Officers and Directors
Officers 2024-2025
Chief Justice Dori Contreras, President
Judge Antonia “Toni” Arteaga, President-Elect
Judge Gloria Lopez, Treasurer
Justice Robbie Partida-Kipness, Secretary
Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza,
Immediate Past President
Directors
Terms Expire 2025
Judge Ricardo Adobbati
Judge Pamela Medina
Terms Expire 2026
Judge Marifer Aceves
Judge Bianca Garcia
Judge Jessica Vazquez
Judge Selena Alvarenga
Emeritus Members
Lesley Briones
Gina M. Benavides
Orlinda Naranjo
Victor Villarreal
Dori Contreras, President
& Board Member
Chief Justice Dori Contreras was elected as a Justice to the 13th Court of Appeals in 2002. She was re-elected in 2008 and 2014 and elected Chief Justice in 2018 for a six-year term.
Chief Justice Contreras was raised in Pharr, Texas and graduated from PSJA High School in 1976. She received a BBA in Accounting in December of 1980 from UT Austin. After working as an accountant in Houston for several years, she enrolled in the University of Houston Law Center from which she received her JD in 1990. Upon graduation, Chief Justice Contreras received the Distinguished Service Award. She was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in November of 1990 and has been active in numerous professional and community organizations since. She has received numerous awards and has been recognized for the leadership roles she has taken in many of these organizations. Chief Justice Contreras is married to Roger Perez and is the proud mother of three children and an even prouder “Nana” of five grandchildren.
Antonia “Toni” Arteaga, President-Elect & Board Member
Judge Antonia “Toni” Arteaga was elected to the 57th District Court in 2008, and recently re-elected for a fourth term. She currently serves as President-Elect of the Texas Association of District Judges and Bexar County Chair for the National Campaign to Stop Violence. The youngest of eight daughters, Judge Arteaga earned her undergraduate degree at The University of Texas in Austin. Originally from West Texas, she is the proud daughter of migrant workers, and earned her Juris Doctorate at St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Judge Arteaga is married and the proud mother of two.
Gloria E. Lopez, Treasurer & Board Member
Judge Gloria E. López was elected as judge of the 308th District Court in 2018. She is a native of McAllen, Texas. She received her bachelors in Government and Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin. Thereafter she obtained her Juris Doctorate from Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Judge López is Board Certified in Family law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Prior to taking the bench Judge López was a family law solo practitioner. Judge López’s is fluent in Spanish.
Robbie Partida-Kipness, Secretary & Board Member
On November 6th, 2018, Justice Partida-Kipness made history by being the first Hispanic elected to serve on the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas, Texas which has jurisdiction over Dallas, Collin, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufmann, and Rockwall counties. Justice Partida-Kipness was born and raised in New Braunfels, Texas. She attended the Universities of Texas in Austin and San Antonio and received her law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1998. After graduating from law school, Justice Partida-Kipness moved to Dallas to begin her legal career as a civil litigator.
In 2020, Justice Partida-Kipness was appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of Texas Children’s Commission. She continues to serve on the Children’s Commission and currently serves on the Commission’s Training Committee. She has continued to serve on the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Education Institute’s Education planning committee since 2020. Justice Partida-Kipness is also an active member of the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association. Justice Partida-Kipness has a deep passion for mentoring law students and young lawyers. She is married to her law school classmate, Jason Kipness, and they are proud parents of one son. The three of them enjoy spending time cheering on The University of Texas Longhorns in all sports.
Maria Salas Mendoza, Immediate Past President & Board Member
Judge Maria Salas Mendoza serves as Judge of the 120th District Court, in El Paso, Texas, since 2007. She is a member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee, the Pattern Jury Charge Committee (Business, Consumer, Employment and Insurance) and the ABA Standing Committee on Diversity in the Judiciary. She is Chair-Elect of the State Bar of Texas Hispanic Issues Council and represents the council on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Judge Salas-Mendoza oversees the Women’s Addiction and Recovery Court and is devoted to community service including mentoring students of all ages and the numerous projects of her Lions Club.
Judge Salas Mendoza was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. She graduated from Riverside High School, Harvard College and the UCLA School of Law. She is the proud mother of Michael Aaron, Melina Alisa and Dillon Lee.
Ricardo M. Adobbati, Board Member
District Judge Ricardo M. Adobbati presides over the 404th District Court in Cameron County, Texas. He was elected to the bench in March 2020. He served as Municipal Judge in Rancho Viejo and Harlingen, Texas prior to taking the district court bench.
Judge Adobbati was born in Balcarce, Argentina. He is married and has 2 children. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1991 and received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from Tulane University in May 1994. He became licensed to practice in Texas and Federal Courts in November of 1994. He maintained various summer clerkships in New Orleans as well as Texas during his legal studies to further his experience in the field.
Save and except for his studies, Judge Adobbati has resided in the Brownsville, Texas, area since 1976. He has practiced law in the Rio Grande Valley since 1994 and as a licensed mediator since 2002.
Judge Adobbati is completely fluent in the Spanish language and has served as member of various professional, community and charitable organizations as well as serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley.
Pamela Medina, Board Member
Judge Pamela Medina serves as the first Latina Judge of a Probate Court in Harris County history. Judge Medina presides over probate, trusts and guardianship proceedings and litigation in probate, guardianship, and general civil matters. Judge Medina served as Vice President at a national bank., in their corporate trusts and estates asset management division. Judge Medina was the attorney and principal at Medina Law Texas, PLLC. Her practice areas encompassed estate planning, estate administration, personal and court created trusts drafting, guardianships, probate litigation and general civil litigation.
