Living History Project

Hon. Josefina Rendón has been a 3rd party neutral for over 35 years. As judge, mediator & arbitrator she’s handled hundreds of disputes in many areas of law. She’s been a Municipal Judge, a visiting judge in Justice of the Peace Courts and a State District Judge where she presided over a wide variety of civil cases, such as employment, commercial, personal injury, family, real estate and others. She is presently a mediator, an arbitrator and a current member of the International Council for Online Dispute Resolution. As a mediator since 1993 she has mediated over 1,500 cases, many of these in Spanish. She has successfully helped resolve disputes of people of many nationalities. She also still serves as a visiting judge.

Biography from Rendon Mediation. Click here to read more.

Thank you to Vinson & Elkins for recording this interview.

David Peden has extensive experience in litigation and arbitration of construction, insurance, surety and commercial issues.

David frequently represents owners, lenders, general contractors, subcontractors, and design professionals in claims; disputes; arbitration and litigation; contract documents; mediation services; commercial, industrial, offshore, multi-family, and surety trials and appeals of contractual disputes; supply contracts; deceptive trade practices; and breach of warranty. His industrial construction experience includes disputes related to pipelines on and offshore, storage facilities, vessel failures, turbines, jack up rigs, cogeneration plants, welding, delays, insurance claims, man power efficiency, and equipment failures. His commercial construction experience includes design and construction defects, extra work and acceleration claims, and multi-party case management and trials.

David is a Fellow in the American College of Construction Lawyers.

Biography from Porter Hedges. Click here to read more.

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William "Bill" Miller's practice is focused on litigation involving taxation, wills, estates, trusts and probate, as well as insurance coverage bad faith litigation. Bill has had a mediation practice for more than 15 years and has served as an arbitrator through the American Arbitration Association and appointment by settlement documents.

Click here to read more about Bill.

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Click here for the full interview.

Thank you to Vinson & Elkins for recording this interview.

Ruben R. Perez is a native of Seguin, Texas and moved to Houston, Texas to pursue his legal career. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1974 from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He studied International Law at the London School of Economics, in London, England in 1978. He received his law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 1980.

Ruben has served Harris County and the Southern District of Texas as a prosecutor for almost 40 years. In 1980 he began his career in Houston as an Assistant City Attorney. In 1981 he made his way to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. He spent 11 years serving as an Assistant District Attorney and was promoted to Chief Prosecutor during his tenure. He prosecuted numerous felonies and death penalty cases. He then became
an Assistant United States Attorney in 1992. During his 25 years as a federal prosecutor, his case docket ranged from narcotics, money laundering, public corruption, hate crimes, civil rights and human trafficking. In 2017, he returned to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office under former Harris District Attorney Kim Ogg where he served as Bureau Chief of Special Crimes.

As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Perez successfully investigated and prosecuted several high profile human trafficking cases. The following are a few examples of his human trafficking prosecutions. He was the lead prosecutor in the largest human trafficking case ever prosecuted in the continental United States. Over one-hundred victims of human trafficking were rescued and eight defendants were prosecuted. All eight defendants were sentenced to prison sentences. He was also the lead prosecutor in a precedent setting human trafficking case where ten defendants were sentenced to prison and their assets forfeited with the goal of liquidating the forfeited assets to help the victims. He was responsible for the successful prosecution of fourteen defendants (U.S. v. Hortencia Arguello-Medeles aka “Tencha”, et al) who operated a sex trafficking ring. All were convicted and sentenced to prison and fifteen properties with a value of $2.5 million were forfeited with the goal of using these monies to help the victims. The lead defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. There is one remaining fugitive. There is a $50,000 reward for his capture. This case and the remaining fugitive were featured in “The Hunt” with John Walsh on CNN. He was responsible for the successful prosecution of an international sex trafficking ring. This prosecution involved six defendants. He prosecuted five defendants in 2005. The lead defendant was a fugitive. He was arrested in March 2010 in Mexico. He was extradited to the United States in June 2014 in a precedent setting cooperation of Mexican and American authorities. He was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment.

When Mr. Perez is not crushing crime, he enjoys spending time with his wife of 42 years and their two children, both of whom are lawyers.

Biography from Que Onda Magazine. Click here to read more.

