LSBA Member Judy Perry Martinez Sworn In as ABA President-Elect Judy Perry Martinez, of counsel in the New Orleans law firm of Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn, L.L.P., was sworn in as president-elect of the American Bar Association (ABA) at the close of the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago on Aug. 7. Martinez will serve a one-year term as president-elect. She will be sworn in as ABA president in August 2019. “Our profession and our country continue to look to the American Bar Association — the only organization that brings together lawyers in private practice, prosecutors, criminal defense counsel, civil legal aid lawyers, policy makers, government lawyers, judges, law professors and law students — to speak on issues critical to the rule of law, justice system and our democratic values, and to lead with knowledge of the law and respect for the principles on which our nation was founded,” Martinez said. “I will be guided by the association’s unparalleled history of standing up for the voiceless and its unwavering commitment to support our members to be the best that they can be each day for their clients and the public they serve.” Martinez earned her BS degree from the University of New Orleans and her JD degree, with honors, in 1982 from Tulane University Law School, where she earlier served as an instructor in trial advocacy and now serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council. She was a partner in Simon Peragine from 1982-2003 before she joined Northrop Grumman and became assistant general counsel for litigation and vice president and chief compliance officer. She retired from Northrop Grumman in 2015 to become a Fellow at the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University, where she spent a year in residence. Martinez’s commitment to public service began years ago when she and other members of the Louisiana bar established the New Orleans Pro Bono Project. She currently serves as a Fellow in the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) Distinguished Access to Justice Pro Bono Fellows Program. She is working with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services on several projects, including work supporting Flood Proof and its expansions and creation of a Veterans Legal Needs Check-Up App. Martinez has chaired the LSBA Committee on Minority Involvement, the Professionalism and Quality of Life Committee and the Post-Conviction Death Penalty Representation Committee. She was named the LSBA’s Outstanding Young Lawyer in 1990 and the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s (LBF) Distinguished Attorney in 2001. She also is a LBF Fellow. She has chaired the New Orleans Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section. She is a member of the board of directors of the American Bar Foundation, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the American Law Institute. For more than 30 years, Martinez has held various ABA leadership positions. She chaired the ABA Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services from 2014-16 and currently serves as special advisor to the newly established ABA Center for Innovation. She was a member of the ABA Task Force on Building Public Trust in the American Justice System. In 2011, she was appointed chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She has served as the ABA lead representative to the United Nations and as a member of the ABA Board of Governors and its Executive Committee. She previously served as chair of the ABA Young Lawyers Division, a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and chair of the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence. She has been a member of the ABA House of Delegates since 1991. She also has served as a member of the ABA Task Force on Attorney Client Privilege, the Council of the ABA Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity and the ABA’s World Justice Project Committee. Martinez has received several awards during her career. She received the LSBA President’s Award twice. In 2017, she received the David A. Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award from the LSBA and the Presidents’ Award from the New Orleans Bar Association. In 2012, she received the Camille Gravel Pro Bono Public Service Award from the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. She is a past recipient of the Sam Dalton Capital Defense Advocacy Award from the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Counsel (1997), the Michelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award from the Association of Women Attorneys (1998) and the Alliance for Justice Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Law Association (1999).