Steve Martini, ’74, was a journalist and remains a lawyer and novelist. Martini has published 17 legal novels.

He came to Sacramento in July 1970 from Los Angeles as the Capitol correspondent and bureau chief for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He began law school at McGeorge School of Law that same year in the evening division, working for the newspaper in the daytime and studying law at night. It was in the halcyon times of Gordon Schaber as dean of the law school with professors like Anthony M. Kennedy — later Justice Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court — from whom Martini took Constitutional Law, Claude Rohwer who taught Contracts, and the always humorous Charles Luther from whom Martini studied Torts.

In 1987, Martini published his first novel “The Simeon Chamber.” It was a rollicking mystery, the story of a search for historic treasure that ranged from San Quentin to the Hearst property at San Simeon. The story was centered in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Martini was born and lived in the love of a large extended family until the age of 10 when his mother, father and sister Judith moved to Southern California. His novels always drew from his experiences, sometimes stories told to him in his youth. All of them centered around the law. All of the protagonists in his stories are lawyers. Two of his novels — “Undue Influence” and “The Judge” — were produced and broadcast as national network miniseries.

In 1992, Martini published his second novel “Compelling Evidence” and the one that propelled him onto the New York Times bestsellers list. It was the story of a murder trial set in Capitol City, a thinly veiled Sacramento and drew color from the author’s experiences as a lawyer in that city. The novel gave birth to the fictional attorney Paul Madriani and spawned the Madriani Series. There followed 15 more novels, all of which were bestsellers many of them published in languages around the world.

Martini wrote news and practiced law, worked for state government and lobbied in and around Sacramento for 22 years, between 1970 and 1992. He drew the soul for his stories from there and has retained lifelong friendships in Sacramento including fellow lawyer, novelist, and McGeorge School of Law alumnnus William Wood, ’76; author and novelist John Lescroart, Richard Herman, Dale Brown, and Karen Kijewski; Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Tom Cecil, ’75; and Sacramento lawyers Kip Solinsky and Dennis Higgins, all longtime friends.

In later years, Martini would sometimes visit the home of his former employer and law associate, Mel Coben, once of the law firm, Coben, Cooper & Zilaff. Mel and Nancy Coben lived in a large home along the Sacramento River. There, he often found Gordon Schaber — then retired from McGeorge — sitting with Coben, (Mel and Gordon were good friends), quietly talking, hoisting a few cocktails and remembering the times when Sacramento was a quiet agrarian town, and McGeorge was a dream in the making, yet to be fully realized.

Throughout 2024, the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law will celebrate members of its vast alumni network in honor of the school’s 100-year anniversary. This post is part of a series highlighting 100 exceptional McGeorge School of Law alumni.

Stay tuned for more blog posts as we celebrate the law school’s centennial anniversary.

Analea Patterson, ‘03, is the secretary of cabinet affairs for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, serving as the governor’s principal official responsible for managing state government for the fourth largest economy in the world. In this role, she oversees the work of all state agencies and departments within the administration as well as development of the state budget. Patterson has dedicated her career to public service and the legal profession in California and nationally, having served in all three branches of government and in private law practice.

Prior to her appointment as cabinet secretary, Patterson served as Gov. Newsom’s secretary of legal affairs. In this role, Analea provided legal advice and counsel to the governor and state agencies, as well as oversaw all litigation to which the governor or the State of California was a party.

Prior to joining the Newsom Administration, Patterson was a partner in the law firm of Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe until 2018. Her national practice focused on advising emerging technology clients in finance, insurance, and other highly regulated industries to anticipate and solve complex legal and operational challenges. At Orrick, Patterson also led the firm’s national pro bono legal and legislative collaborative project with nonprofit entities to close legal loopholes that prevented full prosecution and denied justice to victims of sexual extortion. She received the Legal Momentum Women of Achievement Award in 2020 for her work on sexual extortion. Patterson also received Orrick’s firm-wide Pro Bono Award for her work on a multi-year collaborative project with Intel Corporation to provide legal representation to families with at-risk children navigating California’s legal guardianship process. That project was recognized by Public Counsel and received the 2009 California State Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award.

Patterson previously served as deputy political director for the California Democratic Party, and as campaign manager for Bill Lockyer’s successful campaigns for California Attorney General. While attending McGeorge School of Law, Analea worked full-time as special assistant for policy and planning for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, where she managed numerous policy initiatives including obtaining a $50 million state appropriation to implement a statewide project to identify and perform DNA testing on warehoused evidence from unsolved sexual assault cases. The project ultimately identified 30,000 untested rape kits in evidence lockers throughout the state, led to hundreds of cold hits linking perpetrators to unsolved cases, and developed the state’s crime lab infrastructure to support widespread use of DNA testing in sexual assault and other crimes.

Patterson’s public service career also includes serving as policy and legislative director for Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, law clerk for the Honorable Frank C. Damrell (ret.) on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, and legislative director for a California State Assemblymember.

Patterson lives in Sacramento with her husband and two children.

Throughout 2024, the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law will celebrate members of its vast alumni network in honor of the school’s 100-year anniversary. This post is part of a series highlighting 100 exceptional McGeorge School of Law alumni.

Stay tuned for more blog posts as we celebrate the law school’s centennial anniversary.

The Hon. Jack Duran, Jr. is the grandson of first-generation Mexican immigrants and an affiliate with an El Paso, Texas Tribal Pueblo. Duran’s grandparents were farm workers and his grandfather, Frank, earned his U.S. citizenship by serving in the military during the Korean War. Duran was the first in his family of six brothers to graduate high school, college, and law school.

