Growing Up
I was born in Jacksonville, Florida. My father emigrated from Cuba as a child with his family in the '30's. He served in World War II and became a citizen of the United States of America. My mother was from a North Florida farming community of German and Irish descendants. Her family worked the land for a hundred years - and I spent my summers working on the farm cropping tobacco, digging peanuts and potatoes and picking peas and corn. My father attended the University of Florida on the GI Bill and became an accountant then a lawyer. He fought for Civil Rights in the early '60 and was a Democratic activist - just like so many "new" Americans have done and do today. I remember my parents picking my sister and me up from elementary school to go downtown and see LBJ and Hubert Humphrey speak at a rally in Hemming Park in Jacksonville, Florida. He instilled in me a basic sense of humanity, humility, fairness and justice I carry to this day. Those hot summers on the farm made me appreciate hard work - and air conditioning!

After attending the University of Florida and obtaining a degree in Broadcast Journalism, I worked for a time as a member of the press - first for a weekly newspaper, then a television news station. I decided to become a lawyer and attended the University of Houston Law Center, graduating in December of 1984. After that I attended Tulane University School of Law and obtained their LL.M. in Admiralty Law. I returned to Houston in 1986 and began working full time as a trial attorney. I worked on maritime, auto accident and premises cases as an insurance defense attorney. I soon began defending physicians in medical malpractice claims and practiced medical malpractice law for 25 years. Since returning to Houston from New Orleans in 1986 I have worked full time as a civil trial lawyer and have attended thousands of hearings, thousands of depositions and have tried over 60 first chair cases to verdict before juries. Juries comprised of people like you. Jury trials, and the right to a jury trial, is the bread and butter of a civil court and an intergral part of the democratic process. On November 4, 2008 I was elected Judge for the 55th Civil District Court of Harris County where I serve today.

Experience
A District Court Judge is all about hearings and trials. Thousands of hearings. Over a hundred jury trials. I’ve seen a lot and have done a lot in the courtroom before I was elected. Experience counts, and I have had 25 years of experience defending physicians and hospitals, attending hearings, taking depositions, all the while being an ethical steward of my client’s money. And that’s an important aspect of being a judge. It is my duty, and one which I will take seriously, to be a good steward of your money, the taxpayer’s money. Regarding hearings, I have seen and done most procedures. Trials – I have seen just about everything you could imagine happening during a trial. You want a judge that has been fighting in the trenches for 25 years. I bring that experience to the courtroom and run a very efficient and fair courtroom.

Efficiency
Experience translates into saving of resources – taxpayer money at the courthouse. As a shareholder in a medium sized law firm I learned a lot about management. I bring those management skills to the bench. I conduct hearings and trials on an almost daily basis – that saves you, the taxpayer money by resolving issues in a reasonable amount of time rather than having them languish in court for years.