esteban martinez

Managing Partner

Attorney Registration Number: 30921

Licensed in Colorado October, 1999; 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado November, 1999; United States Supreme Court August, 2010

LEGAL EXPERIENCE

2010-present – managing partner, Brien & Martinez Law, LLC

• Organize firm, continue representing clients in civil and criminal appeals before the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court

2002-2009­ – managing partner, Martinez Law, LLC

• Represented clients in civil and criminal appeals before the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court and trained contract attorneys – reported cases include Misenhelter v. People,  2010 WL 2564121 (Colo.), People v. Montour, 157 P. 3d 489 (Colo. 2007)(with co-counsel, death penalty case regarding, inter alia, constitutionality of Colorado’s death penalty statute, provision of statute found unconstitutional, case remanded for re-sentencing), People v. Scott, 176 P.3d 851 (Colo. App. 2007), People v. Crespi, 155 P. 3d 570 (Colo. App. 2006), People v. Kelling, 151 P. 3d 650 (Colo. App. 2006), People v. McNally, 143 P. 3d 1062 (Colo. App. 2005), People v. Turner, 109 P. 3d 639 (Colo. 2005) (for Amicus Curiae Colorado Criminal Defense Bar), People v. White, 55 P. 3d 220, (Colo. App. 2002) (in this case, as well as in ex rel. J.M.N., Sherman and O’Dell, infra, I was the attorney of record as an assistant attorney to the state’s attorney general.), People ex rel. J.M.N., 39 P. 3d 1261 (Colo. App. 2001), People v. Sherman, 45 P. 3d 774 (Colo. App. 2001), People v. O’Dell, 53 P. 3d 655 (Colo. 2001)

August 2001-2004 – University of Denver College of Law, adjunct professor

• Taught, “Law and Literature,” to second and third year law students to convey to them the human element of law practice and also used the course as an opportunity to help students sharpen their writing abilities

• Taught year long course, “Lawyering Process,” to first-year law students with emphasis on research and legal writing skills with particular emphasis on legal analysis and problem solving

January 2001-January 2002 – Colorado Department of Law, Appellate Division, Criminal Justice Section, Full-Time Assistant Attorney General

• Drafted appellate arguments concerning hosts of constitutional and criminal law issues in felony cases, made oral arguments at the Colorado Court of Appeals (handled approximately three appeals a month)

• Trained as a mediator (basic mediation training) in conformance with the Colorado Council of Mediators and Mediation Organizations

June 2000- December 2000 – GILBERT O. Montoya, Jr., Attorney & Counselor at Law, Contract Attorney

• Drafted complaints, motions and court briefs; strategized with Mr. Montoya on ways in which to best represent clients and approach litigation matters (concerning, mostly, breach of commercial contracts (including leases), deceptive trade practices and breach of fiduciary duties in various business contexts)

August 1999-October 2000 – Roberts Levin Zboyan & Patterson, P.C., Attorneys at Law, Part-Time Staff Attorney

• Drafted complaints, motions, court briefs, appellate arguments and correspondence to clients; strategized with senior attorneys on ways in which to best represent clients and approach litigation matters (concerning, mostly, bad faith breach of insurance contract deriving from first-party and third-party insurance contracts, municipal employee indemnification claims, ERISA claims and ADEA claims)

1998-1999 – University of Denver College of Law Battered Women’s Clemency Project, Student Attorney

• Wrote a clemency petition and presented oral arguments to Governor Romer’s clemency board on behalf of my client

• Strategized with attorneys, law professors and other members of the legal community on ways in which to provide information to the media regarding clemency for my client and two other clemency clients

1997 – University of Denver College of Law Student Law Office, Student Attorney

• Represented indigent clients in criminal matters which required interviewing, obtaining discovery and at numerous appearances in various municipal and state courts to argue motions and sentencing

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1993-2006 – Community College of Denver, Full-Time Professor of English, Journalism, Humanities and Paralegal Studies

• Taught writing and paralegal courses, identified budgetary needs, assisted in the preparation of class schedules and catalogs, reviewed and recommended text books, established grading standards for part-time faculty, mentored new faculty, served on various committees such as Advising and Retention, Hiring, Diversity, and Budgeting

• Developed short texts conveying standards and teaching techniques for various courses, designed and implemented methods and practices to create opportunities for full-time and part-time faculty to collaborate and improve teaching methods, designed, planed and shared administrative duties for the full integration of computer technology in academia

1991-1992 – University of Colorado at Boulder, Teaching Assistant – taught creative writing

EDUCATION

University of Denver College of Law, Denver, Colorado, J.D., December 1998

University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, M.A., English Literature (creative writing emphasis), December 1993

Metropolitan State College of Denver, B.A., Journalism and Creative Writing for Publication, December 1989

Aims Community College, Greeley, Colorado, General Studies, 1987

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Nominated for Pushcart Prize in fiction, 1996

• Teaching for a Change Fellow, 1995

• Mary Ellen Ancell Fellowship, 1991

• Metropolitan State College of Denver Annual Fiction Contest, 1st place, 1989

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Honorary Recruiter/Tutor of Native American law students for the University of Denver College of Law; provided pro bono legal and writing services to Native American Indian Legal Services (NAILS), a non-profit organization; Supervising Attorney for, “The Parole Project,” a non-profit endeavor associated with the University of Denver College of Law which provided legal representation to indigent parolees at parole revocation hearings

PERSONAL INTERESTS

Writing and reading fiction, poetry and essays; practicing martial arts; running; lifting weights; cooking Mexican food; riding motorcycles.