Biography

Robert Almonte II is an award-winning trial attorney with over 15 years of experience as both a federal and state prosecutor, now a highly respected defense lawyer. Nationally recognized by the Department of Justice Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys for superior performance, he is known for his knowledge in criminal law, offering a strategic edge in high-stakes cases.

A graduate of St. Mary’s University and its School of Law, Almonte began his career as an Assistant District Attorney, earning a reputation for aggressive and effective advocacy. He later became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas, handling major federal cases, including fraud, human trafficking, public corruption, and violent crimes. Assigned to the Complex Fraud and Public Corruption Unit, he developed extensive experience in white-collar crime, healthcare fraud, tax violations, and wire fraud.

Transitioning to defense, Almonte leverages his prosecutorial background to craft aggressive, strategic defenses for clients facing serious criminal charges, particularly in financial crimes. His deep understanding of government tactics allows him to challenge cases with precision and insight.

Beyond the courtroom, Almonte is a sought-after instructor, training law enforcement nationwide on search warrant drafting, combining his experience from both prosecution and defense perspectives.

A tenacious advocate with extensive courtroom experience, he is dedicated to securing justice for his clients, whether in prosecution or now in defending complex criminal matters.

Biography

Suzanne Oliva, LL.M., J.D., CPA, Assistant Professor of Business Law, has taught undergraduate, graduate and law classes at St. Mary’s University since 2003. In addition, she was the Director of the Greehey Scholars Program from 2016 to 2022 and an advanced tax trainer and preparer for the St. Mary’s Law School Center for Legal and Social Justice Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program from 2005 to 2019.

Prior to earning her J.D., Oliva was an auditor with what is now the Big Four public accounting firm, Ernst & Young LLP. After graduation from law school, she joined the law firm of Oliva, Saks, Garcia & Curiel LLP, and primarily concentrated her legal practice in the areas of wills, probate, estate planning, family law, personal injury law and corporate law.

She is past president of the Bexar County Women’s Bar Association and Foundation. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is also admitted to practice law in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and the United States Supreme Court. Oliva is an active member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church and enjoys live theater, sporting events and world travel with her husband, Javier and four sons.

Articles in a Periodical

• Oliva, S. (2015). In The Institute of Law and Policy (Ed.), To Buckle Up or Not Buckle Up, That is the Question (2nd ed., vol. 7, pp. 147-165). The Institute of Law and Policy: Journal of International Judicial Affairs.
• Royalty, K., Oliva, S., Fix, B. (2012). Reverse Payments in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Finding the Right Prescription. Southern Law Journal, 22(1), 61-78.
• Oliva, S. (in press). Attorney Advertising – A Comparison of the Attorney Advertising Laws in Florida, Texas and California. No. St. Petersburg, Fl: Society of Marketing Advances National Conference.
• Oliva, S. (2010). Elder Law Handbook – Texas Department of Public Safety Laws. Elder Law Handbook (pp. 50). San Antonio, Texas: San Antonio Bar Foundation.
• Oliva, S. (2008). Elder Law Handbook – Residential Services and Placement Laws in Texas, Texas Department of Public Safety. Elder Law Handbook (pp. 48). San Antonio, Texas: San Antonio Bar Foundation.

Biography

Joan Laybay-Marquez is the Graduate Studies Coordinator for the Dreeben School of Education at the University of Incarnate Word. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice law in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. Prior to her entry into Higher Education Administration, she maintained a general solo practice focusing on employment law, family law, school law, wills, probate and estate planning, mortgage lending, oil and gas, corporate law and consumer bankruptcy. She served as a Municipal Court Prosecutor for the cities of San Antonio and Kirby. She is Vice President for the Women in Cybersecurity San Antonio Affiliate, Board Member for Young Professionals of the Editorial Board for the NASPA Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education (JWG), Member of the Advisory Committee for the Space and Engineering Technologies Academy (SETA) of NEISD and Former Director of the UIW Young Women’s Global Leadership Program. She is a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church and enjoys music, reading and traveling with her family.

Biography

Anderson focuses his practice predominantly in the area of medical malpractice litigation. He is a diplomate with the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), having tried over a hundred cases to verdict in virtually every part of Texas. Since 2003, he has served as an adjunct professor of law at the St. Mary’s University School of Law, teaching medical malpractice litigation.

Over the last 30 years, he has practiced primarily in Central and South Texas and has tried a number of dangerous medical malpractice cases in Laredo, winning almost all of them. He has also had the unique experience of receiving two unanimous defense verdicts in the same week. In 2019, he joined his dear friends at PGM where he continues to represent healthcare providers and commercial businesses.

