Nicolas P. Martin

Nick Martin is cochair of the firm’s Toxic Tort and Environmental practices and Regional Managing Partner for the firm's San Francisco office. Nick defends companies and individuals sued in products liability, toxic tort and general litigation matters. His clients include national and local manufacturers, pharmaceuticals, retailers, property owners and entrepreneurs in a wide variety of service, sales and products industries.

Nick creates exit strategies for his clients at an early stage, mapping out and evaluating potential case outcomes for their respective benefits and risks, including verdict analyses. Where needed, he develops leverage opportunities to put pressure on opposing parties. The client’s business and litigation goals are crucial to and closely integrated with this assessment. Nick considers short- and long-term effects, including how to best prevent and defend against duplicate claims from other parties. Depending on the client’s stated interests, the matter may be defended pre-lawsuit, by motion at the pleadings stage or after discovery, at trial through verdict or on appeal. No matter the approach, the client’s preferred course is implemented in a focused, surgical, budgeted manner, with regular and timely updates provided on case developments.

Over the course of his practice, Nick has defended small business owners, Fortune 100 companies, pharmaceuticals, industrial manufacturers, luxury retailers, construction companies, consumer electronics manufacturers, architects, attorneys, military contractors, trucking companies, and local “mom and pop” operations.

In addition to his admissions in California and Hawaii, Nick also appears pro hac vice in other western states, including Washington and Utah. If his clients face related matters in multiple venues, he defends those through a coordinated, multijurisdictional approach that ensures the client’s defenses and disclosures are consistent, accurate and narrowly tailored to each state’s requirements. When called upon, Nick also defends his clients on appeal.

Prior to joining Wilson Elser, Nick completed a clerkship at the Supreme Court of California, the highest appellate court in the state. He served as a law clerk for then Associate Justice Marvin R. Baxter, preparing draft opinions and research memoranda on a variety of novel, highly contentious issues of first impression. In addition, Nick completed a clerkship at the California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, the state’s intermediate appellate court, where he served the Presiding Justice, James A. Ardaiz.

Outside the courtroom, Nick is just as eager to take up a challenge. He is an avid mountaineer, claiming several 15,000- and 14,000-foot summits in the Alps, Cascade Range and High Sierras, including the Eiger, Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Mönch, Breithorn, Mt. Rainier and North Palisade, and most recently Lobuche at 20,075’ in the Himalayas.