Biography

Since 2011, the Hon. Marina Garcia Marmolejo has served as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Laredo Division. As a federal judge, Garcia Marmolejo has heard over 12,000 criminal and civil cases, presided over nearly 100 trials, and maintained a reversal rate of less than 1%. Garcia Marmolejo has sat by designation on the Fifth Circuit and authored an opinion on a matter of first impression.

Despite presiding over once of the busiest dockets in the country, Garcia Marmolejo devotes significant time to promoting the legal profession at home and abroad. From 2014 to 2019, she co-directed the Hispanic National Bar Association’s moot court competition. She regularly teaches seminars and workshops on U.S. law in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay and Spain. In 2022, she founded St. Mary’s clerkship mentorship program. In 2023, she will teach an advanced legal writing seminar at St. Mary’s.

Judge Garcia Marmolejo is also active in improving the judiciary process. She currently holds leadership positions with the Federal Judges Association, District Judges Association of the Fifth Circuit, Editorial Committee for the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions and Advisory Committee for Texas’s State Criminal Pattern Jury Charges. Chief Justice John Roberts has twice appointed Garcia Marmolejo to serve on the Judicial Conference of the United States’ IT Committee.

Before she became a federal judge, Garcia Marmolejo served as a federal public defender, federal prosecutor and an attorney in private practice. As a federal defender and prosecutor, Judge Garcia Marmolejo tried over 30 cases to verdict. Her cases included domestic corruption, transnational drug trafficking, and complex human trafficking cases.

• Outstanding Service in the Judiciary, Mexican American Bar Association, 2016
• Latina Judge of the Year, Hispanic National Bar Association, 2014
• Americanism Award, Daughters of the American Revolution, 2012
• Distinguished Alumni Award, University of the Incarnate Word, 2011
• Best San Antonio Lawyers, Scene In S.A., 2011
• Texas Rising Stars, Super Lawyers, 2011
• Top 100 Influential Leaders, Hispanic Business Magazine, 2010
• Outstanding Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2007
• Outstanding Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, 2006
• Recognition for Excellence in Prosecution and Outstanding Prosecutorial Skills, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2003, 2006
• Recognition of Professional Contribution, Department of Homeland Security – Office of the Inspector General, 2005
• Director’s Award for Superior AUSA Performance, Executive Office for the U.S. Attorney, 2002
• Michael T. Shelby Sisyphus Award, U.S. Attorney’s Office, 2002, 2004, 2005
• Tejano Achievers Award, Laredo LULAC Council, 2000

Biography

As a law student at St. Mary’s University, Tyler J. Ryska was the Faculty Coordinator for the Dean’s Research Fellows, a member of the Board of Advocates and the External Advocacy Program Negotiations Team.

After becoming licensed to practice law in 2017, he served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Division. There, his two areas of expertise are Superfund and Utilities law. In 2022, he formed the Clean Initiative Project. The Clean Initiative Project is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides financial assistance to Texas landowners who need support remediating their land. In 2024, he joined Rigby Slack Lawrence Pepper + Comerford PLLC as an associate focused on environmental and commercial litigation. 

He is licensed to practice law in Texas. He is married and has two children. He lives in Bee Cave and attends Lake Hills Church.

• Case Law Update, Texas Environmental Superconference 2021, Co-Presenter
• The Attorney General’s Role in State Water Matters, Water Law 101 – Changing Face of Water Law 2022, Presenter

Biography

Following graduation from the St. Mary’s University School of Law, Joseph Gay served as a law clerk to the Honorable J. Bonner Dorsey, Justice of the Texas Thirteenth Court of Appeals. He then joined the Appellate Section for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and served from June 1991 until August 1998.

Currently, Gay is a supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Criminal Appellate Section, for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.  During his tenure, he has authored hundreds of appellate briefs and has argued more than 100 times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

In 2000, Gay joined St. Mary’s Law as an adjunct professor of Legal Research and Writing where he taught for 18 years.  He is currently an adjunct professor teaching Torts in the Master of Jurisprudence Program.  He has also taught, at the undergraduate level, courses in Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Organized Crime.  Gay is a frequent instructor and presenter at the Office of Legal Education, Executive Office for United States Attorney, National Advocacy Center, Columbia, South Carolina and Continuing Education seminars for the San Antonio Bar Association and the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit.

