Robert Martin is Senior Counsel with the firm and focuses his practice on environmental, land use, and real estate litigation. He joined us after eleven years at Sidley Austin LLP, where he specialized in complex business litigation and regulatory enforcement disputes.
Mr. Martin has extensive experience in all aspects of complex civil litigation in federal and state court. He represents corporations, real estate developers and owners, manufacturing facilities, and municipalities throughout a range of commercial real estate, land use, and environmental disputes. He also has substantial experience in representing clients facing federal and state government inquiries and enforcement actions.
His environmental practice includes litigation and counseling concerning NEPA, CEQA, CWA, ESA, CERCLA, RCRA, and related laws and regulations. His land use practice includes representing institutional and individual clients in obtaining and defending comprehensive project entitlements for the development and use of their property under CEQA and zoning and planning laws. He also represents individuals and family offices in the purchase and development of commercial and high-end residential properties, placing particular emphasis on privacy, security, and entity formation.
Before private practice, Mr. Martin clerked for Judge Carlos Bea of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and externed with the California Supreme Court and the California Court of Appeal. Mr. Martin is admitted to practice law in California.
Education
University of California Hastings College of Law, San Francisco (J.D., magna cum laude, 2004).
Mr. Martin also served as Senior Articles Editor for the Hastings Law Journal.
Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA (B.A., 1998).
Practice Areas:
Environmental; Land Use, Entitlements and CEQA; Private Capital and Personal Real Property Services; Real Estate and Land Use Litigation.
Professional Activities And Honors:
- Northern California Super Lawyer, Rising Star (2013-2015).
- Member, Environmental Law Section of the State Bar of California
- Outdoor and environmental educator for non-profit outdoor organizations leading underserved youth on wilderness outings in the Bay Area and Sierra Nevada.
- Mentor for East Bay College Fund.
Publications:
- Deep Trouble: Investigations and Litigation Flowing from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, ABA Environmental Litigation and Toxic Torts Comm. Newsletter (Apr 2011)
- Selected Developments in Securities Litigation, Los Angeles County Bar Association Annual Securities Regulation Conference (2007)
- Sherman Shorts Out: The Dimming of Antitrust Enforcement in the California Electricity Crisis, Hastings Law Journal (2003)