This page provides a brief synopsis of my professional credentials and past professional experience. Relevant volunteer service is covered on a separate page.
Download PDF of full CV.
Active Bar Memberships
Member, Alabama State Bar
Scroll to the end regarding my membership in The Florida Bar (currently non-practicing).
Academic Degrees
Ph.D., Mass Communication
The University of Alabama
- Program Concentration: Organizational Communication & Organizational Behavior
- Program Cognate: Research Methods
- Doctoral coursework includes multiple courses in organizational communication, organizational behavior, managing organizational change, including 24 graduate credit hours in the Culverhouse College of Commerce in management and statistics courses.
LL.M. Taxation
The University of Florida
Juris Doctor
The University of Alabama
- Top 30% of Class
- Awards: AmJur Book Award: Best Paper in Public International Law
Bachelor of Arts
The University of Alabama
- Major: Broadcast & Film Communication
Minor: History
Professional Certificates
Professional Certificate in Leadership for Sustainable Food Systems
The University of Vermont Continuing Education
- I earned this certificate in 2012 through my participation in the inaugural class of the UVM Breakthrough Leaders Program in Sustainable Food Systems Leadership.
Professional Experience
This section provides a curated snapshot of some of my professional experience that is relevant to the services I provide as a lawyer. It offers an overview of my formal employment and self-employment history.
The focus of the remainder of this page is on my professional background as a practicing lawyer and college professor. I created a separate page to provide details about my work in strategic communication
Sheree Martin Law: A 21st Century Law Firm for Visionaries
June 2016 – Present
It’s Law With Purpose….By Design
Samford University: 2009 – 2015
I held a faculty appointment as assistant professor, tenure track, in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication from August 2009 through May 2015. I chose not to apply for tenure because I knew that I was going to pursue other opportunities.
I taught a wide range of courses including courses in mass media law, public relations, digital communications and social media marketing and visual communication for print/online. Additional information about the relevant strategic communications aspects of my work at Samford will be covered on a separate page.
One of my scholarly activities at Samford (outside of the classroom) was to serve as co-organizer and panelist for the 2012 Data Privacy Day symposium: Is My Phone Spying On Me? at Cumberland Law School. Primary organizer was Professor Woodrow Hartzog, a faculty member in the Cumberland Law School.
Is My Phone Spying On Me? Jan 27 2012 from Sheree Martin on Vimeo.
Rosen Harwood, P.A.: Late August 2007 – August 2009
Associate Attorney
I returned to Rosen Harwood (which had been renamed since my earlier association with the firm) in August 2007 to reestablish my practice in business transactions and related. If you’re interested, in this blog post I share some of the story about my return to the firm, and why I left after 2 years.
During this two-year time frame, my practice areas and legal focus were matters relating to:
- Business Law; Business Transactions; Media Law; Intellectual Property; Internet Law; Estate Planning; Taxation; Environmental Law
Clients included physicians, medical practice groups, physician-owned ancillary healthcare service providers.
I handled multiple business formations; buy/sell and transfer restriction agreements; asset and entity sales/purchase transactions including due diligence disclosures and reviews; employment agreements for physicians; business operations transactional documents; trademark and copyright registration; and matters relating to estate planning.
Oklahoma State University: 2003 – 2007
Details coming.
Samford University: 2002-2003
Adjunct Instructor: 5 sections of Communication Arts I or II during Fall 2002 and Spring 2003 semesters.
University of Alabama: 1999 – 2002
Instructor of Record as graduate teaching assistant or adjunct for multiple course.
Graduate Student & Freelance Writer: 1997 – 2003
Rosen, Cook, Sledge, Davis, Carroll & Jones, P.A.
June 1992 – August 1997
I joined the firm as an associate in June 1992 and became a shareholder of the firm in December 1994.
Practice Areas included: General Business and Business Transactions; Estate Tax Planning and Estate Administration; Wills, Trusts and Probate; Elder Law.
One of the main areas of my practice during those years was representation of a physician-owned ambulatory surgery center and the sale of an interest in that facility to a publicly-traded company. After the sale, I continued to represent the physician-entity ownership group and the physician group that owned the real property leased to the operating entity.
Separate from the surgery center representation work, I provided legal services for physicians, physician practice organizations and dentists and dental practice organizations.
Also during those years, I occasionally handled matters for the Capstone Health Services Foundation, which was at that time a separate entity and affiliate of the Medical School of the University of Alabama System located in Birmingham. The Capstone Health Services Foundation provided clinical healthcare training and patient care services in Tuscaloosa and West Alabama.
In addition to the business work I handled for healthcare providers, I also represented a variety of businesses in manufacturing, retail and service sectors. Sometimes my business was business operations, sometimes it was transactional in nature.
I left the firm in August 1997 to begin a Ph.D. program at the University of Alabama and to pursue new dreams.
Sheree Martin, Solo Practitioner
From December 1989 through May 1992 I was a solo attorney practicing business, tax and estate planning law in Florence, Alabama.
I closed my solo practice at the end of May 1992 and joined Rosen, Cook, Sledge, Davis, Carroll & Jones, P.A. in Tuscaloosa. I continued to represent some of my Florence and northwest Alabama clients during my years with Rosen, Cook & Sledge. The firm is known today as Rosen Harwood, P.A.
During my years in Florence, I handled a variety of business, estate planning and tax-related matters for businesses, professionals and nonprofits.
Example: I provided legal representation related to the formation of the Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to public education and awareness about the the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed structure in Alabama. I served an initial board member of that nonprofit for approximately one year prior to my relocation to Tuscaloosa.
- I have not been involved with any aspect of the Florence Rosenbaum House or the nonprofit since 1992 and I merely offer this as an example of the type of legal work I performed between 1990-1992 as a solo practitioner. Eventually the Rosenbaum family donated the the house to the City of Florence and sold the furniture and contents to the city. The Wright Rosenbaum House was restored and is now a City of Florence museum.
Other Relevant Credentials
I am also a member of The Florida Bar (admitted in 1987), but I am inactive at this time and do NOT currently practice law in Florida. I switched my status to inactive (temporary retirement is the term, I believe, that is used) several years ago when I was a faculty member. I am contemplating filing the paperwork with The Florida Bar in Fall 2016 to return my status from temporary “retirement” to active. If/when that happens, I will update this website accordingly.