Marta Maria Chou just wants to make an impact. Only three years out of law school, Chou has already begun.
As an intellectual property and business litigation attorney at Minneapolis law firm Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi, she represents clients on complex cases, logs hundreds of hours of pro bono work for needy clients, and teaches advanced advocacy courses at William Mitchell College of Law.
The daughter of a Cuban refugee, Chou always wanted to help those who are new to this country, and manages to find time to do so by volunteering with the legal community and several organizations working on improving the lives of youth, immigrants, and refugees. Among those programs: Class Action, an interactive program she created to teach high school students to make healthy life choices; a Summit Academy after-school program for Minneapolis North High students focusing on academic achievement and career development; Lighthouse Academy of Nations, a charter school for immigrant and refugee students, where she serves on the board. “I want to promote social change. I’m committed to my legal practice,” Chou says. “At the end of the day my work has to matter.”
Chou is also passionate about increasing diversity—in the Twin Cities’ and in local law firms. As chair of the state bar association’s Diversity Committee, she created and implemented a minority clerkship program to place first-year minority law students in summer internships to help retain law students of color and open career doors for them.
“Everybody needs help getting the door opened just once,” she says. “Then they can make it on their own.”
