Veronica Root Martinez

Will I ever have enough institutional power to have a warm office?

The loss of two writing days this week...😱...also some journals are open already.

How many writing days are going to go "poof" to virtual school this week?

New work with Lisa Fairfax: "The Miscalculation of Corporate DEI Risk."

We argue that companies aren’t avoiding risk by retreating from DEI—they’re often amplifying it. DEI isn’t a political slogan; it’s a board-level risk oversight issue.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

"Purpose-Driven Compliance" argues that organizations should move toward compliance programs that are directed by the firm’s (i) purpose, (ii) inherent risks based on the activities necessary to achieve that purpose, and (iii) ethical standards and goals.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

@approvemypaper.bsky.social papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

My new book, Disclosureland, is out today, January 15, 2026. The book is about how corporate public statements shape racial equity. Grab it here and tell me what you think: a.co/d/1HSRdyw

I have a new chapter up discussing Independent Monitorships. It clarifies the contemporary practice of independent monitorships, defining who monitors are, when and why monitors are imposed, and the principal forms they take in U.S. and comparative practice.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

We’re thrilled to invite applications for the Visiting Assistant Professor position at Duke Law! This two- to three-year opportunity is designed to support aspiring legal scholars. (Think of it as the law school equivalent of a post-doc.)

Learn more and apply here: tinyurl.com/mrxccxxv

Thankful that today's global outage isn't impacting Canvas, as my students are taking their midterms right now. And I forgot to bring hard copies just in case (as advised by IT).

Thanks! And wow - that list was such a great resource to send to folks interested in VAPs/Fellowships.

Law Professor Friends...

Any insight on where taxprofblog and prawfsblawg go now that type pad has gone away?

I wanted to send the taxprof list of VAPs/Fellowships to an alum.

Duke Friends. For the first time, my email junk folder was very full, and it was not junk. Take a look!

If you are a Duke University School of Law alum and are planning to go on the entry-level tenure track or clinical teaching market in 25-26, please shoot me an email. We (the Academic Careers Committee) would love to provide support (and invite you to a moot job talk day).

Some days, the writing just flows.

Other days, the writing is...walking through mud.

Today is quite, quite muddy.

Man, I love Chicago.

Monitorships look to be becoming disfavored by DOJ (for now), but they are still being used by lots of other enforcement and quasi-enforcement (think World Bank) actors.

Constraining Monitors, 85 Fordham Law Review 2227-2247 (2017)

Third Party and Appointed Monitorships, in Cambridge Handbook of Compliance 605-615 (Benjamin van Rooij & D. Daniel Sokol eds., 2021)

Public Reporting of Monitorship Outcomes, 136 Harvard Law Review 757-823 (2023)

Somebody's Watching Me: FCPA Monitorships and How They Can Work Better, 13 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law 321-381 (2011) (with others)

The Monitor-"Client" Relationship, 100 Virginia Law Review 523-585 (2014)

Modern-Day Monitorships, 33 Yale Journal on Regulation 109-163 (2016)

Friend: I have this case involving a corporate monitor, do you know about these?

Me: Sure what's your question...[answers question]

Friend: Wait, have you written about this?

Me: Little bit...😂

Someone asked to reprint one of my articles for a Brazilian journal, so the article has been translated into Portuguese. I uploaded the original & translation into ChatGPT & asked about the translation quality. I have also asked a native speaker to do some review, but such a cool use of the tech.

I was born in Wisconsin and spent summers with my grandparents on Totagatic Lake in Minong.

Everyone go rent a cabin by a lake and show these people some tourism dollars. Stunning beauty. Beware of bears.

My draft, "Purpose-Driven Compliance," is forthcoming with Texas A&M Law Review. The abstract is below, and I'll post to SSRN once I incorporate some fantastic comments I received at Emily Strauss's "Corporate Disasters" conference last week.

SEC Finalizes Settlements on Wall Street WhatsApp Probe: Reuters The Securities and Exchange Commission is finalizing settlements with about two dozen Wall Street firms to resolve probes into lapses in record keeping, Reuters reported.

This came up in class today in response to a student question about compliance obligations and employee privacy (ahem...not in the US), but somehow it feels relevant in another way.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Companies’ assessments of anti-corruption compliance In the last decade, companies around the globe have significantly invested in the development of anti-corruption compliance programmes. Assessing the effectiveness of these programmes has proven chall...

And

Companies’ assessments of anti-corruption compliance - www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

Governments’ assessments of corporate anti-corruption compliance Governments expect companies to go beyond the adoption of anti-corruption compliance programmes by assessing their actual effectiveness in mitigating corruption risks and promoting a culture of integr...

I had the privilege of working with folks at the OECD on a project related to assessment of compliance effectiveness in the anticorruption space.

Two reports were issued today related to that work.

Governments’ assessments of corporate anti-corruption compliance - www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

Signs you are a lawyer.

Walks into Home Depot. Sees a "suction cup grab bar" for shower. Thinks - "that is a tort in a box." Then thinks - "but they assumed the risk."

Ok...too much torts for this contracts prof.

I miss you, friend.

How is it that googling "chart for Salman" doesn't give me a chart showing the tipper/tippee stuff?

Someone has to have done this already.