Cuban
Lecturer Inspires
Students through Stories
of Resilience
Joan Martínez Evora was a lawyer in Cuba before coming to
the U.S. and now teaching at the University of Miami.
Joan Martinez Evora awoke each
Monday morning and dressed in the shadows of the farm before
the sun and roosters would greet him. He’d drink milk for
breakfast, gather his belongings and begin his hours long
journey on foot under the cover of mountains in San
Cristobal, Pinar del Rio, Cuba. If he was lucky, he’d catch
a truck off the main road that would take him to the
University of Havana, where he would spend the week studying
law.
As a student in Cuba’s capital city, Martinez Evora would arrive unsure
if the electricity would work, if the food he brought in his
backpack was enough for the entire week, or if the textbooks
he needed were available. What he did know was that he had a
calling from deep within to learn the law and in his words,
“fight for the underdog.” He graduated from the University
of Havana with top honors in 2004.
More than a decade later, Martinez Evora is a lecturer at the
University of Miami School of Business Administration
who inspires his students through his personal stories of
perseverance, as well as his deep belief in and
understanding of the law. He teaches business law courses in
English and Spanish and has taught at the undergraduate and
graduate levels. In the spring 2017 semester, more than 70
students were enrolled in his courses. He’s been teaching at
UM since the fall of 2011.
About the Photo
Joan Martinez Evora, lecturer at the UM School of
Business Administration, inspires his students with
stories of perseverance.
“Studying and teaching law in Cuba first and now here in the
United States has been, and currently is, an immense
opportunity and a unique chance to share my experiences,” he
says. “Teaching is a wonderful joy, and the greatest
privilege and accomplishment of my professional life.”
Martinez Evora captures the attention of his students in the
classroom, passionately explaining the deep differences
between civil and common law, and the history surrounding
those, while weaving in stories of his personal journey.
“I have learned through Joan’s stories to be resilient
despite the obstacles,” says Donald Nelson, who is a senior
at UM, graduating in May 2017, studying finance and
entrepreneurship.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Nelson feels a connection with
his teacher.
“I came to the U.S. when I was younger, but just like him, I
had to make the transition to a new education system,
language and culture; we both have had to acclimate to
change in a different country and culture than our own.”
Martinez Evora began teaching civil procedure at the
University of Havana shortly after he finished law school
there, and from that moment he knew the direction of his
life would change.
Inspired by his mentors, he decided to come to the U.S. to
practice law and teach. The journey to the U.S. was not
easy. In addition to working and living in a new country, he
had to begin his studies over again because his University
of Havana law degree did not transfer to the U.S.
When Martinez Evora started law school over again at the
University of Miami in 2005, his wife was pregnant with his
son and his daughter was just a year old.
Today, Martinez Evora holds a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum
laude, from the University of Miami School
of Law. He graduated in 2011.
“I could not do it without my wife’s support,” he says. “I
always say, the cum laude is mine, but the magna is hers.”
During the long commutes along the mountainside to the
University of Havana, Martinez Evora would think about the
doctors, lawyers and other professionals struggling to put
food on the table.
“With economic difficulties and discriminatory travel
restrictions, there wasn’t much incentive to study or to
graduate from high school or from university,” he says. “I’m
very grateful that my family never objected to my decision
to study.”
The number of hours spent studying and traveling would be
hard to calculate.
Martinez Evora says of his long journey to success, “I wanted
to prove to myself that it was possible.”
