Barbara May has lived in the Monterey Peninsula nearly all of her life. She is a graduate of local Monterey High School and Monterey College of Law, and attended Monterey Peninsula College and Sonoma State University. Before receiving her juris doctorate and admission to the California Bar in 2002, she was a legal secretary and paralegal for over thirty years in Monterey County. Before forming the Law Office of Barbara J. May, she was a partner in the firm of May & Garibay, LLP, and worked as an associate attorney at the Monterey firm of Bohnen, Rosenthal & Dusenbury, where she practiced civil litigation, family law, probate, conservatorship, and estate litigation.