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Benny Agosto, Jr., managing partner of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner, was born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico. From a young age, Benny was taught by his parents that through hard work and determination, anything was possible – a principle he has applied throughout his life, in school, on the soccer field, and in the courtroom. “Both of my parents had a sixth-grade education and every day they would tell my siblings and me to be sure to get an education. I remember my father telling me that no one can ever take that away from you. My parents knew the struggles of being a migrant family without a formal education,”shared Benny. Hard work on the soccer field and in school paid off for Benny. An avid soccer player in San Juan, he was recruited by Houston Christian University to attend and play NCAA Division I soccer. He then went to the University of Houston to work on his graduate degree in microbiology and taught high school and college students for six years. Benny then realized that although he loved teaching and coaching soccer, he needed more. Benny was accepted to South Texas College of Law Houston, where he excelled in mock trial and academics, and is now a board-certified lawyer in personal injury trial law. Benny’s legal practice at Abraham Watkins focuses on representing individuals and family members who have been harmed by the negligence of others in cases involving catastrophic injuries, including chemical plant and refinery explosions, workplace accidents, wrongful death, premises liability, and product liability. Currently, Benny is lead/co-lead attorney in a number of large chemical plant fire and explosion cases throughout Texas.

Biography from Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner. Click here to read more.

Thank you to Vinson & Elkins for recording this interview.

Ralph 'Skip' McBride serves as Of Counsel for The Lanier Law Firm out of the Houston office. As a member of The Lanier Law Firm team, Mr. McBride represents commercial clients and individuals in real estate disputes, products liability lawsuits, oil and gas disputes, personal injury cases, construction contracts, trusts and probate matters and securities litigation.

Mr. McBride is married to Lucy and they have two daughters and sons-in-law and six grandchildren.

Biography from Lanier Law Firm. Click here to read more.

Thank you to Bracewell LLP for recording this interview.

Laura Gibson is a member of Dentons' Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice and the Managing Partner of the Houston office. She also is the head of the Employment and Labor practice team in Houston. Ms. Gibson has been Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 2001. She has extensive trial and appellate experience handling complex commercial litigation and arbitrations in areas involving employment, banking, energy, securities, copyright and communications law. She has handled arbitrations before the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), the Financial Industry Regulating Authority (FINRA), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and JAMS.

Texas attorneys elected Laura to serve as President of the State Bar of Texas from June 2022 to June 2023.

Biography from Dentons. Click here to read more.

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David Beck, formerly a senior partner at Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston, Texas, founded Beck Redden LLP in January 1992. Mr. Beck previously served as President of the State Bar of Texas (1995-96), President of the American College of Trial Lawyers (2006-07), President of the International Association of Defense Counsel (1991-92); and as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Center for American and International Law (2011-15). He currently serves as Chair of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Fellows (2012-2023). He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a Diplomate of ABOTA. He was named by the National Law Journal as one of the top 10 trial lawyers in the United States and one of the top trial lawyers in the Southwest. He has been included in The Best Lawyers in America for over forty years, in eight separate areas of litigation practice.

Mr. Beck’s numerous honors include: Recognized as a “Legal Legend” by the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas (2022); recipient of the Justice Eugene A. Cook Professionalism Award from the Houston Bar Association (2021); Award for Achievement in the Pursuit of Justice for All by The Center for American and International Law (2019); Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers Hall of Fame (2017); Luke H. Soules III Award for Excellence in Litigation by the State Bar Litigation Section (2016), and the 2016 Good Apple Award by Texas Appleseed for, among other things, strengthening Texas’s legal profession; Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Texas Chapter of TEX-ABOTA (2015); and the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for Fifth Circuit (2011).

In 2004, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed Mr. Beck to the prestigious Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure. The Committee’s members include some of the leading judges, academicians, and practitioners in the United States. In 2007, Chief Justice John Roberts reappointed him to a three-year term on the Committee.

In the 25th anniversary issue of Texas Lawyer, Mr. Beck was named as one of the 25 greatest Texas lawyers of the past quarter-century. Most recently, he received the Joe Reynold’s award from the American College of Trial Lawyer for “actions and accomplishments that manifest a lifetime’s commitment to advancing the administration of justice through service to the legal profession.”

Mr. Beck is an Adjunct Professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. He also has won various awards for his legal writing. In 2019, he received the Outstanding Law Review Article Award from the Texas Bar Foundation for his co-authored article “Legal Malpractice in Texas”, published in 70 Baylor Law Review 213 (2018). He also is the author of Thompson Reuters’ Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code (2005-2023).

Biography from Beck Redden LLP. Click here to read more.

Thank you to Vinson & Elkins for recording this interview. 

Hon. Eva Guzman grew up in Houston’s East End, the middle of seven children born to hard-working immigrants. Her father worked as a welder, and her mother earned what she could through cleaning jobs. Although neither parent had education beyond the sixth grade, they understood the promise and opportunities that education could bring for their children.

Eva’s parents instilled in her the importance of faith, family, and the value of freedom. Patriotic to the core, they cherished their American citizenship and the opportunity to prosper here, pushing their children to excel in school. Through their example, Justice Guzman learned to work hard and dream big.

