Geovanny Martinez is a Senior Lecturing Fellow and the Executive Director for the Center for on Law, Race & Policy (“CLRP”).
As Executive Director for CLRP, Martinez brings his substantial legal experience and strategic vision to CLRP to drive impactful change within the legal community and beyond. Here, Martinez leads initiatives to advance racial equity and systemic reform. He also has overseen CLRP’s receipt of numerous grants, including a Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) Grant, a Documentary Studies Grant, and an Office of Faculty Advancement Seed Grant.
As a Senior Lecturing Fellow at the Law School, Martinez teaches a variety of courses, drawing on his extensive experience in government service as a prosecutor and city attorney. With over a decade of distinguished service, he brings real-world insights into the classroom, enhancing his students' learning experience. His courses include Ethics and the Law of Lawyering – Criminal Justice (formerly Criminal Justice Ethics), Race and the Legal Profession, and Police Accountability, the latter being one of the first of its kind nationwide. Martinez also serves as a supervisor with the Faculty-Mentored Externships, and he has taught Externship Seminars with the Externship Program and with the PreLaw Fellowship Program. In 2023, his exceptional contributions to legal education were recognized with the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Faculty Member of the Year Award.
Before joining Duke Law, Martinez devoted his career to public service. Most recently, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, where he prosecuted a wide range of federal crimes, including organized crime drug enforcement, firearms related violations, tax fraud, wire fraud, and postal service offenses. Prior to this role, Martinez was an Assistant City Attorney in South Bend, Indiana, where he provided legal counsel and advice to various city departments on contract negotiations and drafting, collective bargaining, police discipline, labor and employment issues, civil litigation, and policy matters. Notably, he played a key role in successfully negotiating a multi-year police union contract, developing a new police discipline matrix, and advancing community policing initiatives. Martinez also has experience as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Elkhart County, Indiana, where he was instrumental in founding the county’s first Problem Solving Court (Drug Court) while prosecuting both felonies and misdemeanors. Additionally, he served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Prince George’s County, Maryland, handling felony and misdemeanor prosecutions.
In the legal community, Martinez was instrumental in founding the Indiana Latino Bar Association, for which he served as the Founding President. He also previously served as Vice President of External Affairs for the Hispanic National Bar Association Region IX and as Vice President of Internal Affairs for the Hispanic Bar Association for the District of Columbia.
Martinez is a graduate of Georgetown University and Howard University School of Law, where he was a research assistant to then Dean Kurt L. Schmoke. After law school, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Sheila R. Tillerson Adams in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland.
