Christopher Martz Arima

Christopher Martz Arima, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a veteran and attorney with the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender. He is passionate about enhancing accessibility to education and promoting inclusivity, mentorship, and community growth. Arima’s military service instilled in him a sense of leadership, discipline, and teamwork that he has seamlessly translated into his legal career. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the State Bar of New Mexico, the Albuquerque Bar Association, the Young Democrats of New Mexico, and the Justinian Society. In addition, he serves as the chair of the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division Committee on Criminal Justice and serves as the liaison to the Committee on Homelessness and Poverty. During his legal studies, he served as the managing editor for the Journal of Global Rights and Organizations and in the role of executive director of the Syrian Accountability Project under the Global Accountability Network. His publications include “The 2022 Winter Olympics and Genocide: A History of Enabling Atrocities and the Path Forward,” “On the Brink of Famine: The Ukraine Conflict and Food Crisis in Syria,” and “Russian War Crimes Against Ukraine: The Breach of International Humanitarian Law by the Russian Federation.” In addition to his 2018 Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts from Excelsior University (then College), he earned an associate degree in Arabic from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law. He has reenrolled at Excelsior to pursue an MBA.