In 1996, Duran graduated magna cum laude from California State University, Sacramento with a bachelors degree in government. Thereafter, Duran attended the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, graduating at the top of his class and designated by his peers as Most Outstanding Graduate for day division in 2002.

In pursuing a law degree, Duran left his employment as a 15 year UPS delivery driver. Duran, at the time of entering law school, was also a father to two very young boys and was supported by his loving wife, Kim Duran.

After graduating from McGeorge, Duran was appointed a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice in 2002, where he was counsel to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Board of Prison Terms.

In 2004, Duran went into private practice as a senior associate at a prestigious, Indian-owned, Federal Indian Law and Policy firm in Sacramento.

In 2007, Duran opened his law firm, Duran Law Office, P.C. representing Indian tribes, tribal entities and non-tribal businesses. Duran has received published opinions in the California and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and has practiced and received successful outcomes before both the California and United States Supreme Courts.

Duran has written numerous articles on various legal topics for legal publications and regularly is asked to speak on federal law and policy issues at local and regional legal conferences.

Duran over his twenty-year practice has served his community on non-profit boards and commissions, is a board member on the Sierra College Wolverine Athletic Association, served as a high school board trustee/president and most recently served eight years as a county supervisor for Placer County – District 1 (Roseville) and as an appointed member of the California Office of the State Controller’s Audit Review Committee.

In 2013, Jack was appointed a Tribal Court Judge and currently serves as a Chief Judge for Indian tribes in California, Nevada and South Dakota, in addition to maintaining a thriving law practice. In 2021, Duran was named as the Chief Justice of the Oglala Sioux Tribe Supreme Court in Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

Duran is a member of the McGeorge School of Law Diversity Alumni Board and has served as a mentor to many law students and newly licensed attorneys. Duran will provide a supervised internship for a McGeorge student during the 2023-24 school year. He enjoys serving and continues to serve as a presiding judge for law school advocacy moot court competitions.

Throughout 2024, the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law will celebrate members of its vast alumni network in honor of the school’s 100-year anniversary. This post is part of a series highlighting 100 exceptional McGeorge School of Law alumni.

Stay tuned for more blog posts as we celebrate the law school’s centennial anniversary.

Mark K. Slaughter, ‘02, has dedicated nearly 20 years to the Sacramento County Public Defender’s Office and has handled cases ranging from traffic infractions to homicides. He is the supervising attorney of the Juvenile Division of the Sacramento County Public Defender’s Office. 

Prior to this, he was the driver safety hearing manager and, later, staff counsel for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, serving a total of 18 years. Slaughter was instrumental in developing and starting a collaborative Driving Under the Influence Treatment Court in Sacramento County.

He has worked with Juvenile Justice partners to develop a Juvenile Trauma Response Court to support youth who have experienced significant trauma and find themselves in our juvenile justice system. He collaborates with Sacramento ACT on immigration justice issues and is active in the Racial Justice Taskforce with St. Mark’s Church.

Slaughter is a member of the Sacramento County Bar Association, Wiley Manuel Bar Association, SacLEGAL Bar Association, and he previously served as a Board of Directors member in each organization. Today, he is a Member-at-Large Board of Director with the Sacramento County Bar Association. He is also a member of the NAACP, the Black Public Defender’s Association, and the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law Diversity Alumni Board.  

Throughout 2024, the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law will celebrate members of its vast alumni network in honor of the school’s 100-year anniversary. This post is part of a series highlighting 100 exceptional McGeorge School of Law alumni.

Stay tuned for more blog posts as we celebrate the law school’s centennial anniversary.

Vida L. Thomas, ’93, is an AV-rated attorney who has practiced law for over 25 years. In that time, she has conducted well over 200 workplace investigations and is experienced in complying with Title IX, Title Five, the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights, and the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights. She is currently the Managing Partner of Oppenheimer Investigations Group LLP.  

She has considerable experience investigating matters within a union setting and is particularly adept at investigating complexes involving high-profile employers and individuals. Thomas serves as an expert witness in state and federal employment lawsuits and mediates litigation and non-litigation matters. A founding member of the Association of Workplace Investigations (AWI), Thomas co-chaired the AWI Best Practices committee and helped establish the AWI guidelines for conducting workplace investigations. 

While obtaining her Juris Doctor from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in the early 1990s, she was the president of Black Law Students Association and president of the International Moot Court team. She currently serves on McGeorge School of Law’s Diversity Alumni Board and regularly speaks to law students about topics related to diversity.

In 2023, she was named to the Daily Journal’s 2023 List of Top Labor and Employment Lawyers, the 2023 Northern California Super Lawyers List, and was recognized as an honoree for the Sacramento Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business.”

Throughout 2024, the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law will celebrate members of its vast alumni network in honor of the school’s 100-year anniversary. This post is the first in a series highlighting 100 exceptional McGeorge School of Law alumni.

Stay tuned for more blog posts as we celebrate the law school’s centennial anniversary.

Edward Wright Jr., ’82, chose to go to McGeorge School of Law because of the school’s emphasis on international law and the classes that were focused in this area of the law. During his time as a student, Wright participated in the Salzburg study abroad program and completed an international internship in Paris.

Since co-founding Martensen Wright PC in 2000, he has dedicated himself exclusively to establishing and nurturing businesses from abroad in the U.S. He regularly assists clients with the practical requirements of “doing business in the U.S.” In this video, Wright discusses how McGeorge did a great job opening his eyes to opportunities and how he came out feeling he was equipped well for his career.

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