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 and Professional Responsibility; Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and Compliance; Legal Scholarship Seminar; and Corporate Compliance and Ethics. Additionally, Martinez teaches Judicial Ethics in the Bolch Judicial Studies LL.M. program and Ethics in Management at Fuqua. She chairs Duke Law’s Academic Careers Committee and serves on key university committees, including the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees, 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. While at Notre Dame, she also directed the Program on Ethics, Compliance & Inclusion for three years.
Martinez’s scholarly work has been published in numerous legal journals, including the Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review. Her book, Building an Effective Ethics and Compliance Program, is forthcoming from Edward Elgar. She is also a co-author of the 5th edition of the casebook Securities Litigation, Enforcement and Compliance and the forthcoming 6th edition of Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach.
In addition to her academic work, Martinez is a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the American Law Institute (ALI). She previously completed a four-year term on FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council and has served as a consultant for the OECD, advising on global anti-corruption compliance initiatives. Within the Durham community, she serves as a board member for the Durham Center for Senior Life, where she 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 a large law firm in Washington, D.C.
