Leo Martinez '78

Bio

Leo Martinez is Albert Abramson Professor of Law Emeritus and a proud member of the UC Law SF Class of 1978. Following his graduation from UC Law SF, Professor Martinez met his military commitment as a member of the U.S. Army JAG Corps, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and built a private practice focused on tax issues with the San Francisco law firm of Howard Rice, et al. He joined the UC Law SF faculty in 1985 and served as UC Law SF’ Academic Dean for 12 years.

Professor Martinez returned to the classroom full-time in 2006, interrupted in the 2009/10 academic year when he served as UC Law SF’s Acting Chancellor and Dean. His teaching has included some combination of contracts, federal tax, tax policy, tax procedure, and insurance law.  In addition, he has taught or lectured at more than 20 institutions in Europe, Asia, and South America.

Professor Martinez is a co-author of the West casebook on insurance law (soon to be in its ninth edition) and an editor of the four-volume treatise New Appleman Insurance Law and Practice Guide (Leo P. Martinez, Marc S. Mayerson & Douglas R. Richmond eds. LexisNexis 2021). He is the chair-elect of the ABA Council of the Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the accrediting body for American Law Schools, and he is a commissioner of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a regional accreditor.  He is a member of the American Law Institute and he is a past President of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).

Outside of academia, Professor Martinez has been active in public service. He has chaired the boards of five different nonprofit organizations including KQED, Inc. (now Northern California Public Broadcasting); Public Advocates, a San Francisco-based public interest law firm; the St. Francis Hospital Foundation; Public Radio Capital, a nonprofit organization dedicated to broadening the reach of public broadcasting; and Public Media Venture Group, a consortium of 31 public television stations. He was a 10-year member of the board of CollegeTrack, a Bay Area-based organization which provides mentoring for high school students living in underserved areas.  He has also served as a member of the Chancellor’s Club Advisory Board for the University of Kansas, his alma mater.

In 2011, Public Advocates presented Professor Martinez with its highest award, the Voices of Conscience Award, for his leadership in the law and the public interest. He was the 2011 recipient of the annual Latino/a Law Professors Award by the Latino/a Law Professors Group for his “outstanding contributions to the Latino/a community in general and Latino/a law professors in particular.”  He is an honorary fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel and he currently serves as a managing director at Andersen, the tax and financial services firm.

Scholarship

Books

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New Appleman Insurance Law Practice Guide (LexisNexis 2012 – 2022) (with Jeffrey E. Thomas, Marc S. Mayerson & Douglas R. Richmond).

Cases and Materials on Insurance Law (West Academic 9th ed. 2021) (with Douglas R. Richmond).

Cases and Materials on Insurance Law (West Academic 8th ed. 2018) (with Douglas R. Richmond).

Cases and Materials on Insurance Law (Thomson/West 7th ed. 2013) (with Douglas R. Richmond).

Cases and Materials on Insurance Law (Thomson/West 6th ed. 2010).

Cases and Materials on Insurance Law (Thomson/West 5th ed. 2006) (with John W. Whelan).

Cases and Materials on General Practice Insurance Law (West Group 4th ed. 2001) (with John W. Whelan).

Cases, Materials, and Problems on General Insurance Law (West Pub. Co. 3d ed. 1994) (with Ken H. York & John W. Whelan).

Estate Planning for the Owners of Closely Held Corporations (California Continuing Education of the Bar 1984) (with James A. Barringer).

Journal Articles

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The New EU Rules on Insurance Customer/Policyholder Protection Viewed against the NAIC Model Acts, 20 Global Jurist 20190039 (2020) (with Pierpaolo Marano). URL

A Critique of Critical Tax Policy Critiques (Or, You’ve Got to Speak Out Against the Madness), 28 Berkeley La Raza L.J. 49 (2017). FULLTEXT URL

Latinos and the Internal Revenue Code: Tax Policy Primer for the New Administration, 20 Harv. Latinx L. Rev. 101 (2017). FULLTEXT

Legal Education in a Modern World: Evolution at Work, 9 Charleston L. Rev. 267 (2015). FULLTEXT

Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance and the Duty to Settle, 68 Rutgers U. L. Rev. 155 (2015). FULLTEXT

Toward A More Perfect Union?: The Dangers of Conflating Progress and Equality, 45 Sw. L. Rev. 101 (2015). FULLTEXT

A Unified Theory of Insurance Risk, 74 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 713 (2014). FULLTEXT

Curriculum Developments in American Law Schools in the Twenty–First Century, 3 China-EU L.J. 43 (2014). FULLTEXT

Structural Impediments to Tax Reform: The Environment as Case Study, 14 Fla. Tax Rev. 45 (2013). FULLTEXT SSRN

The Allocation of Costs in Multi-Insurer Cases Spanning Multiple Years: The Deceptively Simple Problem of Defense Costs, New Appleman on Ins.: Current Critical Issues in Ins. Law 53 (Fall 2012).

