Graciela Martinez

Graciela Martinez is a pioneer and a leading national expert in the intersection of the criminal and immigration legal systems. She annually updates the chapter on the defense of non-citizens in CEB’s, California Criminal Defense Practice. Ms. Martinez is published regularly in legal journals. She presents and organizes local, regional, and national trainings and seminars on criminal immigration and the provision of indigent criminal defense services. Ms. Martinez argued matters in the California Court of Appeal. Her appellate litigation successes include a published opinion that upheld a defendant’s right to discovery against law enforcement's claim of a statutory privilege.

Ms. Martinez is an Assistant Public Defender, and as a member of the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s executive team, she supervises the Holistic Divisions, which include immigration advocacy and litigation. She serves on several committees of the California Public Defender’s Association (“CPDA”) and is a past President. Ms. Martinez was the first Latina and first foreign-born individual to lead CPDA. She is CPDA’s chair for its Immigration and Diversity Committees, co-chair of the Management Committee, and member of the Standards and Funding, and Legislative Committees. Ms. Martinez is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Ms. Martinez’s commitment to criminal justice reform, holistic representation, and the advancement of the legal rights of non-citizens has defined her throughout her nearly 31 years in the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office. For her career-long achievements in developing the practice of criminal immigration, she received the Mary V. Orozco Abriendo Caminos award of the Latina Lawyers Bar Association. In 2018, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors officially commended Ms. Martinez for her contribution to the enactment of landmark immigrant rights legislation.