Biography

A San Antonio native, Nick Guinn (J.D. ’13) studied chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating from U.T. Austin, Nick returned to San Antonio for law school.
During law school, Nick was active in the St. Mary’s community, serving as President of the Student Bar Association, competing in the advocacy programs, and serving as a staff writer for The Scholar. Shortly after graduating from St. Mary’s, Nick met his wife, Kristen. Nick and Kristen live in the center city and enjoy exploring San Antonio.

Immediately after law school, Nick clerked for Judge Fred Biery of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. After his clerkship, Nick joined his current firm, Gunn, Lee & Cave.

Nick is active with several organizations including the St. Mary’s Law Alumni Association, and the Hispanic Law Alumni Association. He is also a board member for the San Antonio Bar Association and the Texas Young Lawyers Association.

• San Antonio Bar Association President’s Award, Recipient 2019
• San Antonio Young Lawyers Association Outstanding Young Lawyer, Recipient 2019
• Texas Bar Foundation
• San Antonio Bar Foundation
• Order of Barristers
• American Bar Association Law Student Division Silver Key Award, Recipient 2013
• Christian Citizenship Award, Recipient 2013
• Pro Bono and Public Service Certificate, Recipient 2013
• Judge Jack B. Miller Award for Dedication, Integrity & Professionalism, Recipient 2013
• Friends of Alec Scholarship in Chemical Engineering, Recipient
• William A and Mary B Cunningham Scholarship in Chemical Engineering, Recipient

Books

• Protecting, Enforcing and Defending Your Brand (2022)
• Protecting, Enforcing and Defending Your Inventions (2022)

Presentations

• TexasBarCLE: Federal Court Practice Course, May 2021 (course director)
• Brand Protection After Tiffany v. Costco, TexasBarCLE: Intellectual Property Law Workshop: Trademarks in IP, February 2021 (co-presented with Oren Gelber and Michael Moore)
• A Rubric of Rights: Copyright and Trademark Protection for Fictional Characters, IIPLA Virtual IP Summit 2020, October 2020 (co-presented with Stephen J. Strauss and Alexandra Arneri)
• Copyright Trolls: Ethical Issues, TexasBarCLE: 16th Annual Advanced Intellectual Property Litigation, Dallas, Texas, October 2020
• Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) Practice, State Bar of Texas and USPTO: Virtual Trademark Bootcamp, June 2020
• What Should I Consider When Choosing a Trademark, State Bar of Texas and USPTO: Virtual Trademark Bootcamp, June 2020 (co-presented with Stephanie Schmidt)
• Trademark Applications Worth Talking About, TexasBarCLE: Intellectual Property Law Workshop: Trademarks in IP, February 2020
• UnReal Campaign Presentation (Counterfeiting Concerns), Clark High School, San Antonio, Texas, November 2019
• IP in Art or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Copyrights, City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture, San Antonio, Texas, November 2019
• Recent Trademark Issues in the News, HLSA, San Antonio, Texas, October 2019
• Litigating a Case with More than Just Patents, TexasBarCLE: 15th Annual Advanced Patent Litigation, San Antonio, Texas, July 2019
• Counterfeiting is Bigger than Handbags: Public Health and Economic Risks, Southwest Fulbright Symposium, San Antonio, Texas, April 2019
• Trademarks in Entertainment Law, Law Society for Sports, Entertainment, and Media, San Antonio, Texas, March 2019
• The Crossroads of Intellectual Property and Energy Law, Society of Oil and Gas Students, St. Mary’s University School of Law, San Antonio, Texas, March 2019
• Trademarks in Professional Sports, San Antonio Young Lawyers Association, AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas, January 2019
• A Primer on Trademarks, Counterfeit Pharma Seminar, San Antonio, Texas, February 2018
• An Introduction to Trademarks, State Bar of Texas Pro Bono IP Workshop, El Paso, Texas, January 2018 (co-presented with Marylauren Ilagan)
• Intellectual Property Basics, San Antonio Young Lawyers Association, San Antonio, Texas, October 2017
• Understanding and Communicating Intellectual Property: Means for Mitigating Barriers to Wealth, Southwest Fulbright Symposium, San Antonio, Texas, September 2017
• Impact of Apple v. Samsung on Design Patent Enforcement, TexasBarCLE: 13th Annual Advanced Patent Litigation, Horseshoe Bay, Texas, July 2017
• Intellectual Property Issues for Health Law Practitioners, San Antonio Bar Association Health Law Section, San Antonio, Texas, March 2017
• An Introduction to Trademarks, State Bar of Texas Pro Bono IP Workshop, Corpus Christi, Texas, January 2017 (co-presented with Darrian Campbell)
• Learning to Protect Your Work, AIGA, San Antonio, Texas, November 2016
• How to Do a Pro Bono Clemency Petition, San Antonio Young Lawyers Association, San Antonio, Texas, September 2015

