Harriet M. Murphy graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, in which she was the only African American student, in 1969. In 1973, she became the first African American woman appointed to a regular judgeship in Texas and served on the City of Austin Municipal Court for twenty years. She has received many honors, among them the highest award from the Austin NAACP and the first Thurgood Marshall Legal Society award bestowed by the students at the UT School of Law. Murphy serves on the board for the National Organization of Black Judges, a part of the National Bar Association.