both were successful D-1 athletes in track and tennis respectively.