At 14, Jany Martinez-Ward crossed the southern border of the United States with her mother and brother after a three-hour Greyhound ride from Matamoros, Mexico. What followed was more than a month in foster care while her mother remained in an immigration detention center, an experience marked by uncertainty, separation, and the challenge of adapting to a new country without speaking English.
Today, Martinez-Ward is the co-founder of The Ward Law Group, a Miami-based personal injury law firm that has represented thousands of accident victims and their families across South Florida. Known throughout the region as an advocate for the Hispanic community, she has helped build a firm focused on car accidents, truck accidents, wrongful death, and catastrophic injury cases, including a significant recovery of over $100 million for one victim in a single case.
But long before she became a Miami accident attorney, her story began in survival mode.
A Childhood Shaped by Crossing Borders
Martinez-Ward was born in Cuba during the country’s “Special Period,” the severe economic crisis that followed the collapse of the socialist bloc in 1989. Seeking stability, her family relocated to Venezuela when she was nine years old. There, her mother worked as a university professor while also making stained-glass lamps at night to support the household. As political and economic instability intensified under Chavismo, the family made the difficult decision to leave once again, this time bound for the United States.
When they arrived in Miami, life was far from glamorous. The family shared a one-bedroom apartment in Hialeah with seven relatives, and financial survival became the priority. At just 15 years old, Martinez-Ward took her first job selling socks at the Opa-locka flea market. Instead of celebrating a quinceañera, she spent weekends studying English and completing ESOL courses in preparation for mainstream academic classes.
Even then, she had already decided on her future.
Choosing a Career in Law
During high school, a teacher asked students to write a letter describing where they saw themselves in ten years. Martinez-Ward wrote that she would become a lawyer. The response she received could have discouraged anyone. Her teacher marked her essay in red ink corrections and told her that her English was not strong enough to succeed in law. Rather than accept those limitations, she used the criticism as a catalyst.
That determination eventually led her to graduate from Nova Southeastern University in Davie and pursue a legal career in a field historically dominated by men. At the time, few Latina attorneys owned multimillion-dollar law firms in South Florida. Martinez-Ward continued moving forward with a vision not only to practice law, but to build a firm capable of helping immigrant and Hispanic families work through some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
Years later, during a New Year’s church service at Alpha and Omega, she wrote another letter, this time to God, outlining the future she hoped to build. Shortly after, she met attorney Gregory Ward at a lawyers’ luncheon. The two would later marry and eventually become business partners.
Launching The Ward Law Group
In 2013, the couple launched Ward Law with one plastic chair and the same computer Martinez-Ward had used in law school. What began as a small operation has since grown into a personal injury law firm with three offices located in Miami Lakes, Orlando, and New York. Martinez-Ward oversees negotiations and firm strategy, while Gregory Ward leads courtroom litigation.
Over the years, the firm has represented more than 35,000 families in personal injury and car accident cases throughout Florida and beyond. Their work includes cases involving automobile accidents, rideshare crashes, truck accidents, motorcycle injuries, and wrongful death claims. The National Trial Lawyers Association named Martinez-Ward to its “40 Under 40” list, recognizing her influence in the legal industry.
A Personal Approach to the Practice
Despite the firm’s growth, Martinez-Ward says her approach to law remains deeply personal.
Every client who walks through the doors of her office arrives carrying fear, stress, and uncertainty, emotions she understands firsthand from her own immigrant journey. That perspective has become part of the culture at Ward Law and a major reason why many Hispanic families throughout South Florida seek out Martinez-Ward when looking for a Miami personal injury attorney or Miami car accident lawyer.
For Jany Martinez-Ward, success was never only about building wealth or winning cases. It was about creating the kind of stability, advocacy, and opportunity her own family once searched for when they arrived in Miami with nothing but hope for a better future.
