Five Questions for the Vice President of Legal

Posted by Newsletter Editor on March 1st, 2013

Photo courtesy of Emiliano Martinez

Although moms are the parents you most often associate with PAMP, the club has plenty of dads in its membership. One of them is attorney Emiliano Martinez, who serves on the PAMP board of directors as the vice president of legal.

This means he advises the club on legal matters related to entering into contracts with vendors and others who help put on PAMP events and ensuring that PAMP follows the laws that apply to it as a nonprofit organization.

“Basically I take care of all the boring legal minutia that is a reality with all the things PAMP does,” Emiliano says.

His role also involves overseeing PAMP’s own policies and guidelines to be sure they are applied consistently and fairly. Mostly this relates to moderating the PAMP forums.

Emiliano collaborates with the forum moderators to answer questions that come up regarding posts or inquiries. He says the goal is to make the forum as helpful to members as it can be and to make the rules as clear as they can be.

“I know how much value members get from the forums on a daily basis,” Emiliano says. “So we so strive to make it as easy as we can for people to get and give answers.”

This means tweaking policies if something is proving unclear or inefficient.

“There’s always going to be some gray area,” Emiliano says. “The main things we look at are prior history—so we aren’t deviating radically from what’s been said and done before—and our intention behind a policy. Even if the wording isn’t inclusive of every scenario—which would be impossible—we look at the purpose behind the rule to make a decision on something that people could argue either way.”

This grayness is one of the things Emiliano loves about volunteering for PAMP. “As an attorney, I enjoy it—doing the research and being posed those difficult, thoughtful questions about how something should be decided, even when it’s not clear cut, to provide people with arguments and reasons on either side and advise PAMP as best I can to ensure we are aware of all the circumstances at play and potential outcomes.”

Emiliano lives with his wife and 1.5-year-old son in Menlo Park. He has been a PAMP member for 18 months and a board member for six of those.

1. What is the last non-kid movie you saw? We saw Silver Linings Playbook. It was our first movie out since our son’s been born, and we enjoyed it a great deal.

2. Are you a Bay Area native or transplant? I am a Bay Area native from Martinez in the East Bay.

3. What’s at the top of your to-do list? To plan my ski trip for next weekend. I didn’t get in any days last year, and I promised myself (and my wife said yes), so I am gong to try to go next weekend.

4. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character? Oscar the Grouch. Honestly, it’s because green is my favorite color. Personality didn’t really factor into that decision.

5. Why are you a PAMP volunteer? Over the first year of my son’s life, the organization was a very helpful resource for us. So when the opportunity came up for me to contribute and give something back, I thought it would be worthwhile. Also for me professionally, it is great to work with a new group of people who all come from exciting and interesting backgrounds. And we all have at least one thing in common as relatively new parents. It’s fun sharing that experience with them and also working with them.

Each month we train the spotlight on someone who works behind the scenes for PAMP. Interested in joining the ranks? Browse our open volunteer positions, and apply today!