Category: Alumni News

  • Portrait of Aisha Nawaz Hagen and Lars Hagen
    Texas Law didn’t just give these couples a world-class legal education—it gave them their families! Happy Valentine’s Day from Texas Law and from these lawyers in love! Julie Ferguson ’95 & Scott Breedlove ’94 SB: Julie Ferguson ’95 and I overlapped at UT for six years but did’t meet until her fourth and my final […]
  • Betty Blackwell ’80 and Judge Tim Sulak ’78 received the Distinguished Lawyer Award in the 2021 Austin Bar Foundation Virtual Gala.
    The Austin Bar Foundation held its annual gala on January 28, honoring six Austin lawyers and judges for their professional excellence and service to the community. Four of the 2021 honorees are Texas Law alumni. Betty Blackwell ’80 and Judge Tim Sulak ’78 were each recipients of a Distinguished Lawyer Award, Judge Aurora Martinez Jones […]
  • Gloria Bradford in her 1954 Senior Law Composite. Courtesy of the Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin.
    During Black History Month, the Law School is recognizing the central role of impactful Black figures in our past, present, and future, highlighting their achievements and celebrating their successes. One such pioneering figure is Gloria Bradford ’54—a contemporary of Heman Sweatt and Virgil Lott—the first African American woman to graduate from Texas Law, the first to […]
  • Portrait of Taylor, Texas Mayor Brandt Rydell wearing glasses and a green tie.
    We’re sending out a Texas Law “Hook ’em!” to Brandt Rydell ’96, who has been honored by the Rotary Club of Taylor as the “Citizen of the Year.” Rydell serves as the Mayor of Taylor, just 35 minutes northeast of Austin. A Taylor native, Mayor Rydell is assistant general counsel for the Electric Reliability Council […]
  • A portrait of Frances Valdez, in a black blazer and pearl necklace and glasses.
    Immigration lawyer Frances Valdez ’05 has spent the better part of two decades advocating for legal rights and the improvement of legal systems for low-income immigrants, first as a student in Texas Law’s Immigration Clinic and then with multiple prestigious non-profits, including Baker Ripley and United We Dream. She has served on numerous boards, including the ACLU […]
  • Portrait of Robert Estrada, wearing a black jacket and a red and black tie.
    Though born in Mexico City, Robert Estrada has lived a quintessential American Dream. From a small-town upbringing in Brownville, Texas, to service with the Armed Forces Reserve during the Vietnam War, to a job as a television news reporter when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, to working in the White House for George H.W. […]
  • Portrait of Tim Delaney, smiling at the camera wearing glasses and a light blue shirt with a patterned tie.
    Tim Delaney ’83, President and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits (NCN), is a seasoned attorney and policy advocate, daily applying his diverse experiences to help advance charitable nonprofits across the country. He recently sat down with the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service to discuss his career path and how his time […]
  • Portrait of Magda Herrera, smiling at the camera.
    Magda Herrera is joining Texas Law as Chief Development Officer starting on January 4, 2021. It’s a true homecoming for the Double Longhorn who graduated from Texas Law in 2005 after earning her Bachelor of Arts from UT Austin in 2002, majoring in Government. She was a Public Interest Law Fellow in 2003 and 2004, […]
  • Statue of Julius Whittier from the front, wearing a Texas football jersey with the numbers 67 on front, holding his helmet in the air in his left hand.
    Julius Whittier—a larger-than-life trailblazer as Texas’ first Black letterman, a member of the 1970 National Championship team, a Texas Law alum, and a triple Longhorn—has been honored with a larger-than-life bronze statue in the north end of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The 12-and-a-half-foot tall bronze sculpture, depicting Whittier from his playing days with his […]
  • Portrait of Cynthia Akatugba, wearing a pink shirt with a bow on it.
    The 2020 Mentor of the Year is Cynthia Akatugba ’13, an Assistant Attorney General with the General Litigation Division of the Texas Attorney General’s office. Ms. Akatugba, whose name was put forth by her mentee Anais Stevens ’22, was selected from a group of nearly three dozen nominees. “Every year, we receive the most incredible, […]
  • A mentor and mentee laughing together at the mentoring program Reception in 2017.
    Six years ago, Texas Law Dean Ward Farnsworth asked Rémi Ratliff, a Class of ’95 alumna with fourteen years of experience in the school’s career services office, to head up the new mentoring program he was going to establish. His charge to her, she recalls, was, “just make our mentoring program the best in the […]
  • Portrait of Carl Guthrie, wearing a gray blazer and a blue and gray tie.
    “What starts here changes the world” is more than a catchphrase for Carl Guthrie ’17. After graduating with honors, and winning the prestigious Niemann Cup for his accomplishments as a student in trial advocacy, Guthrie promptly started a remarkable non-profit, the Texas Poverty Law Project (TPLP); opened his own law office; took an adjunct teaching […]