Gonzalez is seeking her second term as judge for County Court at Law No. 13. Licensed since 2002, her practice focused on child welfare and family law. Gonzalez’ s career before law school included working as a child abuse investigator, probation officer, gang counselor and high school teacher.
Hear from the candidate
Why should voters choose you?
Voters deserve a judge on the bench with my background, expertise and commitment to service and justice for all. Prior to taking the bench, I worked in the social work fields as a Child Protective Services child abuse investigator, Community Emergency Assistance Program Coordinator for Catholic Charities, gang counseling facilitator for Communities in Schools, program director for an adolescent program for the Mexican American Unity Council, juvenile probation officer in Travis County and taught at my old high school in my hometown of Brownsville … all before becoming an attorney. I returned to law school as a nontraditional student in my early 30s and after graduating from law school went on to represent the very communities I worked for and in. I bring true life experience and professionalism to the bench. I was one of a few number of judges who continued to work daily through COVID-19. Court No. 13 inherited a 64% backlog from the prior administration. A total of 2, 476 cases were left for us to clear. During COVID-19, we worked that load down to 56% by January 2022. Today, we carry 1,055 cases. We have held over 2,000 Zoom hearings in the last 2.5 years to make sure due process keeps being afforded to all in a timely fashion. The voters asked for judges that work, are committed to justice and treat everyone with dignity and respect. They got that and more when they elected me to this bench. I take the fact that I work for the people of Bexar County and am paid with public monies very seriously. I want to continue to show, by example, that the bench is still a a place where everyone can seek access to justice regardless of their roots, their circumstances, or anything else that has traditionally impeded said access.
What do you see as the top challenge facing our local court system, and how should it be addressed?
There are not enough courts to handle the growing number of cases, which is a direct correlation to our growing population. Our community, unfortunately, will get the type of justice that it is willing to fund. Without the proper resources, infrastructure and training for our judiciary, our community will have a judiciary with limited resources, lack of support services and be poorly prepared to deal with the growing number of cases flooding our county.
