Portnov Yakov Naumovich (b. 1925, Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Region) — lawyer.

In 1945–1946, Yakov Portnov was stationed in Poland and Germany as part of the Soviet occupation forces. In 1951, he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Latvian State University. In the same year, he enrolled in the Evening University of Marxism–Leninism in Riga.

He was a member of the Komsomol from 1940 to 1944 and joined the Trade Union of State Institution Employees in 1946. In 1953, he was transferred to the Collegium of Advocates of the Latvian SSR and appointed as an attorney at the 3rd Riga Legal Consultation Office. He became a member of the CPSU in 1954.

Portnov received commendations from the Minister of Justice of the Latvian SSR (1957) and from the Latvian Collegium of Advocates (1958) for his active participation in improving the qualifications of people’s assessors in Riga’s Proletarian District and for developing seminar programmes. In 1958, he took part in drafting procedural instructions for criminal and civil cases.

In 1961, he was expelled from the Collegium of Advocates following his arrest and prosecution under Articles 17 and 165(1) of the Criminal Code of the Latvian SSR (incitement and mediation in bribery). In 1962, by decision of the Supreme Court of the Latvian SSR, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment to be served in a strict-regime corrective labour colony.