Mary Lou Alvarez was first elected to the 45th District Court in 2018. She previously worked in private practice, focused on product liability, and as a staff attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. She faces one Democratic primary challenger this year.
Hear from the candidate
1. Please tell voters about yourself.
I am Judge Mary Lou Alvarez, and I have proudly served as Judge of the 45th District Court since January 1, 2019, after being elected by our voters in 2018 and again in 2022. I am a 51-year-old single mother of two, and I live just across the street from my parents, only a few miles from where I grew up. San Antonio is my home.
I am a dedicated public servant committed to serving our community and ensuring Bexar County is the best place it can be both for our neighbors today and for our children’s future. My service on the bench is guided by a simple but firm principle: justice without exception for everyone who comes before the court seeking resolutions to their disputes.
My record demonstrates that I make decisions rooted in fairness, integrity, and the protection of our children always. I am passionate about the law and study it diligently. I am committed to protecting our justice system and our judiciary, even as attacks come from within. Our community should know that when faced with the choice between politics and justice, I have always chosen justice and I will continue to do so with strength, courage, and resolve.
2. Describe your educational background.
I am a product of both a public and private education. I attended Adams Hill and Ed Cody Elementary Public Schools, followed by St. Paul’s and Incarnate Word High School Catholic Schools. After graduating high school, I attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management in 1998.
I began my post college career as an operations engineer in the aerospace industry before pursuing law school at Seton Hall School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. While in law school, I worked as a research assistant for Professor Solangel Maldonado for five semesters while also completing internships and externships during the school year and summers to prepare for a career as a trial lawyer.
Following law school graduation, I was honored to earn a federal clerkship and served under the Honorable Ron Clark in the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division.
3. Describe your professional experience, what type of law you’ve practiced and noteworthy accomplishments.
I am honored to have started my legal career as a federal law clerk for the Honorable Ron Clark in the Eastern District of Texas, where I served for two years. In that role, I researched and wrote on a wide range of federal practice issues and trial litigation. After completing my clerkship, I moved to Dallas to work as an associate attorney at a products liability defense firm. For almost two years, I represented clients such as GM, Toyota, and Honda against claims of product defects in federal and state courts across Texas and the southeastern United States. My engineering training was instrumental in working with experts to prepare for their deposition testimony to defend the cases against my clients.
During my second year at that private firm, I was recruited by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) to return to the nonprofit law firm (I had worked there the summer after my 1st year of law school and kept in touch). I first served as a staff attorney in the newly created public defender’s office in Del Rio, representing individuals accused of misdemeanor offenses and preparing cases for trial. I later joined the family law team in San Antonio, where I represented victims of domestic violence in divorce, custody, protective order, and CPS cases for almost 8 years.
I spent the majority of my 15-year litigation career at TRLA. After leaving TRLA in 2014, I was hired at various boutique family law firms working in both contract and associate attorney positions. In 2017, I opened my own full time practice where I still dedicated my efforts to public service by allowing half my docket to be reserved for court-appointed attorney ad litem work for CPS cases. As a judge, I continue to focus on best practices that protect children in the courtroom and have made great efforts to educate the bench, attorneys, and our community on how to best address the needs of our foster children and families surviving domestic violence.
4. Philosophically, how do you balance the public’s desire for restitution in all types of crimes, while also providing a productive path forward for offenders who don’t pose a danger to the public?
Since I do not preside over any criminal cases, this question is not applicable to my service.
5. Why are you seeking this office, and why did you decide to be a candidate in the political party you chose?
I am seeking reelection to serve as Bexar County’s 45th District Court Judge because there is still important work to be done, and I am the most qualified candidate to continue delivering Justice Without Exception for our community. I remain committed to studying and applying the law fairly in every case that comes before me. I will always protect our children. And, as our courts continue to be pressured with politics, know I will always defend justice.
Over the last 7+ years, I have learned how to improve my ability to sit in judgment of the people coming to the courts for resolution without the heaviness of being judgmental. My courtroom is very much a safe place where all individuals are treated with dignity and respect as their disputes are resolved with predictability and efficiency. Protecting children remains at the center of my work, and I am dedicated to ensuring that every decision involving children is guided by their best interests.
I believe my strength of character, experience, and steady leadership are what our justice system needs during times of growing uncertainty. I am running as a Democrat because I share the party’s values of honoring families, respecting human dignity, and ensuring equality for all – values that belong in every courtroom and guide every decision I make from the bench.
