Michele Martinez Campbell
Professor Michele Martinez Campbell was formerly a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she served as deputy chief of the Narcotics Unit.   Her district, which covered Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island, including the ports and airports that serve New York City, making it one of the premier narcotics districts in the U.S.  Her experience in narcotics cases includes everything from prosecuting Thai warlords who controlled vast heroin organizations, to Mexican cocaine cartels, to domestic retail organizations that controlled large swaths of urban neighborhoods.

While in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Professor Martinez Campbell conducted numerous jury trials, evidentiary hearings, appellate oral arguments, and sentencing proceedings. In addition to narcotics cases, she investigated and prosecuted cases relating to racketeering, homicide, kidnapping, weapons violations, money laundering and fraud, working closely with FBI, DEA, ATF, US Customs, NYPD and other law enforcement agencies. She conducted over a hundred grand jury investigations, including witness presentations and documentary investigations. She is an expert on federal wiretap law, having obtained authorization for and supervised scores of federal wiretaps in narcotics and racketeering cases, including coordinating high-level wiretap investigations of international narcotics cartels among numerous federal districts. In addition, she has substantial experience working with foreign governments relating to extraditions and information sharing.

Professor Martinez Campbell graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, and received her JD with distinction from Stanford Law School.  After law school, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert F. Peckham, Chief Judge of the Northern District of California, then spent three years as a litigation associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York.  After leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Professor Martinez Campbell became an award-winning crime novelist. Her legal thriller series featuring federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas includes Most Wanted (2005) (named one of the top fiction debuts of 2005 by Library Journal and one of the Best Mysteries of 2005 by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel); The Finishing School (2006) (winner of the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Police Procedural of 2006); Cover-Up (starred review, Publisher’s Weekly); and Notorious (2008). Titles in the series have been published in Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, Estonian, audio and large print formats. She has also published several short stories, and done hundreds of media and public appearances including national book tours and television, radio and print interviews.

At Vermont Law School, Prof. Martinez Campbell specializes in criminal law and criminal procedure law.  She teaches Criminal Law, Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Criminal Practice and Procedure, Narcotics Law and Policy and Sex Crimes.

Drew Bacharach, Student Blogger

Drew Bacharach is a second year student at Vermont Law School.  While he is focused on pursuing a career in criminal law, his path toward a life engaged with prosecuting criminal cases is anything but typical.  Hailing from Perry, Ohio, Drew attended Ohio University and received his Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management. While at Ohio University, Drew worked alongside Dr. Heather Lawrence in drafting and implementing the N.C.A.A. CHOICES grant to educate student-athletes on the abuse dangers related to alcohol and other drugs.  Upon graduation, Drew pursued a career in professional sports.  During his four years with the Lake Erie Monsters and Cleveland Cavaliers, Drew served as the Sales Coordinator, focusing on marketing, promotions, and operational logistics. Four years in the controlled chaos of professional sports endowed Drew with an important skill; the ability to efficiently make decisions in the eye of the storm.

Although Drew had always planned to attend law school, he attempted to sabotage his law career by way of his poor (but steadily improving) golf skills. In 2009, Drew experienced a traumatic, self-inflicted eye injury that cleared his vision for the future (pun intended).  After incurring a golf ball to the eye and experiencing a period of blindness, Drew committed himself to pursuing a different career path. His ambition of a career in athlete representation shifted toward pursuing a rewarding career in Criminal Law.  In the summer of 2011, Drew began serving as a Research Assistant for Professor Michele Martinez Campbell. Drew’s research has focused on the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. Drew has continued his work with Professor Martinez Campbell and he attributes his enthusiasm and development in Criminal Law to her.