Our Founder

“My commitment to helping the community access expert attorneys is as strong today as when I founded the company 25 years ago.”

Maryann Walker
Founder and CEO

Maryann Walker is the Founder, CEO, and guiding force of Walker Advertising. For more than 25 years, she has helped individuals throughout California access expert legal services and helped attorneys grow their businesses.

Maryann began her career working as a translator in the courts of Los Angeles.

It was during this time that Maryann saw people being denied fair and equal justice simply because they couldn’t speak English.

To address this problem, Maryann approached the Spanish-speaking attorneys she worked with and asked them if they wanted to jointly advertise their services to the Hispanic community. Five of them said yes, and in 1984, Los Defensores was born.

Shortly thereafter, Maryann created a second joint legal advertising group, what is now Walker & Walker Legal Network at 1800-THE-LAW2, to help serve the needs of English-speaking legal consumers.

In 2002, Alivio Legal was created to provide our member attorneys with a vehicle to reach the first-generation Hispanic market, which comprises approximately 38 percent of Los Angeles County residents.¹

In addition to her leadership responsibilities at Walker Advertising, Inc. Maryann participates in a variety of political and community issues. In response to Proposition 187, Maryann and her staff created a temporary product called ‘Ciudanania Ahora,’ which registered hundreds of California residents for U.S. citizenship.

Currently, Maryann and her team are involved in a campaign called ‘Ganemos Fuerza’ whose goal is to register American Hispanics to vote. More than 4,000 new voters have registered through this program.

Maryann is a graduate of Webster University, Los Angeles, and holds a Certified Translator certificate from University of California, Los Angeles.