Texas Law Societies

Gloria K. Bradford (1930-2013) applied to the University of Texas School of Law for the 1951-1952 school year, and in May 1954, became the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Texas School of Law. Following graduation, Bradford practiced in Houston becoming the first African-American woman to try a case in Harris County District Court.

For her full biography, visit her page on the Tarlton Law Library website.

Carlos Cadena (1917-2001) was the only Mexican American in his class when he received his LL.B. summa cum laude from the University of Texas School of Law in 1940, after serving as an editor of the Texas Law Review. After graduation, Cadena worked as an assistant city attorney in San Antonio. On January 11, 1954, Cadena and co-counsel, Gustavo “Gus” C. Garcia, became the first Mexican-American attorneys to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court (Hernández v. Texas, 347 U.S. 475 (1954)). Cadena and Garcia won their case when the Court unanimously agreed that excluding Mexican Americans from jury service was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Following the Hernández case, Cadena would be appointed to the Fourth Court of Appeals, first as Associate Justice in 1961, and later as the first Mexican American Chief Justice in 1977. Cadena would also help establish the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), serving as the president of the board of directors from the organization’s inception in 1968.

Leon Green (1888-1979) obtained his LL.B. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1915. After practicing insurance and tort law in Dallas and Fort Worth, Green returned to the University of Texas School of Law in 1922 where he, along with Professor Ira P. Hildebrand, Professor Charles Potts, and Judge Ireland Graves, founded the Texas Law Review. After teaching at Yale from 1926 to 1929 and serving as the Dean of Northwestern University School of Law from 1929 until 1947, Green returned to the University of Texas School of Law where he taught until 1977. Among Green’s former students are three United State Supreme Court justices – Justice John Paul Stevens, Justice Arthur Goldberg, and Justice Tom C. Clark.

Helen Hargrave (1894-1985) enrolled at the University of Texas in both the Department of Education and the Law School. As a student, she was a member of the editorial board of the Texas Law Review, a member of Kappa Beta Pi, Mortar Board, and Cap and Gown honor societies, and a member of Pi Beta Phi social sorority. Completing the requirements for both degrees in three and a half years, Hargrave graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1926. In 1939, she returned to the University of Texas School of Law as head librarian. Hargrave played a vital role in developing the collection at the law library, and made substantial contributions to the design of Tarlton Law Library when Townes Hall was built in 1953.

Gus Hodges (1908-1992) attended the University of Texas, receiving his B.B.A. in 1930 and his LL.B. in 1932. He was a member of Phi Delta Phi, Chancellors, Order of the Coif, and the Texas Law Review. After practicing personal injury law in Dallas, Hodges returned to the University of Texas School of Law to teach civil procedure in 1940. A perennial favorite of the students and an expert at teaching the legal process and intricacies of civil procedure, Hodges was also one of the law school’s most colorful professors. He favored wearing red socks and polka-dot bow ties and sported a trademark handlebar mustache, which he twirled while lecturing. He is also remembered for “excusing” any student found to be unprepared, and stopping class until the student left the room.

Antonio “T.J.” Martinez was born in San Antonio, Texas, but grew up in Brownsville, Texas.  Martinez went on to attend and graduate from Boston College with a B.A. in Political Science and Communications.  After college, he attended Texas Law, graduating in 1996.

Alice Sheffield (1896-1984) enrolled at the University of Texas in 1914, and was awarded her LL.B. in 1918. Admitted to the Texas State Bar in 1918, Sheffield was the youngest woman certified to practice before the Texas Supreme Court. Sheffield began working for the Gulf Oil Corporation in 1925 and spent her long and successful career in its legal department, advancing to associate general counsel. She was named an honorary member of Order of the Coif in 1974.

For her full biography, visit her page on the Tarlton Law Library website.

John Sutton (1918-2013) graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1941 with honors. He became an associate with the San Antonio firm Brooks, Napier, Brown and Matthews.  In March 1942, Sutton left the practice and joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special agent. Stationed in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Sutton supported the war effort by investigating espionage and suspected foreign agents on American soil. After the war, he moved to San Angelo to practice civil litigation and oil and gas law.  Sutton joined the faculty as a full professor of the University of Texas School of Law in 1957 and served as dean of the law school from 1979 to 1984. Although Sutton retired in 1988, he continued teaching part-time until 2009. He holds the A.W. Walker Centennial Chair Emeritus at the School of Law.

For his full biography, visit his page on the Tarlton Law Library website.