Profile
Craig Martin focuses on complex commercial disputes in state and federal courts. He supports clients through all stages of litigation, with a particular emphasis on substantive legal analysis, motion practice, appellate briefing, and contract-related disputes. Craig has significant experience briefing and litigating federal regulatory and enforcement issues, including SEC disgorgement standards, and has worked on appeals before the Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as state appellate courts and the New Jersey Supreme Court. He regularly handles discovery, including drafting and responding to discovery requests and taking depositions, and is involved in settlement negotiations with opposing counsel. His practice also includes post‑judgment proceedings, asset‑recovery litigation, and arbitration matters.
Concentrations
- Commercial litigation
- Contractual disputes, business torts and breaches of fiduciary duty
- Appeals
- Post‑judgment and asset‑recovery litigation
Capabilities
Experience
- Representation of a former public‑company CEO in a federal securities enforcement action, including drafting opening and reply briefs and arguing the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in SEC v. Stack, resulting in the reversal of the district court’s disgorgement order and a holding that any disgorgement must be limited to the client’s actual unjust enrichment.
- Representation of Venequip and its affiliates in complex cross‑border commercial litigation arising from loan and dealer‑relationship disputes related to Venezuela’s mining crackdown, including drafting dispositive briefing and securing dismissal with prejudice of a $10 million breach of contract claim in the district court; drafting appellate briefing defending that judgment before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; second‑chairing oral argument; and continued representation on remand.
- Representation of Native American tribes and affiliated entities in litigation involving sovereign immunity and state usury restrictions, including managing matters through negotiated settlements, drafting settlement agreements, and effectuating dismissals under Rule 41.
- Representation of a contractor in litigation arising from an Illinois Department of Transportation highway construction project, including pursuing Rule 308 certification to address a controlling question of law regarding contractual notice and liability, resulting in a favorable ruling and a settlement.
- Representation of the Innocence Project in a pro bono amicus curiae matter before the New Jersey Supreme Court in State v. Watson, including drafting arguments for the amicus brief that contributed to a unanimous decision resolving a matter of first impression by limiting the admissibility of first‑time in‑court eyewitness identifications and strengthening due process protections in criminal trials.
- Representation of an individual in an appeal of an asylum denial before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
- Judicial Extern, Hon. Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush, Indiana Supreme Court, 2019
- Judicial Extern, Hon. Thomas M. Durkin, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2018
Recognition & Leadership
- Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition: Oral Advocacy Honors, Fall 2019
- Internal Mock Trial Competition
- Champion, 2020
- Semi-Finalist, 2019
- AAJ External Mock Trial Team, 2020
- ABA Employment Law External Mock Trial Team, 2019
Credentials
-
J.D., cum laude, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
- Articles Editor, Indiana Law Journal
- B.A., Taylor University
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, 2020-2022
- Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit