Professor, WVU College of Law
Photo by Chelsi Baker.
By Jamie Null
West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law Professor Jena Martin took the long way to get to her dream career and to the city of Morgantown, a place she now calls home. As a child, Martin moved around a lot and became what she calls a city girl, but whether it was New York City, Washington, D.C. or Quebec, she dreamed about becoming a lawyer.
“I always toyed with the idea of being a lawyer—it aligned well with my notions of fairness. I also dreamed of becoming an actress and a teacher. So, by being a professor, I get to engage in all aspects of the careers I wanted as a kid in my adult dream job,” she says.
Martin graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, majoring in history and political science. In 1997, she received her law degree from Howard University School of Law.
“It’s like my soul came alive during my time at Howard,” she says.
Martin admits her first job out of law school was not a good fit. While she respected and admired her coworkers, she was more interested in working with people rather than the insurance coverage litigation she found herself doing. Martin went on to work at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as senior counsel in the Division of Enforcement. While she counts this job as an incredible learning experience, Martin wanted more. Her teachable moment came when she thought about the next stage in her career.
“It was the result of an amazing friend that I worked with during my time at the SEC. Every single day for a month, he would sit down with me and ask questions like: What do you love in life? What is your passion? Then he would give me homework to see what kind of legal jobs fit that passion. It was the first time I had ever been so thoughtful about my career. It landed me in the job and field that I love,” she says.
Martin’s first step in following her career aspirations was returning to school and earning her Master of Law (LL.M.) in international law from the University of Texas in 2006.
“After getting my LL.M., I did pro bono work for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights for a year so I could deepen my knowledge of the practice of international law. It was amazing because I didn’t realize how many facets of the law—both national
and local—this touched. It brought international human rights law from a conceptual arena to a more practical
framework,” says Martin. “At the same time, I was doing contract work for Bloomberg L.P. I didn’t know it at the time but researching business and securities issues at the same time that I was researching international human rights law provided a strong foundation for the field I’m now in—business and human rights.”
Martin’s current position at WVU allows her to do two of her favorite things: teach and research.
“Watching students experience the lightbulb moment, when they finally get a concept that they’ve been struggling with, is the best kind of thrill,” says Martin. “I also get to do research in a really important area of the law: business and human rights. I get to study corporations and their impact on individuals and communities. It highlights my passion for justice. Also, I’m finally at the stage in my career where I get to move beyond just talking about changes—I get to help make those changes come to life. For instance, I recently got to put together a consultation related to the Biden administration’s development of the National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct. There were representatives from the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency and the SEC, not to mention about a half dozen academics and practitioners who care about the same issues as I do. That was very memorable to me.”
Martin is a part of the executive board for the Association of American Law Schools committee on scholarship, as well as the executive committee for the Agency and Unincorporated Associations Group and a part of the steering committee for WVU’s Women’s Leadership Initiative.
“I try and take a diffuse approach to giving back. At work, I strive to be a mentor to students, particularly students of color or students who have no prior interaction with lawyers,” says Martin. “I also give back through my church. I remember a person I respect saying, ‘We shouldn’t just tithe with our money but with our time.’ That statement always stuck with me, and I try to emulate it when I can.”
Martin believes her greatest impact is with her students. She calls it a consistent source of joy. She also makes mentoring a part of her day-to-day life with students.
“The secret about teaching the law is that so little of it is actually about teaching students the substance. Instead, what the best law professors do is teach students how to learn any area of the law for themselves. I view my role as a facilitator in that,” she says.
Throughout the years, Martin has also been given a platform to speak on passionate issues.
“Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to speak at the United Nations in Geneva on issues relating to business and human rights,” she says. “Also, a couple of years ago I was asked to co-edit a casebook that students use in their international human rights class. That felt very powerful to me. The co-editor, David Weissbrodt, was a legend in my field, so having him ask me to help re-work the book and having the free reign he gave me to completely restructure it was very affirming—especially because he really liked how I changed it. For me, that casebook is impactful because I know it’s something that students will use in a classroom and professors will rely on when they teach. The book was finally published a couple of weeks before David passed. I was so grateful that he had been able to see the book in print and hold it in his hands. I am glad he knew his legacy would live on.”
No longer a big city girl, Martin plans to keep calling Morgantown home.
“It’s funny, I knew almost nothing about West Virginia before I moved here, yet this place has felt more like home than all the other places I’ve lived,” she says. “Specifically, it’s the place where I feel community in all aspects of my life. In other places I’ve lived, I might have only felt community in my professional circle or at my church. Here, I truly feel embedded in my community both professionally and personally. As the kid who moved around every few years, this is one of the greatest gifts I could have been given.”
