Kelly Murphy Berlingeri

Kelly Murphy Berlingeri is a Senior Counsel with Ruttenberg Cutler Broomer, LLP.  Ms. Berlingeri concentrates her practice in probate and trust administration, conservatorship, guardianship and Special Needs Trust matters, with a particular focus on fiduciary court accountings.  She also handles probate, trust and fiduciary litigation.

Ms. Berlingeri is highly accomplished attorney with 24 years of legal experience.  Ms. Berlingeri has substantial experience working for the courts and brings that experience to bear in representing her clients.  For the past five years, she has served the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura, where she has held multiple key roles.  From 2024-2025 she served as Court Attorney – ADR/Legal Research, most recently coordinating the team that developed the court’s Court-Ordered Civil Mediation Program. From 2022 to 2023, Ms. Berlingeri served as the Court’s permanent Judge Pro Tem, presiding over the Civil Case Management Conference calendar and the Small Claims calendar. Between 2020-2022, she served as Probate Examiner, where she reviewed conservatorship, guardianship and special needs trust accountings. She frequently sat as a Judge Pro Tem in probate court during her time at the court.

Ms. Berlingeri is also a respected speaker, having presently extensively on probate and fiduciary accounting, probate mediation, and fiduciary trust administration, and fee declaration topics at professional seminars and statewide conferences, including teaching Judges, Probate Attorneys and Examiners at California’s Center for Judicial Education and Research. The organizations for which Ms. Berlingeri has presented include the Ventura County Bar Association, Professional Fiduciary Association of California (PFAC) Educational Conference, Attorney Fiduciary Summit, Special Needs Trust Symposium, and Hawaii Tax Institute.

From 2023 to present, she has served as an Adjunct Professor, teaching Real Property Law at Colleges of Law, Ventura campus. 

Prior to her tenure with the court, Ms. Berlingeri spent 15 years in private practice, specializing in conservatorships, estate and trust planning and administration, with a particular focus on fiduciary accountings. Before establishing her own practice, she spent five years as a civil litigation insurance defense attorney, gaining valuable trial and negotiation experience.

Ms. Berlingeri’s breadth of experience, judicial insight, and dedication to both public service and legal education make her an exceptional legal professional and a tremendous asset to RCB LLC.

After earning two Bachelor’s degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara, Ms. Berlingeri received her law degree in 2000 from the California Western School of Law.