Professor Veronica Root Martinez

Veronica Root Martinez is a nationally recognized expert in professional and organizational ethics, corporate misconduct, and compliance. She is the leading academic authority on the use of monitors and monitorships. Her interdisciplinary research shapes best practices in ethics, compliance, and governance across public and private sector organizations. In particular, she focuses on equipping organizations to foster ethical cultures, adhere to legal and regulatory mandates, and create inclusive workplace environments.

At Duke University, Martinez holds the Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Distinguished Professorship of Law and a courtesy appointment in the Fuqua School of Business. Her teaching portfolio includes courses on Contracts; Ethics & Professional Responsibility; Securities Litigation, Enforcement & Compliance; Legal Scholarship Seminar; and Corporate Compliance & Ethics. Additionally, Martinez teaches Judicial Ethics in the Bolch Judicial Studies LLM program and Management in Ethics at Fuqua. She chairs Duke Law’s Academic Careers Committee and serves on key university committees, including the University Priorities Committee and the Institutional Compliance Advisory Committee.

Before joining Duke, Martinez was the Robert & Marion Short Scholar and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, where she became the first Black woman to receive tenure. Her contributions earned her multiple teaching and service awards, including the Distinguished Professor of the Year award and recognition from the Black Law Students Association. While at Notre Dame, she directed the Program on Ethics, Compliance & Inclusion for three years.

Martinez’s scholarly contributions are published in numerous legal journals, including the Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review. Martinez’s book, Building an Effective Ethics and Compliance Program, is forthcoming with Edward Elgar. She also serves as a co-author on the 5th Edition of the casebook, Securities Litigation, Enforcement and Compliance, and is a co-author on the forthcoming 6th Edition of the casebook, Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach.

In addition to her work in academia, Martinez is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. She recently completed a four-year term with FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council.  She has also served as a consultant for the OECD, advising on global anti-corruption compliance initiatives. Within the Durham community, she is a board member for the Durham Center for Senior Life, and is the current chair of the Governance Committee.

A Georgetown University alumna, Martinez earned her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as Managing Editor of the Chicago Journal of International Law. After law school, she clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and practiced law at Gibson Dunn.

Videos

Watch ➡️ Public Reporting of Monitorship Outcomes
When a corporation is involved in widespread or pervasive misconduct, courts, regulators, or prosecutors often require the firm to seek help from an independent third party, known as a monitor, to supervise the firm's efforts to rectify the situation. Veronica Root Martinez asserts that, upon the completion of all monitorships, the public should be provided with a comprehensive report that outlines whether the firm has successfully addressed the issues at hand or not.

Watch ➡️ Supreme But Not Immune: Creating a Binding Code of Ethics for Supreme Court Justices
The U.S. Supreme Court is in the midst of a legitimacy crisis. Recent revelations regarding Ginni Thomas's political activities and how they relate to cases that have or might come before her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas, have drawn renewed attention to the lack of a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court justices. Already bruised and battered by the controversial confirmations of Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett and a series of decisions that appear more political than jurisprudential, the perception that each justice decides for themselves what is and isn't ethical further weakens the Court's reputation and legitimacy before a skeptical country.
Join ACS for a discussion of the approaches the judiciary and Congress might pursue to create an effective, binding code of ethics for Supreme Court justices and the ways in which such a move could begin to restore legitimacy and trust in an impartial Supreme Court.

Watch ➡️ Bridging the Divide 2020, Part 3: Exploring Racial and Social Injustice and Inequality in America
Episode Topic: Exploring Racial and Social Injustice and Inequality in America This session will explore and discuss the history, root causes, and modern-day implications of social and racial injustice in America, with the goal of promoting change through greater understanding of these issues