Biography

Peter Hosey (J.D. ’79) was born in Stuttgart, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1956. He became a U.S. citizen in 1960.

While he lived in the U.S., he attended the University of Texas at El Paso, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976. Shortly after, he attended the St. Mary’s University School of Law. He is married to Sheree Wagner and has four children.

Hosey has worked at Jackson Walker LLP since 2001. Prior to that, he worked at Gresham, Davis, Gregory, Worthy & Moore from 1989 to 2001; Woodward, Hunter & Hosey from 1980 to 1988; and Exxon from 1979 to 1980.

Hosey is the president of the St. Mary’s Law Foundation, a member of the St. Mary’s University Board of Trustees and a former president of the St. Mary’s Law Alumni Association.

• State Bar of Texas 1979 to Present
• One of the Founders and Past President and Treasurer San Antonio Bar Association Natural Resources Section
• Chair, Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law Section, State Bar of Texas, 2017-2018
• Member of Texas Land Title Standards Commission 1998 to Present.
• Life Sustaining Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation

• Distinguished Graduate Award 2013, St. Mary’s School of Law

Presentations

• Presented Papers to:
  • Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
  • SBOT Oil, Gas & Energy Law Advanced Seminars
  • EE Smith Energy Institutes
  • SBOT Water Law Conference
  • SBOT Oil & Gas Disputes Course
  • San Antonio, Dallas & Midland Bar Association Seminars
• See jacksonwalker.com for full list

Biography

An Amarillo Native, 4th generation attorney and 7th generation Texan, John Torrey Hunter graduated from the University of Texas in 2008 with a BA in Philosophy. After a stint working in Colorado, in 2009 he enrolled at the St. Mary’s University School of Law , with graduation and admission to the Texas Bar in 2012.

During Law School, he clerked for the firm of Goldstein, Goldstein and Hilley and in 2016, after 4 years as a sole practitioner, he became the senior associate at the firm. In 2019, he co-founded the law firm of Hunter, Lane & Jampala PLLC, where his focus remains on criminal trial litigation, criminal appeals and post-conviction writs of habeas corpus. His cases have included capital murder, bribery, money laundering, sexual assault, federal drug conspiracies, state and federal writs of habeas corpus, and criminal appellate matters.

In addition to arguing before the many state appellate courts, he has argued before Federal Courts for the Western and Northern District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, LA, and has prepared appellate briefs for the Supreme Court of the United States.

John is a board member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the incoming president of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He is a contributing author for the LexisNexis Texas Criminal Practice Guide and has lectured at CLE events for SACDLA, TCDLA, and the Matagorda County Public Defender’s Office. His speeches have covered topics such as the “Law of Charging Instruments in Texas” and “Defending Federal Firearms Offenses.”

He is licensed to practice in the State of Texas, the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Western, Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of Texas.

Biography

Katz is an Adjunct Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law. She specializes in Animal Law, Criminal Law, and Municipal Law. She currently serves as City Attorney and City Prosecutor for several Central Texas cities, as well as the General Counsel for two Economic Development Corporations in Texas. Prior to her career in Municipal Law, she served several years as an Assistant District Attorney for both Bexar County and Comal County, focusing on family violence and animal cruelty. While in San Antonio, Katz started a law firm serving family law clients, legal aid clients, and embracing animal law cases as the pro bono branch of the practice.

