El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez has earned a spot among 2009 Texas top 25 “Extraordinary Minorities in Texas law” by Texas Lawyer magazine.
The announcement was made this week in the publication of a tabloid-sized special section inside the September 28 edition of the Texas Lawyer magazine. The publication profiles 25 leading lawyers of color, selected by the editors of Texas Lawyer for their impact on Texas firms, government, nonprofits, academia and/or the corporate world within the past five years.
In a press release to introduce the profiles of the attorneys featured in the publication, Texas Lawyer editor in chief Colleen McGushin said: “There is no doubt that the 25 attorneys profiled in these pages have made significant contributions to law and lawyering in Texas. They write the laws that shape our state; stand up for the powerless; guide powerful corporations; and extend a helping hand to the next generation of attorneys.” County Attorney Rodríguez was recognized for his many community achievements including winning water, sewer and other infrastructure development for low-income unincorporated border communities known as colonias.
Rodríguez also exposed inequities in state funding (El Paso Court of Inquiry) to bring more tax dollars to El Paso and other border communities. He implemented a teen court, and an environmental task force which takes on issues such as illegal dumping.
In addition, Rodríguez is involved in legislative matters, including the passage of the County Code of Ethics Legislation, the first of its type in the state. Outside the office, Mr. Rodríguez is heavily involved in several social justice organizations relating to health care, border and immigrant rights. The 25 “Extraordinary Minorities in Texas law” will be honored at a luncheon on October 23 at the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas. The keynote luncheon speaker will be Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson. To view the section online, visit www.texaslawyer.com. or http://www.law.com/jsp/tx/PubArticleTX.jsp?id=1202434126600.
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Extraordinary Minorities Press Release.pdf
About edominguez
Elhiu Dominguez was born in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, México. He moved to the Ciudad Juárez - El Paso area in 1988 to study Mass Communications at the Chihuahua State University (UACH). He later obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1994.
Elhiu began his professional career in 1989 as a reporter for Norte de Juarez newspaper. In 1994 he was employed at Canal 26, the local Univision affiliate in El Paso, as photojournalist, producer, and later as a reporter. In 1998, after a brief period as Weekend Assignments Editor at KDBC Channel 4, the local CBS affiliate, Elhiu returned to work at Univision 26 as a senior reporter. He was later assigned in 1999 as the Texas-New Mexico correspondent for the Univision Network’s news magazine “Primer Impacto”, a position that he held until his resignation in 2005 to become Assignments Editor at KFOX Channel 14, the local FOX network affiliate.
Elhiu left KFOX in 2006 to become the Public Affairs Officer for the El Paso County Attorney’s Office.
During his more than 15 years of experience as journalist, Elhiu has received numerous awards, among them “La Columna de Oro” for a special series of stories regarding the murders of women in Juárez, and several first and second place awards by the New Mexico and Texas Associated Press in the categories of investigative reporting, breaking news, and feature stories.