Growing up in a family of nine with limited financial resources meant making sacrifices and finding ways to overcome barriers. As a young teenager, Justice Guzman worked an evening shift at a drapery factory and held various other jobs throughout her teenage years to help her family make ends meet and save for college. All the hard work paid off.

Justice Guzman self-funded her education at The University of Houston, earned a law degree from South Texas College of Law Houston, partnered with her husband to build a marriage and family, and managed a successful law practice before becoming a judge in 1999. Over the next 22 years, Justice Guzman served at three levels of the Texas judiciary, spending more than half of that time as a justice on the Supreme Court of Texas.

Her journey from the factory to the courthouse was not an easy one, but it prepared her well for a life in public service. She has firsthand experience with the challenges many Texans face every day.

Biography from EvaGuzman.com. Click here to read more.

Thank you to Vinson & Elkins for recording this interview. 

Hon. Patricia Lykos was sworn in as the Harris County District Attorney on January 1, 2009; she is the first woman chief of the Office since it was created more than 100 years ago. Lykos, a graduate of the University of Houston and South Texas College of Law has dedicated her professional career to the pursuit of justice, starting as a Houston police officer, working her way through college and law school, and then in private practice. In 1980, Lykos was appointed as Judge of the newly-created bench of County Criminal Court at Law No. 10, and she won election that year. One year later, Judge Lykos was appointed to serve as Judge of the 180th District Court, a position that she held for 14 years, presiding over more than 20,000 felony criminal cases. For the last ten years, Judge Lykos has served this community as a senior district judge and special assignments judge, and, as Director of Special Projects for the County Judge of Harris County. Pat was the former chief judge of the Harris County criminal district courts, served as President of the Retired, Senior and Former Judges of Texas, and taught in programs for the Texas Center for the Judiciary, the American Bar Association, and the State Bar of Texas.

Biography from Texas State Directory.

Thank you to Vinson & Elkins for recording this interview. 

Hon. Hannah Chow was born in Canton, China, in 1948. She did not stay there long, however, because her father had Canadian citizenship and operated a café in Wainwright, Alberta Canada. She moved there with her mother and sister (eleven years older) in 1951, where she received Canadian citizenship as well. Upon her father's death, she and her mother moved down to Houston to be with her brother as per Chinese family custom. Here she attended Milby High School and later the University of Houston-Central Campus where she completed her Cultural Anthropology degree. During her time in college, she worked as a gopher and secretary in a law office owned by a fellow Asian American. It was with her boss's encouragement that she entered South Texas Law School. Since obtaining her law degree, she has practiced general law for nine years, served as the first Asian American County Judge for twelve years, and worked as a special assistant to Commissioner Lee for 10 years. During her time as Judge, she actively participated in several community service organizations and even took the role of a founding member of the Asian American Bar Association. She currently serves as the Public Services & Infrastructure Bureau Chief for the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Biography from Rice Humanities Chao Center for Asian Studies.

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Hon. Gabrielle McDonald attended Boston University and Hunter College, and in 1966 she graduated first in her class from Howard University School of Law. She then joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund as a staff attorney and worked extensively throughout the South, where she helped win the organization's first major job discrimination case. In 1968, she married a Houston lawyer, Mark T. McDonald, and as McDonald & McDonald handled employment discrimination cases involving major corporations and labor unions throughout Texas. In 1979, Senator Lloyd Bentsen submitted her name to President Jimmy Carter who appointed her to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, making her the first African American in Texas, and only the third African American woman to serve in the federal judiciary. She resigned from the court in 1988 to return to practice law and teach, including as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Thereafter, in 1993, Judge McDonald was among the first eleven judges elected to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, the first international court following the multinational Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals. She presided over its first trial in the Tadić case. In November 1997, she was elected President of the ICTY by her fellow judges and presided over its Appeals Chamber, continuing in that position until her departure in 1999. During her tenure, she fought hard to improve the visibility of the ICTY, including in the former Yugoslavia by setting up the Tribunal's Outreach Programme. In 2001, the U.S. Department of State appointed Judge McDonald as a judge/arbitrator on the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague until her retirement in 2013.  Judge McDonald has received numerous awards, including the ASIL Goler Teal Butcher Award for Human Rights; the ASIL Prominent Women in International Law Award; the American Bar Association Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award; the National Bar Association Ronald Brown International Law Award; the National Bar Association Equal Justice Award; the Open Society Institute Women Groundbreakers in International Justice Award; and induction into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. She has also received numerous honorary degrees. She and Mark, who died in 2021, have two children, Michael, a lawyer, and Stacy, a screenwriter.

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Thank you to Vinson & Elkins for recording this interview.