Vilma Martinez '67 Confirmed as New U.S. Ambassador to Argentina
Public Affairs Office 212-854-2650 publicaffairs@law.columbia.edu
New York, August 11, 2009 – The Senate recently unanimously confirmed Vilma Martinez ’67 as the next U.S. ambassador to Argentina.Martinez, who was nominated by Pres. Barack Obama on May 27, is the first woman to serve in that post.
“Vilma has a remarkable list of accomplishments that is a tribute to her exceptional qualities as a lawyer and citizen,” said senior partner Ronald Olson at Munger, Tolles & Olson, where Martinez had been a partner since 1982.
Martinez was the Samuel Rubin Fellow at the Law School in 1983. The fellowship and an accompanying lecture series are sponsored by the Samuel Rubin Program for the Advancement of Liberty and Equality through Law to address current issues in human and civil rights law.
Martinez, who was confirmed by the Senate on July 24, has also served on the Law School’s Advisory Board.
Before she joined Munger, Tolles & Olson, Martinez was President and General Counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and was also a staff attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.