After completing his undergraduate degree in political science at the University of Missouri, at Columbia, and a brief stint in the United States Navy, he earned his J.D. from the University of Missouri, Columbia School of Law. He served on the school’s law review and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Prize in Constitutional Law, the Judge Roy W. Harper Price for Best Work in Federal Courts and the Russell Castile Scholarship.

He was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1975. He clerked for a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals from 1975 to 1976. Thereafter, he served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal, Anti-Trust and Administrative Law Divisions of the Office of the Missouri Attorney General.

When his wife Cheryl completed her Ph.D. and was offered a position at the University of Texas in Austin, he moved his practice to support her career. She reciprocated in 1990 when he was offered a position in San Antonio to work alongside George Brin. Cheryl then joined Incarnate Word University where she served as a Professor and as Dean of the School of Media and Design and the IWU Library. They both fell in love with Texas and have thoroughly enjoyed their time here.

Anderson was admitted to the Texas State Bar in 1980, and was also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

• Diplomate-ABOTA (signifying over 100 Jury Trials)
• Martindale Hubble – AV Preeminent
• Top Texas Lawyer – Texas Monthly Super Lawyers 2006-2019

Presentations

• Thota v. Young: The Casteel Problem and Contributory Negligence Instructions (2012)
• “Update on ‘Paid or Incurred’ – Haygood v. Escobedo (2011) Texas Medical Liability Trust Biannual Seminar
• Update on Suing Governmental Employees
  (2011) Advocate MD seminar
• An exception to the Physician – Patient Relationship
  (2010)
• Winning the Causation Defense with Foreseeability
  (2009) Texas Medical Liability Trust Seminar
• “Paid or Incurred” Practice and Problems in Limiting Damages for Medical Expenses (2008) Texas Medical Liability Trust Biannual Seminar.
• Analysis of Damage Caps before and After Tort Reform (2006) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance.
• Preservation of Harm – A New Approach To An Old Problem (2005) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance.
• Recent Significant Cases (2004) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance; Certified by the State Bar of Texas for CLE Credits.
• Standards of Care — Issues, Proof (2003) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance.
• Voir Dire in Healthcare Liability Cases (2002) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance.
• The Physician/Patient Relationship (2000) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance.
• Res Ipsa Loquitur (1998) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance.
• The Implications of Managed Care in Medical Malpractice Litigation (1997) Medical Malpractice Tort Law Seminar-Sponsored by Brin & Brin for our Insurance Clients, Certified for Continuing Education Credits by the State Board of Insurance.

Biography

Diaz (J.D. ’20) is a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law with the St. Mary’s School of Law Criminal Justice Clinic. Before joining the criminal justice clinic, Diaz spent six years working with the Goldstein & Orr law firm in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to law school, he spent over a decade as a paralegal working for a criminal defense firm in South Texas and various state agencies. During that time, Diaz received his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from The University of Texas Pan-American, and a Master of Arts degree in Legal Studies from Texas State University. He graduated from St. Mary’s University School of Law, cum laude, in May of 2020.

Since becoming licensed, Diaz has solely practiced juvenile and adult criminal defense, representing clients charged with misdemeanor and felony crimes. He has also handled state and federal appeals and post-conviction writs of habeas corpus cases. Diaz is currently on the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Board of Directors and serves on several TCDLA committees. He is also a member of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

Biography

While a student at St. Mary’s School of Law, Samantha Alecozay (J.D. ’20), received a pro bono service recognition and women in law leadership award. Following law school, she founded Alecozay Law Firm, PLLC. Alecozay practices in the areas of corporate transactions and corporate bankruptcy.

Alecozay is admitted to practice in the Western District of Texas Federal Bankruptcy Court and Supreme Court of Texas. She is an active member of the San Antonio Bankruptcy Bar Association, the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar College, and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

Alecozay regularly volunteers her time at St. Mary’s Law and local community programs sponsored by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and San Antonio Young Professionals to provide educational materials and guest lectures.

Alecozay’s hobbies include advanced culinary arts, sketching, keeping her voice in shape as a former operatic performer, classic car shows, and working on her 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88.

Biography

Judge Bemporad has been a United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Texas in the San Antonio Division since 2012. He was the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas from 2007–12. He previously served as Deputy Federal Public Defender from 1998–2007, as a Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1993–98 and as an Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1990–93. From 1988 to 1990, he clerked for United States District Judge Edward C. Prado.

Judge Bemporad recently served on the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions for the District Judges Association of the Fifth Circuit, assisting in the preparation of Pattern Jury Instructions (Criminal Cases) (2015 ed.). Judge Bemporad served the U.S. Courts as the appellate representative to the Office of Defender Services Training Expert Panel, as co-chair of the Defender Supreme Court Resource & Assistance Panel and as Defender Liaison to the Judicial Conference Criminal Law Committee.

