Leadership Speaker Series
Our Leadership Speaker Series provides ILTexas High School students the opportunity to engage with and learn from some of the greatest leaders the international community has seen.
The Honorable Eva Guzman | April 26th, 2024 | Windmill Lakes-Orem HS
Justice Eva Guzman has served at three levels of the Texas judiciary. She began her judicial service on the 309th District Court in Harris County, following an appointment by former Governor George W. Bush. After ascending to the Houston-based Fourteenth Court of Appeals, Justice Guzman ruled on thousands of complex civil and criminal cases and authored hundreds of opinions in nearly a decade of service as an intermediate appellate court judge. In 2009, former Governor Rick Perry appointed Justice Guzman to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Texas. When she was elected to a full term in November 2010, she became the first Hispanic woman elected to statewide office in Texas. Six years later, she made history twice more: she received the most votes ever in a Texas Republican Party primary with 1.27 million votes and won re-election that November with a record-setting 4.88 million votes—the highest vote total for any office in Texas election history.
Before taking the bench, Justice Guzman enjoyed a successful ten-year litigation career in Houston. She holds a B.B.A. from the University of Houston, a J.D. from South Texas College of Law.