Marta Ricardo’s legal career path took her full circle back to Columbia Law School where, in 2007, she began serving as director of student organizations and academic counseling. Since August 2009, Ricardo, a 1994 graduate, has led Dean David M. Schizer’s initiative to connect current students and alumni to a growing Columbia Law School network.
“Our plan is to create a private resource directory which would provide basic information on a graduate’s current employment, practice area, and career path information,” says Ricardo, the director of alumni and international career services in the Office of Career Services and Professional Development. “The goal is to make it easier for alumni in different parts of the country to exchange information about career experience and expertise with students and more recent graduates."
Ricardo’s role at the Law School extends beyond creating linkages; as an adjunct instructor, she will teach the Negotiation Workshop in the Spring 2010 term. In addition to a warm, personable style, she brings to the classroom more than a decade of experience as a lawyer and banker at firms such as Barclays and HSBC Bank.
“I’ve negotiated as both a principal and an agent,” says Ricardo. “The skills learned in the workshop are absolutely critical for students today who want to be successful attorneys.”
It was Professor Jack Coffee’s Securities class that led her to the world of corporate law, but before that it was a U.S. Supreme Court case, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988), that led Ricardo to study law.
“I was editor-in-chief of my student high school newspaper at the time,” says the Coral Gables, Florida, native. “And I was closely following the decision that limited the First Amendment protection for student publications.”
Ricardo’s first stop after earning her Columbia J.D. was Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, where for three years she served as an associate in the capital markets group. Her work included doing cross-border securitization transactions in Latin America at the time of the peso devaluation in Mexico.
“I was intrigued at how the financial structures worked and at the interdisciplinary nature of the practice,” she says.
Between 1998 and 1999, Ricardo worked at Moody’s Investor Service, where she got exposure to the academic world as a vice president and senior analyst in student-loan securitization.
“I’ve relished my academic and career advising roles,” she says. “Now I’m looking forward to finding ways to help alumni keep in touch.”
Opportunities for alumni to connect to students include hosting events at their offices, speaking on panels at the Law School and, most critically, mentoring and guiding current students. Alumni interested in connecting with students and having their contact information made available to students, can contact Marta directly: mgr33@columbia.edu.
