Throughout his twenty years of service as a member, and twice as Chair, of our Board of Governors, Leo Martinez has provided Public Advocates with invaluable contributions. He has led us, inspired us, protected and nurtured our organization and his legacy lives on in the lives of millions of tenants, parents, students, and bus riders who now have greater access to justice and opportunity.
Besides recruiting many of our current and past Board members, Leo has been the ‘guardian of our finances,’ leaving Public Advocates in a strong fiscal position. He leaves many friends and colleagues at Public Advocates who thank him, and wish him well!
Public Advocates President and CEO Guillermo Mayer
Leo Martinez was the Albert Abramson Professor of Law at UC Hastings from 1985 until 2018.
Following his graduation from UC Hastings where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and Thurston Society and served as the Managing Editor of the Hastings Law Journal, Mr. Martinez met his military commitment as a member of the U.S. Army JAG Corps in 1978. Following his military service, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and built a private practice focused on tax issues with the San Francisco law firm of Howard Rice, et al. He joined the UC Hastings faculty in 1985 and served as UC Hastings’ Academic Dean for 12 years.
After 12 years in the Academic Dean’s Office, Mr. Martinez returned to the classroom in 2006. His teaching included some combination of contracts, federal tax, tax policy, tax procedure, and insurance law. He is a co-author of the West text on insurance law. He is a member of the American Law Institute.
He attributes his life outlook to the fortunate circumstance of his birth and childhood in the pristine mountain air of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
He served on the Board of Governors of Public Advocates from 1998 until 2019, including two terms as board chair. He has also chaired the boards of KQED, Inc.; the St. Francis Hospital Foundation; and Public Radio Capital. He is also a member of the board of CollegeTrack, a Bay Area-based organization which provides mentoring for high school students living in low income areas and he is a member of the Chancellor’s Club Advisory Board for the University of Kansas.
In 2011, Public Advocates presented Mr. Martinez with its highest award, the Voices of Conscience Award, for his leadership in the law and the public interest. He was also the recipient of the annual Latino/a Law Professors Award in 2011 by the Latino/a Law Professors Group for his “outstanding contributions to the Latino/a community in general and Latino/a law professors in particular.”
Mr. Martinez received his undergraduate degree in math and physics from the University of Kansas and an M.S. in systems analysis from the University of Southern California.
