Marietta Sebree "Marti" Robinson (born December 26, 1951) is an American lawyer and former political candidate in Michigan. She is a former Commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.GW Law profileSee http://www.cpsc.gov/en/About-CPSC/Commissioners/Marietta-Robinson/
Education She graduated from the University of Michigan–Flint with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973 and from the University of California, Los Angeles with a Juris Doctor in 1978.
Career From 1973 to 1975 she was a data processing marketing representative for the IBM Corporation in Flint, Michigan and Glendale, California. In that position, she was one of five women selling the largest computer IBM then made in the manufacturing environment.https://www.linkedin.com/in/marietta-robinson-b855662a/
Legal career From 1978 to 1979 she was in-house legal counsel for the Bank of Bermuda Limited in Hamilton. From 1979 to 1984, she practiced law as an associate and then a partner with the Michigan law firm of Dickinson Wright, Moon, Van Dusen and Freeman (now Dickinson Wright PLLC) in Detroit, and from 1985 - 1989, she was a shareholder in the law firm of Sommers Schwartz in Southfield, Michigan. From 1989 to 2013 she practiced law with her own law firm in Detroit, Birmingham and Lake Orion, Michigan. From 1982 to 1984 she was an adjunct professor of Law in Trial Practice at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in Detroit, Michigan and at the Wayne State University Law School in Detroit and, in 2011, at Duke Law School. She taught a course on the Consumer Product Safety Commission at George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC starting in 2019.https://www.linkedin.com/in/marietta-robinson-b855662a/ From 1989 to 1997, Robinson was one of five federally-appointed trustees of the Dalkon Shield Claimants’ Trust consisting of approximately $2.4 billion which was disbursed amongst 300,000 claimants in 120 countries.McGrady, Logan (May 11, 2021) Accomplished Alumna: Marietta Robinson. https://news.umflint.edu/2021/05/11/accomplished-alumna-marietta-robinson/
Political career In early 2013, she was nominated by President Obama as commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and approved by the Senate in June 2013. She served in that position until June 2018.ElBoghdady, Dina. (January 23, 2012) Obama nominates Marietta Robinson for CPSC.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-nominates-marietta-robinson-for-cpsc/2012/01/23/gIQANZgLMQ_story.htmlThorne, Blake (January 25, 2012) Obama to nominate University of Flint alumna to federal agency leadership.
https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2012/01/obama_to_nominate_university_o.html In 1985 Governor James Blanchard appointed her to the Michigan Building Authority, which she served on until 1989. In 2000 she was nominated by the Michigan Democratic Party for the Michigan Supreme Court to run against incumbent Chief Justice Clifford Taylor and was unsuccessful. In 2002 she was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Michigan Attorney General, but withdrew her name before the convention. In 2008, she served as co-chair of Michigan Women for Obama. In 2009, she was appointed by Michigan Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow as a member of the Judicial Advisory Committee for the Eastern District of Michigan.Monson, Lynn (February 7, 2012) Legal News. Area attorney receives appointment to federal commission.
https://legalnews.com/Home/Articles?DataId=1199408
Other activities From 1989 to 1997 she was a federally-appointed trustee of the Dalkon Shield Claimants’ Trust which disbursed over $2.4 billion to more than 300,000 claimants in more than 120 countries. She was a 2019 Fellow at the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative and Distinguished Fellow for Consumer Protection at the American Constitution Society.LinkedIn Profile She was on the Board of Managerial Trustees of the International Association of Women Judges from 2018-2025 and chaired the Resource Development Committee. She is a Fellow and was the first woman president of the International Society of Barristers. In 2015, she was a speaker in the Distinguished Speaker Series of the World Bank Executive Committee. She is a Fellow of the American and Michigan Bar Associations, is a Member in the International Women's Foundation and has been listed for more than 20 years in Who's Who in The World, In America, in American Law and of American Women.
Personal life She was married for 28 years to James K. Robinson, who was U.S. Attorney in Detroit under President Carter, Dean of Wayne State University Law School from 1993-1998, Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice under President Clinton, and a partner at Honigman, Miller, Schwartz and Cohn in Detroit prior to 1993 and at Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLC from 2001 until his death of cancer in 2010.Former US Attorneys Association (August 24, 2016) Jim Robinson Remembered. https://www.nafusa.org/2013/06/marti-robinson-confirmed-for-commissioner-consumer-product-safety-commission/Criminal Division, US Department of Justice. James K. Robinson.
https://www.justice.gov/criminal/history/assistant-attorneys-general/james-k-robinson She has two stepchildren and five grandchildren.
References
NOMINATIONS TO THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION, AND THE FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION (S. HRG. 112–631)
External links Official CPSC biography