He also previously served as co-chair of the National Association of Federal Defenders Amicus Committee, as Fifth Circuit vice-chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Amicus Committee, and as a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Judge Bemporad also co-founded and has served for many years as regular faculty of the Federal Judicial Center’s Appellate Writing Workshop.

• Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Presidents Award, 2007, 2010, 2012
• National Outstanding Assistant Federal Defender, National Association of Federal Defenders, 2002
• University of Texas, Phi Beta Kappa, 1988

Books

• An Introduction to Federal Sentencing (1st through 13th editions).  This publication, formerly titled An Introduction to Federal Guideline Sentencing, was originally prepared on behalf of Federal Public Defenders nationwide and published by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The Introduction has been reprinted in whole or part in many legal treatises, manuals, and magazines. Large portions of the Introduction were included in Volume II of Defending a Federal Criminal Case, published by the Federal Defenders of San Diego in 2010.

Articles in a Periodical

• “Supreme Court Vacancy? Rehnquist Is the Real Story of the Supreme Court’s 2004 Criminal Cases” Voice for the Defense (Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Sept. 2005)
• With Sarah P. Kelly, Novel Issues, Futile Issues, and Appellate Advocacy: The Troubling Lessons of Bousley v. United States, 35 St. Mary’s L.J. 93 (2003)

Biography

Ballesteros serves as the Cybersecurity Advisor for the Capitol Region of Texas, for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA). Prior to that he served the State of Texas, as the State Cybersecurity Coordinator and Chairman of the Texas Cybersecurity Council, at the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), pursuant to Texas Government Code, Section 2054.511 and 512, where his primary charge was to “oversee cyber matters” for the State of Texas.

Prior to joining the DIR, Ballesteros‘ career spanned several industries, including: academia; financial services; private consulting; and public utilities. Of note, his prior professional roles included the following: Information Security Officer for the Alamo Colleges District, Information Security Officer (ISO) at Jefferson Bank; Information Security Consultant at Omnikron Systems, Inc; Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems and Security (CISS) at Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU); Director of the Center for Information Assurance Management and Leadership at OLLU; and Information Systems Auditor for CPS Energy.

Academically, Ballesteros holds several degrees and professional certifications pertaining to cybersecurity, law, management information systems, and risk management. He holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Computer Information Systems and Security (CISS) from OLLU; an NSA/DHS designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE). Additionally, Ernesto completed his legal education at St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD). Lastly, Ballesteros is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and CompTIA Security+ professional.

Biography

Aaron M. Barton is a Member at Branscomb Law in the firm’s Real Estate Group. Aaron has been practicing in the area of real estate law for over a decade, representing businesses, title companies, developers, lenders, and individuals in a wide variety of business, financing, leasing, and real estate transactions.

Prior to joining Branscomb Law, Aaron also represented title insurers and businesses in real estate litigation matters. This experience has assisted Aaron in delivering legal services to his clients with an eye to avoiding litigation, and structuring transactions to better protect clients in the event a dispute arises in the future.

Aaron has been a practicing faculty member at St. Mary’s University School of Law since 2012, and graduated from the School of Law in 2007. Aaron enjoys giving back to the Law School by sharing his knowledge and practical expertise with the law students to prepare them for practicing in the “real world.”

• Texas Super Lawyer (Real Estate), Thomson Reuters, 2022

Presentations

• Purchase and Sale of Commercial Real Property (TX), LexisNexis Practical Guidance Practice Note (2021)

Biography

Coltharp’s (J.D. ’97) areas of interest include criminal law and procedure, punishment and incarceration policy, sentencing la and procedure, legal history, capital punishment, and appellate advocacy, and evidence. She has presented on these subjects nationally. In addition, she has been interviewed and quoted both locally and nationally about the immigration crime and punishment on the southern border.

Before coming to St. Mary’s, Coltharp served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Phil Hardberger, of the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals, and then to United States District Court Judge Edward Prado. She then moved to the Federal Public Defender’s Office, where she worked as appellate counsel and eventually became First Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas. She served on the National Defenders’ Supreme Court Advocacy Assistance Program and was co-chair of the National Association of Defender Services Amicus Committee. In both capacities, she has drafted briefs and contributed substantial work to many significant cases argued in the Supreme Court.

Coltharp has taught courses in legal research and writing, Texas Criminal Procedure, Criminal Evidence, and Constitutional Criminal Procedure. Her current scholarship is focused on judicial prejudice assessments for ineffective assistance of counsel.