Clara Ruyan Martin is a lawyer practicing in the areas of corporate and technology transactions. Clara’s corporate work focuses on creating value, whether that means helping young companies grow in an intelligent way with an eye towards facilitating their exit strategy, or helping multinational organizations efficiently acquire or divest business units. Clara also works with both vendors and customers in complex technology and content creation, development. licensing and commercialization transactions. She facilitates multifunctional teams and her clients comprise some of the largest and most prominent organizations in the State, including universities, hospitals, media outlets and school districts.
Clara has served as an adjunct professor at USC Law School since 2004, teaching a course she developed titled “Contract Drafting and Negotiation.” She is the author of a treatise for the California Continuing Education of the Bar titled “Internet Law and Practice in California,” winner of the Association for Continuing Legal Education’s Award for Professional Excellence in the Best Publication category. She was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Shaw Pittman LLP and a founding partner in the Los Angeles firm of Klein & Martin LLP, which merged with Shaw Pittman in 2001. She was formerly in house counsel with responsibility for global mergers and acquisitions activity at AlliedSignal. Clara received the AV® rating by Martindale-Hubbell® (highest rating an attorney can receive for legal quality and ethics).
Clara is a founding board member of the Women's Leadership Council, and runs their outreach activities in partnership with the Fulfillment Fund. She leads the Parent Association at St. James' Episcopal School in Los Angeles and serves on the Board of Trustees and Finance Committee of First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. A proud mom of two boys and happily married to the man of her dreams for over 20 years, Clara loves to cook, knit, work in the garden and especially loves it when friends bring over good wine to pair with her food.