Old Boys’ Association Newsletter October 2017 THE PRESIDENT 2017—18 Martin Blake Martin attended Belfast Royal Academy from 1960 to 1967. In his early years he found himself in a Geography class taught by the Headmaster, J.W. Darbyshire, who took a dim view of his choice of map colours. Neither was aware that colour blindness rather than carelessness was the cause and so school reports provided painful reading. Fate then played a hand because, as he was young, Martin was permitted to play a second season for the Medallion Shield team. The 1965 team, of which he was captain, became the first Academy team to win a rugby trophy outright. From that moment on, an indulgent light shone over Master Blake’s head from the Head’s office in the Crombie Building. In 1966 he was awarded the Cricket Bat and the prize for English literature. The following year he was appointed Head Boy and played rugby for Ulster Schools and cricket for Ulster and Irish Schools. After reading law at The Queen’s University, Martin was called to the Northern Ireland Bar and combined a thriving practice with rugby for the Academy Club and cricket for Woodvale. In 1977 he found romance on the Academy Club tour to Canada and within a few years departed for San Francisco. He became an attorney at law and began legal practice in San Francisco, specializing in civil trial work. He joined The Irish Forum, an American organization dedicated to the peaceful resolution of The Troubles and actively promoted debates among those with whose views he regularly disagreed. In 1983 he was recognized for his efforts by being presented to H.M. The Queen in San Francisco. From 1991-2006, Martin served an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching advanced trial advocacy at the University of California, Hastings. He published over 40 legal articles and edited a chapter in a national legal textbook in which, to his relief, no one found any errors. In 2001, he was elected President of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers’ Association and was subsequently nominated three times as their trial lawyer of the year. He has, from 2006 to the present, been named in all editions of the national reference book, ‘Best Lawyers in America’ and is an elected member of the leading trial lawyer organizations in the United States. He now manages an international legal consulting practice that he founded in California and is also a director of Juris Resolutions, the first commercial provider of mediation and arbitration services in N. Ireland. In 2008, Martin married Jane whom he had first met in 1972 at a dance at The Academy Club on Salisbury Avenue. They lived in Mill Valley, California, for several years before returning to Belfast. Martin has three children, Jessica (33) and Joel (29), who live in California and Rory (16), who is in the Sixth Form at the School.
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