The NABL Member Spotlight initiative is a volunteer-based program. All featured members participate voluntarily and are selected to highlight their contributions and achievements within our community. Participation in the spotlight does not imply endorsement by NABL. If you would like to be featured, please contact us! Now, let’s meet Christie Martin and learn more about her public finance journey:

Christie leads the public finance tax practice at Mintz and focuses her practice on tax matters in connection with the firm’s roles as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, borrower’s counsel and purchaser’s counsel for a variety of municipal bond issues.

What inspired you to become a NABL member and how did your career in Public Finance start?

I was a summer associate at Palmer & Dodge in Boston and was lucky enough to do some assignments in the Public Finance group and found that I really liked both the work and the people in the group. I learned from and was mentored by some amazing public finance attorneys who were excellent lawyers and people. NABL participation was a big part of the culture, and while I was there, I worked with 3 different partners who served a term as NABL’s president – Neil Arkuss, Walter St. Onge and Tony Martini. I was encouraged to attend the NABL conferences, starting with what was then Fundamentals, and to participate on panels and in comment projects, and learned how valuable NABL was to the public finance community.

You are chairing The Workshop this year, what’s something you are looking forward to for this year’s conference?

I am very excited for this year’s Workshop in DC! I know how hard the Steering Committee have worked to put together relevant and engaging panel sessions and I’m sure their efforts will result in an extraordinary conference. As with all NABL conferences, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with colleagues across the country to exchange ideas and updates. And having the conference in a new venue will be a nice change.

You’ve recently been nominated to the NABL Board of Directors. What impact do you hope to make in your new role on the NABL Board?

I am honored to be nominated and want to be helpful in any way that I can. I hope I can lend my tax and deal expertise to NABL’s ongoing projects and look for ways to increase NABL membership and engagement.

Is there a particular project or deal that stands out as especially meaningful in your career?

I have worked on so many meaningful projects with so many great clients that it would be hard to narrow it down. I still remember the first deal I was ever part of as a summer associate reading diligence materials, the first deal I staffed as a junior associate and the first deal I did solo as a partner – not because they were particularly difficult or challenging but because of the milestones they represented in my career. The first billion dollar bond opinion I signed still stands out – you don’t soon forget signing with that many 0s!

What is a fun fact that people might not know about you?

A few years ago I took a beginner pottery class and fell in love. I now have a makeshift pottery studio in my basement with a potter’s wheel and lots of fun clay tools. I have very little talent but it is a great distraction from arbitrage and private use questions!