The Internal Revenue Code and Latino Realities: A Critical Perspective, 22 U. Fla. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 377 (2011) (with Jennifer M. Martinez). FULLTEXT

Tax Policy, Rational Acts, and Other Myths, 40 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 297 (2009). FULLTEXT

The Uneasy Relationship Between the CISG and U.S. Contract Law, 2009 Nihon Univ. Comp. L. 11 (2009) (invited lecture at Nihon University, Tokyo).

Coverage Advice: The Missing Piece of the Cumis Puzzle, 44 Tort Trial & Ins. Prac. L.J. 63 (Fall 2008) (invited presentation). FULLTEXT

Insurance, The State, and Aging: An American Perspective, 7 Die Versicherung des Alterns 13 (2008) (invited paper presented at the Kompetenzzentrum Versicherungwisssenschaften, a European Insurance Institute in Goettingen, Germany).

Tax Legislation and Democratic Discourse: The Rhetoric of Revenue and Politics, 4 Nev. L.J. 510 (2004) (invited paper presented at University of Nevada, William S. Boyd School of Law). FULLTEXT

The Trouble with Taxes: Fairness, Tax Policy, and the Constitution, 31 Hastings Const. L.Q. 413 (2004) (invited paper presented at Tulane University School of Law). FULLTEXT

Classic Insurance Law in a Postmodern World, 2 Nev. L.J. 403 (2002) (invited paper). FULLTEXT

Toward A Statistical Profile of Latina/os in the Legal Profession, 13 Berkeley La Raza L.J. 59 (2002) (with Miguel A. Méndez). FULLTEXT

Dedication to Professor Ray Forrester, 28 Hastings Const. L.Q. at xxix (2001). FULLTEXT

The Marriage of Intellectual Property and Insurance Law: An Introduction, 8 Conn. Ins. L.J. 1 (2001) (symposium introduction). FULLTEXT

“To Lay and Collect Taxes”: The Constitutional Case for Progressive Taxation, 18 Yale L. & Pol’y Rev. 111 (1999). FULLTEXT SSRN

The Summons Power and the Limits of Theory: A Reply to Professor Hyman, 71 Tul. L. Rev. 1705 (1997). FULLTEXT SSRN

Julian Levi Memorial, 48 Hastings L.J. 3 (1996) (speech). FULLTEXT

Of Fairness and Might: The Limits of Sovereign Power to Tax After Winstar, 28 Ariz. St. L.J. 1193 (1996). FULLTEXT

Babies, Bathwater, and Law Reviews, 47 Stan. L. Rev. 1139 (1995). FULLTEXT

In Memoriam: Professor Warren Shattuck, 47 Hastings L.J. 1 (1995). FULLTEXT

Of Michelangelo and Roscoe Barrow, 16 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L.J. 426 (1994). FULLTEXT

Taxes, Morals, and Legitimacy, 1994 BYU L. Rev. 521 (1994). FULLTEXT

The Summons Power and Tax Court Discovery: A Different Perspective, 13 Va. Tax Rev. 731 (1994). FULLTEXT

Federal Tax Amnesty: Crime and Punishment Revisited, 10 Va. Tax Rev. 535 (1991). FULLTEXT

Tax Collection and Populist Rhetoric: Shifting the Burden of Proof in Tax Cases, 39 Hastings L.J. 239 (1988) (reprinted in Monthly Dig. Tax Articles, Dec. 1988, at 12). FULLTEXT

Estate Planning for the Owners of Closely Held Businesses—Valuation Considerations, 6 Est. Plan. & Calif. Prob. Rep. 121 (1985).

Chapters In Books

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Cyber Risks: Three Basic Structural Issues to Resolve InsurTech: A Legal and Regulatory View 211 (Pierpaolo Marano & Kyriaki Noussia, Springer 2020).

Taxation and Latinos, in OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHIES IN LATINO STUDIES 0 (Ilan Stavans ed., Oxford Univ. Press 2017).

The Inscrutability of U.S. Tax Policy and Environmental Tax Reform, in Market Instruments and Sustainable Economy ___ (Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Ambientales 2011).

Inter Vivos and Testamentary Trusts, in 1 Estate Planning Practice 127 (California Continuing Education of the Bar 1987).

Short Term Shifts of Income: Clifford Trusts and Crown Loans, in Planning and Drafting Irrevocable Trusts ___ (California Continuing Education of the Bar 1983).

Book Reviews

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Toward Tax Reform That Mirrors Our Better Selves, 47 Hastings Const. L.Q. 467 (2020) (reviewing Anthony C. Infanti, Our Selfish Tax Laws (2018)). URL

Newspaper & Magazine Articles

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KQED and the Mondavi Controversy, S. F. Chron., Dec. 27, 1996, at A23. CATALOG

If No One Reads Law Reviews, Why are They So Important?, L.A. Daily J., Dec. 22, 1995, at 6. CATALOG

Education

• University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
  J.D., Law 1978

• University of Southern California
  M.Sc., Systems Management 1975

• The University of Kansas
  B.Sc., Engineering Physics 1971

Accomplishments

• Voices of Conscience Award
  Awarded by Public Advocates. 2015

• Voices of Conscience Award
  Awarded by Public Advocates. 2015

• Latino/a Law Professors Award
  Awarded by the Latino/a Law Professors Group. 2011