Foundation Board

Ana María Martinez received her J.D., cum laude and with Pro Bono distinction, from the Georgia State University College of Law in 2009. She serves as State Court Judge in DeKalb County. Previously, she worked as the staff attorney for the Hon. Dax E. López in the State Court of DeKalb County. Prior to working for the court, she was a litigator practicing in the areas of consumer warranty law, premises liability, professional liability, products liability, general personal injury defense, and employment law.

Originally from Colombia, South America, Ms. Martinez is fluent in English and Spanish. She received her B.B.A., cum laude, in Marketing from The University of Georgia in 2004. While at UGA, she was Vice-President of Professional Development and Public Relations of Alpha Kappa Psi, Professional Business Fraternity.

Ana María has been very engaged in the legal and Hispanic communities. She is a past president and current board member of the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association, as well as a past Co-Chair of the Multi-Bar Leadership Council. She has also chaired a number o since law school. She has chaired various committees for the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia, and currently serves as vice-chair for the General Counsel Office Overview Committee for the State Bar of Georgia. She is a Barrister in the Lamar Inn of Court and a LEAD Atlanta graduate. She is a board member of the Latino Community Fund. Ana Maria has been recognized as one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 40 Under 40 award recipients and was recently selected for Georgia State University's 40 Under 40 Inaugural Class.

She is one of the co-founders of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.

Michael is an English and Spanish speaking trial lawyer and mediator. Over the course of his career, Michael has had the opportunity to represent a wide variety of clients in civil disputes – from children to multi-national companies, doctors to injured patients, large insurance companies to small business owners. Through his trial practice, he handles all types of personal injury lawsuits, with a focus on construction and other workplace liability claims. Michael also serves as a mediator with Miles Mediation & Arbitration.

Michael graduated from The University of Georgia School of Law, where he was inducted into the National Order of Barristers, was a pupil in the Joseph Henry Lumpkin Inn of Court, a J. Melvin England Mock Trial Champion, and National Trial Competition Regional Champion and National Semifinalist. He graduated with an A.B. in International Affairs from The University of Georgia.

 

In addition to his service with GLLF, Michael is on the Board of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s (“GTLA”) Verdict Magazine, a graduate of GTLA’s LEAD Program, a member of the American Association for Justice, a Barrister in the Lamar Inn of Court, and a past-Barrister in the Joseph Henry Lumpkin Inn of Court.

Stacey Burke is an Assistant District Attorney at the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. 

Stacey is a graduate of Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School and received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for Legal Research and Writing. During law school, she served in various leadership roles, such as President of the Student Bar Association, Editor for the John Marshall Law Journal, and Lead Attorney for the Mock Trial Team. Stacey also served as the South-Atlantic Regional Director for the National Latina/o Law Student Association for two terms.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Stacey served as a victim’s advocate for the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. She is an avid traveler who has studied abroad in several countries in Latin America, Europe, and the South Pacific. Stacey is of Dominican and Irish descent originally from New York City. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Jonathan D. Grunberg is an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, where he focuses his practice on complex civil litigation in federal court. Mr. Grunberg has helped secure over $500 million in settlements, litigating cases involving the False Claims Act, defamation, civil rights, personal injury, commercial disputes, and professional negligence. His results include two record-setting Qui Tam settlements for Stark Law violations and Medicare fraud. Mr. Grunberg also has extensive experience in helping high-profile clients protect their reputations from defamatory attacks.

 

Mr. Grunberg received his J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 2009, where he served as an editor for the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum, competed for the Duke Law Moot Court Board, served as the treasurer for the Hispanic Law Student Association, and volunteered as a Spanish translator for Duke’s legal clinics. After law school, Mr. Grunberg clerked for the Honorable Steve C. Jones of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and the Honorable Graham C. Mullen in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Mr. Grunberg earned a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

 

Beyond Mr. Grunberg’s service with GLLF, he serves on the boards of STE(A)M Truck and is a proud Grady Ambassador.

Lucero Bello is an Immigration Staff Attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. Her practice focuses on providing immigration services to detained individuals in removal proceedings. 

Previously, she was an attorney at Eversheds Sutherland, where she advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments, fund formations, joint ventures and private placements of securities. Her experience included assisting clients in obtaining Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.

Prior to joining Sutherland, Ms. Bello spent a summer working as a law clerk with the Immigrants’ Rights division of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Georgia. At the ACLU, Ms. Bello researched legal issues, analyzed opportunities for policy reform and assisted in the development of advocacy materials. Additionally, as a Certified Law Student, she worked on matters related to wage and hour claims, unlawful detainers (landlord-tenant law), social security benefits and criminal expungements.

Ms. Bello obtained her B.B.A., summa cum laude, in Business Economics from Georgia State University and her J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Lindsey Simon joined the University of Georgia School of Law faculty in the fall of 2018 as an assistant professor, after serving as a visiting faculty member. Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Her course load will include Bankruptcy, Secured Transactions and the Bankruptcy Practice Seminar.

Previously, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. She also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.

Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.

She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Hispanic National Bar Association. She serves as community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation.

Carmen Toledo focuses on litigation involving toxic torts, environmental disputes and other complex litigation matters. As a partner in our Environmental and Mass Tort and Toxic Tort practices, Carmen represents large corporate clients in a variety of tort and product liability disputes.

Carmen represents chemical, agricultural and energy industry clients and other corporations in individual, mass joinder and class action cases across the U.S., at both the trial and appellate levels. Her matters involve claims of property damage and personal injuries due to alleged exposures to pesticides; asbestos and silica; vinyl chloride; formaldehyde; dioxin; chlorine; TCE; and other solvents.

In addition, Carmen has been involved in product liability cases for clients in various industries, including the pharmaceutical, automotive, financial services, and food and beverage sectors.

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen is fluent in Spanish as well as English. She has authored articles and presented on various toxic tort and environmental topics, and has been a frequent speaker on diversity, mentoring and women's issues.