Martha B. Jordan

Board of Visitors

Martha B. Jordan
Partner (retired), Corporate Department
Latham & Watkins LLP

Martha B. Jordan, '76, is currently the Chair of the Annual Giving Program for Penn State's "For the Future" Campaign and a member of the Campaign's Executive Committee, the former Chair of Smeal's Board of Visitors, and a member of the President's Club and the Mount Nittany Society.   She has established several scholarships at Smeal, was named an Alumni Fellow in 1999 and gave the Commencement Address in May 2007.  

In 2011, Martha retired after practicing law for more than 25 years at Latham & Watkins LLP, one of the top global law firms.  Her practice focused on a broad range of real-estate project representation including land use, finance, public-private joint ventures and general corporate transactional work for Real Estate companies. She represented both public and private companies, including REITs in connection with IPOs, acquisitions, credit facilities and other portfolio financing deals. She also held a variety of top management roles at Latham & Watkins, including six years as the managing partner of the Los Angeles office, where the firm was founded.  

She was active in numerous charitable and civic organizations including the Board of Trustees of the LA County Bar Association, LA's Public Counsel, LA's Best for after school programs, and The California Women's Law Center.  She also served for two years on the National Governing Body for USA Field Hockey. She was named one of California's Top 100 most influential lawyers by California Law Business in 1999 and one of Southern California's Top 50 Women Lawyers in 2007. She was also named to the Law Dragon 500's list of leading US lawyers for three consecutive years immediately preceding her retirement. 

Martha earned a B.S. in marketing and statistics at Penn State, an M.B.A. at the University of Cincinnati, and a J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall). She lives in LA, is married to Dave Lee and they have two daughters---Stacy, a junior at Cal (Berkeley), and Kristen, a senior in high school and headed to Cal in the fall.