Judge Medina received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas, at Austin and her juris doctorate. graduating cum laude, from Thurgood Marshall School of Law. During law school Judge Medina served as a law clerk with the Harris County Civil District Court No. 269.
Judge Medina is a member of the Texas State Bar’s Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law and Hispanic Issues Section She is a gubernatorial appointee to Texas Southern University Board of Regents, acted as First and Second Vice Chair and Chair of Academic Affairs. She served on the Houston Bar Association Board of Director, and Co-Chaired the Diversity Equity & Inclusion, AIDS Awareness and Communities in Schools Committees. She is a former President of the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston. She is a member of the League of Women Voters Voter Registrar, LGBTQ Caucus, Houston Black American Democrats, Harris County Democratic Lawyers Association, Harris County Democratic Party
Judge Medina is married to Justice David M. Medina; they share five children and two grandchildren. They are both passionate about serving others.
Marifer Aceves,
Board Member
Marifer Aceves is the judge of the 192nd Civil District Court in Dallas County. Prior to getting on the bench, Marifer was an award-winning Dallas civil litigation attorney, focusing on personal injury matters, representing injured individuals and their families at her own firm. She also handled guardian ad litem appointments representing minor children's interests in civil cases. Prior to starting her own firm, Marifer did civil defense work for several years at a prominent defense firm and worked at a boutique catastrophic injury firm. She also interned for a civil district court judge in Dallas County.
Marifer was selected to D Magazine’s Women of Influence in 2023, Best Lawyers under 40 in 2022 and named as one of the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association’s Women of Distinction in 2022 in conjunction with LATINA Style Magazine. She was named numerous times to the prestigious Super Lawyers Texas Rising Stars List and selected to the Top 40 Under 40 List by the National Trial Lawyers, among numerous other awards.
Marifer grew up in North Texas and is a graduate of Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. During her free time, she enjoys spending with her two daughters and husband.
Judge Selena Alvarenga, Board Member
Selena grew up in San Salvador, El Salvador and received bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. She received J.D from St. Mary’s school of Law and was admitted to the Texas bar in 1996.
Selena was a former criminal defense attorney with over two decades of trial experience and was the first LGBT, Latina immigrant elected to the bench in Travis County. She currently serves as Judge of the 460th Criminal District Court in Travis County.
She has vast experience serving the legal community and community at large as the former Presiding Director of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, former Board Member of the Austin LGBTQ Bar Association and the Civil Rights and Immigration Law Section, and former City of Austin Public Safety Commission. Current Board Member of the Travis County Sobering Center. Volunteer service with various groups in the Austin community.
Judge Bianca Garcia, Board Member
Judge Jessica Vazquez, Board Member
Lesley Briones, Emeritus Member
Former Judge Lesley García Mitchell Briones, a native Texan, developed a deep respect for the rule of law while growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border. Briones graduated from Harvard University with honors and returned to her hometown of Laredo to serve as an 8th and 10th grade teacher before attending Yale Law School. After graduating from Yale Law School, she practiced litigation and tax law at Vinson & Elkins, LLP before serving as the General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of a national nonprofit organization. Briones was the presiding judge of Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4 and is an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Briones and her husband live in Houston with their three daughters.
Gina M. Benavides, Emeritus Member
Justice Gina M. Benavides was first elected to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals in 2006, re-elected in 2012, and most recently elected to her third six-year term in 2018. Justice Benavides is happy to announce that she has recently published an article in the St. Mary’s Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics entitled “The Texas Standards for Appellate Conduct: An Annotated Guide and Commentary with her former staff attorney, Joshua Caldwell.
Justice Benavides is originally from Corpus Christi and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1985 from the University of Texas in Austin. She then attended law school at the University of Houston Law Center and was admitted into the State Bar in 1988. Justice Benavides currently resides in Corpus Christi, Texas with her husband Sammy. She is the proud mother of three: Daniella, Ricardo, and Alyssa; and the grandmother of Willow, Trey and Celia Leona.
Orlinda Naranjo, Emeritus Member
Judge Naranjo retired from the Travis County bench after 24 years. In 1994, she was the first Latina elected to a countywide judicial seat to Travis County Court at Law #2, and in 2006-2018 to the 419th Judicial District Court. She was a litigation attorney with the City of Austin, Small Craig and Werkenthin PC, and in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Butt, Thornton, & Baehr, PC. In 1985, she graduated from the University of NM School of Law.
During her judicial service, she was appointed by the Texas Supreme Court to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Texas Judicial Council, the first Texas Indigent Defense Task Force; the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts, and chaired the Juvenile Justice Committee which eliminated ticketing of students for Class C misdemeanors. She has served as an officer and active member with the National Association of Women Judges. She has been very active in leadership roles with many professional and community organizations, an alum of Leadership Texas and Leadership Austin; and has been a recipient of numerous local and statewide awards.
She has been married to Austin Attorney, Jim Ewbank, for 34 years and has two daughters and two twin granddaughters.
Victor Villarreal, Emeritus Member
Since 2017, Judge Victor Villarreal has presided over Webb County Court-at-Law II which has jurisdiction over criminal, juvenile, civil, family, probate, guardianship, and mental issues cases. Once audited as the worst court in Texas for guardianship compliance before his tenure, the Court under his tenure was the first and only court in Texas to be audited at 100% compliance with guardianship law. The Texas Judicial Council designated Webb County Court-at-Law II a Judicial Center of Excellence - the first county court in Texas to attain the designation. Additionally, the Court has been mentioned as a pioneer in online court hearings in Texas. Judge Villarreal’s favorite activities include: reading; speaking to judges and court personnel on courtroom technology & innovations; and traveling with his wife and 2 daughters.