She received her Master’s of Education from the University of Texas, and devoted 5 years to teaching in Texas public schools. Katz graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law, and has served on the State Bar of Texas Animal Law Section Council as Chair for two years and Council Member for one year. She teaches Family Law as an Adjunct Professor at Texas State University, in the Master’s of Legal Studies program—Department of Political Science.

Katz has several published articles related to animal law, and her articles have been cited in Animal Law textbooks. She testified as an expert during several Legislative Sessions in front of the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee regarding animal law, the link between animal cruelty and family violence, and the necessity for increasing penalties at the felony level for animal cruelty. Her experience in both criminal law, animal law, and municipal law has led her to various speaking engagements, including for the Texas District and County Attorney Association, Texas City Attorney Association, South Texas College of Law, University of Texas School of Law, and several law enforcement agencies throughout Texas. Katz is licensed in Texas, New Jersey, and Colorado, as well as in the Western District of Texas.

Biography

Keough recently served as General Counsel for a Software as a Service (SaaS) private early-stage company. Prior to this, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Counsel for pharmaceutical research and development companies in South Dakota, New York and Japan focusing on human health technologies including site-specific topical penetrants, intracellular drug delivery and novel anti-infectives using team science approaches. These experiences involved technology and personnel management, pharmaceutical products development, commercial partnering, and engagement with U.S. and foreign government entities.

Companies Keough led between 2012-2018 earned multiple national awards for innovation management and advanced technologies, including Drug Store News, Gold Award for Best New Pharmaceutical Product; American Business Awards/The Stevie Award, Silver Award; and Edison Awards, Best New Pharmaceutical, Bronze Award; and Giant Vision Award from the Governor of South Dakota.

He has been involved with numerous technologies and life-improving discoveries across multiple disciplines. For example, these range from retro-reflective cube corner technologies for traffic control signage to cardiac care technologies and to advanced polymer coatings on medical devices. Many of these efforts required U.S. and international experience in preventing and resolving intellectual property disputes, including trade-related conflicts, and conducting investigations in the U.S. and other countries.

In addition to business and legal acumen gained through corporate and law firm life, Keough also received a Certificate in Finance for Non-Financial Professionals from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His public presentations have been at various large legal, business and scientific conferences throughout his career. Numerous global Commanding Officer tours and other experiences in the U.S. Navy reinforced his belief in promoting democracy through equitable legal processes and a sound judiciary.

• Past Chairperson of multiple intellectual property bar association committees

Biography

Samira Lineberger (J.D. ’87) is a member and owner of Lineberger Law Firm PLLC.

She has practiced in a wide range of areas of law and in many capacities. Her current practice focuses on small business, addressing all their needs, including formation, transactions, compliance, intellectual property, employment and litigation.

She also handles family law matters, which developed organically through her representation of businesses whose principles were going through difficult times at home.

Prior to forming her current firm, she was general counsel for a technology company wherein she handled the majority of their legal needs including contract preparation, negotiation and management, compliance issues, intellectual property protection, risk management and employment law matters.

As an experienced trial lawyer, she has represented many commercial clients in areas including insurance defense, personal injury, employment discrimination and harassment, premises liability, products liability, construction defects, mechanics liens, fraud, defamation, FELA (railroad employee injury cases) and DTPA (Deceptive Trade Practices Act) among other things.

She has tried numerous cases with a wide range of damages from the smallest of four figure dollar cases to cases in the eight figure dollar range.

Unique to Lineberger’s experience is her ownership and participation in several of her own businesses, including a multi-million dollar residential construction company, a mediation firm, and currently a consulting firm, Lineberger Consulting Group, that advises law firms on business development and marketing strategies.

Biography

John LoCurto practiced law for nearly 20 years. He spent most of his legal career working for different components of the United States Department of Justice. He most recently served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas here in San Antonio, where his practice focused on health care fraud and whistleblower cases. John rose through the ranks at the U.S. Attorney’s Office to become Assistant Chief of the Civil Division.

Before joining the United States Attorney’s Office, John worked at the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he tried a mix of civil cases. He was Department of Justice Honors Attorney, spent four years as a litigation associate in private practice, and completed two judicial clerkships.

In 2018, John left traditional legal practice for a position in higher education. He is currently the Ethics and Compliance Officer at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.

John is married to his law school sweetheart. He and his wife have two children and two rescue dogs.