Josefina M. Rendon

Josefina M. Rendon became the first Latina Civil District Judge in Harris County Texas when she was elected Judge of the 165th District Court in 2008. An attorney since 1977, Josefina was also one of Houston’s first Latina Attorneys and the first woman Civil Service Commissioner for the City (1981-1983). Between 1983 and 2008 Rendon served as Judge for the City of Houston Municipal Courts. Beginning in 1993 she also became a mediator and mediated over 1,200 legal disputes predominantly in the Family and Employment Law areas.

As a member of the Houston Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Rendon is a member of the board of the Dispute Resolution Center of Harris County. She is a also a former Legal Advisor for the League of Latin American Citizens District 8 (LULAC) and a former member of the Board of the Mexican American Bar of Houston (MABAH).  She currently sits as a council member of the State Bar of Texas Section for Hispanic Concerns.

Rendon is a published author of over 100 articles and book reviews as well as a frequent speaker in the areas of conflict resolution, negotiation and law.  She was editor of The Texas Mediator and an editorial board member of both the Texas Bar Journal and The Houston Lawyer. Rendon is past president of the Texas Association of Mediators. She mediated and taught negotiation for the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy until shortly before she became the Judge of the 165th.