ETIENE MARTINS

Senior Fellow – Brazil

Etiene Martins is a federal judge serving in the District of São Paulo Brazil and led a court-annexed mediation program in Guarulhos Courthouse in greater São Paulo from 2016 to 2018.

About Etiene Martins

Etiene Martins is a federal judge serving in the District of São Paulo Brazil and led a court-annexed mediation program in Guarulhos Courthouse in greater São Paulo from 2016 to 2018. The program provides mediation services for eight Federal Courts and engages in activities with the local community to promote awareness of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Currently, the Guarulhos Courthouse manages a backlog of more than 55,000 cases. Prior to becoming a judge, Etiene Martins was a police officer in Rio de Janeiro for 16 years.

Litigation Experience

From 2010-2014, Judge Martins served as the legal advisor and then Director of the Military State Police`s legal department in Rio de Janeiro. His department provided opinions on legal problems related to police activities and police misconduct claims. As a Federal Judge, he has served in a federal court with both criminal and civil jurisdiction, since his appointment in 2014.

Mediation Practice

Judge Etiene Martins led the court-annexed mediation program of Guarulhos Courthouse from 2015 to 2018, first as an adjunct coordinator and then as coordinator. The mediation program received cases referred by eight federal courts and utilizes twenty-six volunteer mediators to assist parties in the resolution of their disputes. In 2017, the program managed roughly 1,600 cases and achieved a settlement rate of 75%. 

Since 2016, Judge Etiene Martins has served on the mediation team for complex disputes at the 3rd Circuit. The team mediates longtime, multi-party and sensitive cases on complex topics from environmental damages to property, to consumer class actions.

ADR Achievements and Training

  • Judge Martins co-organized the ADR panels of the 2019 Brazilian Symposium at Harvard Law School (2019)
  • Judge Martins was on the board of Harvard Law School Negotiators (Spring, 2019), a student organization that seeks to provide law students with opportunities to become actively involved in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution while working with clients in the “real” world.
  • Judge Martins was editor of Harvard Negotiation Law Review (Fall, 2018)
  • Judge Martins was the first Brazilian to receive the Bruce Tancrell Memorial Scholarship from the Center for Nonviolence & Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island (2016).
  • Judge Martins was awarded the ICNC Curriculum Fellowship by the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (Washington, D.C.) to undertake training on nonviolence and peacemaking in the Police Department (2016).
  • Judge Martins was the only Brazilian Federal Judge selected to speak about conflict resolution as a panelist in the 17th International Conference of Chief Justices in India.
  • Awarded a Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship (2017)

Additional ADR training:

  • Envisioning, Designing & Implementing Court ADR: A Practical & Theoretical Program, International Court ADR Institute, Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, University of California Hastings College of Law (2017)
  • Mediating the Litigated Case, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law (2017)
  • Advanced Mediation Workshop: Complex Disputes, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, (2017)
  • Negotiation and Leadership (3 days), Harvard Law School (2017)
  • Advanced Leadership Training in Kingian NonviolenceConflict Reconciliation, Center for Nonviolence & Peace Studies, University of Rhode Island (2016)
  • Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict, Fletcher School of Diplomacy and International Law, Tufts University (2015)
  • Leadership Training Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation, Center for Nonviolence & Peace Studies, University of Rhode Island (2011)

ADR Teaching and Mentoring

At the Federal Judicial College, Judge Martins has taught mediation and negotiation to newly appointed judges and mediators, who plan to volunteer in the court-annexed mediation programs. In the Police Department, he taught the first nonviolent program in the Police Academy (Rio de Janeiro) in 2015 and continues to volunteer to teach conflict resolution to officers.

Publications and Education

Publications

“Law, Violence, and Public Security: Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy applied,” Chapter in Kingian Nonviolence, University of Rhode Island (2015).

Educational Qualifications

  • LL.M from Harvard Law School (2019) 
  • LL.M candidate at Harvard Law School (Class of 2019)
  • LL.B from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State (2008)
  • M.A and a B.A in Police Sciences from the Barro Branco Police Academy (2000) and the D. João VI Police Academy (2010), respectively

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