LAW
Clarifying the Shifting Sands of International Law
JENNY MARTINEZ
Title: Associate Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, Stanford University
Education: J.D., magna cum laude, Harvard Law School; B.A., History, cum laude, Yale University
Age: 35
Jenny Martinez is proof of the power of role modeling and mentoring. As an undergraduate at Yale University, she says her mother, who is a public interest attorney, influenced her decision to go to law school. She also sought out advice from her mentor and former dean of Yale Law School, Judge Guido Calabresi, whom President Bill Clinton appointed to the U.S. Court of Federal Appeals in the Second District in 1994. Martinez went on to clerk for him after graduating from Harvard Law School.
Top-notch real-world experience, both as a law student and lawyer, paved the way to teaching. In addition to clerking for Calabresi, Martinez earned an internship reserved for those who truly excel at scholarship — she became a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. She then went on to tackle international criminal issues as an associate legal officer for Judge Patricia M. Wald of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. There, Martinez assisted in the trials of defendants charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The world changed after Sept. 11, 2001, and there was more need than ever to understand the shifting sands of international law, the interaction of international and domestic legal institutions and the way laws are formed. Martinez practiced as an attorney at Jenner & Block, LLP in Washington, where she focused on international, constitutional and antitrust law. But her interests led her to conduct independent research on international law. As a senior research fellow at Yale, she also taught a course on international human rights and a seminar on terrorism and civil liberties.
