On Saturday April 17, 2010 the Mexican-American Bar Association of Texas hosted its annual Law Student & Leadership Conference at South Texas College of Law Houston in downtown Houston, Texas. It was a great experience for all involved including law students, attorneys, judges, and all of the distinguished speakers that were so gracious to devote their time. It was my pleasure to have Roman Hernandez, President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, deliver our keynote address. He spoke about his life experiences dating back to his childhood, his military experience, and ultimately becoming a partner in his law firm. The challenges he faced and his determination to achieve success is a template for law students can follow. His keynote address was truly inspirational and was well received and served as motivation not only myself, but also, all in attendance. His ideas for the HNBA were visionary and showed what great leadership is all about. I thank him for attending the conference and sharing his experiences.
I would also like to thank South Texas College of Law Houston for hosting our event, as well as Dean Donald Guter, Dean and President of the law school, for his opening remarks. I would like to thank Martin Garza, President of MABATx, Diana Perez, President of HisBA, and Joel Salazar, former President of MABATx for their wonderful panel discussion on the challenges law students face when transitioning from law students into new lawyers. Further, I would like to thank Texas district court judges Josefina Rendon and Michael Gomez for their thoughtful presentations. Additionally, Texas Supreme Court Justices David Medina and Eva Guzman were on hand to talk to law students about recent Texas Supreme Court cases and professionalism, respectively. I thank both Supreme Court Justices for their time and constant dedication to exemplifying the very best of our judiciary and epitomizing the very meaning of professionalism.
It was also a great honor of mine to award scholarships to six deserving Texas law students on behalf of the Mexican-American Bar Association of Texas Foundation. This year’s award winners were inspiring in and of themselves. Through their hard work and dedication, they have excelled in their respective fields and all have a bright future ahead of them.
It is important for us as attorneys and judges to continue to provide opportunities to law students to offer advice, provide guidance, and present a forum to answer questions they have concerning their careers, ethical considerations, and what being an attorney requires. I would like to remind everyone of the Fifth Annual Mexican-American Bar Association of Texas Foundation Scholarship Luncheon. This event will be held on August 18, 2010 at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Houston, Texas from 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. This is an important event as it is our opportunity to raise money for the benefit of granting scholarships to the Houston-based law schools. I always enjoy hosting this event and look forward to seeing everyone there.