James W. Martens

James W. Martens is the founder of Martens PLLC, Attorney at Law. Providing representation to clients throughout the state, including the Bakken region, he has a varied practice that encompasses estate planning and administration/probate, oil and gas transactions, real estate law, and criminal defense. Raised in North Dakota. Mr. Martens is admitted to practice in that state as well as before the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.

Mr. Martens worked in the oil and gas industry as an independent landman with a lease brokerage firm, operating in North Dakota and Montana, prior to joining a boutique firm based in Texas where he focused on mineral title examination, drafting opinions for operators in North Dakota. He continues to prepare opinions and conveyances for industry clients and mineral owners and provides title curative services. Mr. Martens also prepares and reviews oil and gas deeds, leases, and assignments, and he handles related litigation. His estate planning and administration experience includes the preparation of wills, trusts and powers of attorney, and he guides clients through the probate process. He also has defended clients who have been charged by the state with misdemeanor and felony charges, and he has been able to obtain favorable results in many of his cases, including outright acquittals as well as a reduction of charges pursuant to plea agreements negotiated with the prosecution. 

Mr. Martens is a graduate of Concordia College, where he majored in political science and received a Bachelor of Arts in 2003. He then went on to pursue his legal education at the University of North Dakota School of Law, and he was a member of its Student Trial Lawyers Association before being awarded his Juris Doctor in 2006. Mr. Martens opened his current firm in March 2014.