Biography

Judge Richard Martin was appointed to the County Court bench in February 2023 and assigned to the County Civil Division where he managed 10,000 active civil cases. During his service, he has reduced his caseload by 33% by running an efficient docket and earned the respect of those practicing in his court.

He earned his law degree from Florida State University and graduated with highest honors. He earned his B.S. degree in industrial engineering at the University of Florida where he also graduated with highest honors. He is a Lakeland-born Florida native and graduated from Mulberry High School. He is married with two daughters and has a basset hound. He is also very involved in the Hyde Park United Methodist Church.

Before his appointment to County Judge, Martin served as chief of staff for the Office of Attorney General and managed 1200 employees, including 450 attorneys in 11 offices around the state. Previous to being elevated to chief of staff, he served as general counsel to the Attorney General. Responsibilities included ethics, public records, legal policy letters, attorney general opinions, legislative affairs, and cabinet affairs.

The prestigious law firm of Akerman, LLP hired Martin in 2004 and eventually made him partner. He remained there until 2019. His law practice involved a wide variety of litigation matters, including commercial real estate, foreclosures, Uniform Commercial Code, secured transactions, product defects, product liability, corporate disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, contracts, leases, false advertising, non-compete agreements and legal malpractice. He represented financial institutions in all aspects of commercial foreclosures, receiverships, guarantor litigation, replevin, garnishment, judgment collection and lender liability claims. He also focused on intellectual property and prepared, filed and prosecuted trademark and copyright applications. Martin was lead counsel in trademark, copyright, trade secret and non-disclosure agreement cases in federal and state courts.

Martin knows the importance of community and has been involved in Leadership Tampa Bay, First Tee of Tampa Bay advisory board, Tampa Connection and Hillsborough County Bar Association. He has also served as a Pro Bono Guardian Ad Litem.