School: School of Law

Mark W. Cochran

Professor Emeritus of Law

Biography

Mark Cochran is a Professor Emeritus of Law at the St. Mary’s University School of Law. He retired after 40 years of service to St. Mary’s Law.

Cochran was a tax attorney with Boult, Cummings, Conners & Berry in Nashville (now Bradley Arant Boult Cummings) from 1981 until 1985, when he joined the St. Mary’s faculty. He taught as a visiting professor at the University of Texas, the University of Georgia, and Vermont Law School, and he served for a year as Professor In Residence at the Office of Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C.

During his tenure at St. Mary’s, Cochran has served in various administrative positions, including Director of Evening Studies and Co-Director of the summer program in Innsbruck, Austria. He has chaired the faculty appointments committee for several years.

Cochran and his wife have two adult sons and two grandsons. In his spare time, he enjoys international travel, college football, blues guitar, and single malt Scotch. In the pre-COVID era, his trivia team advanced to the citywide championship, placing fourth.

Highlights

  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Order of the Coif
  • Distinguished Faculty Award, 2001
  • Professor-in-Residence, IRS Chief Counsel’s Office, Washington D.C., 1988-89

Publications

Articles in a Periodical

Teaching Materials

  • Transnational Litigation (2004) (Self-published teaching materials.)
  • Federal Income Taxation: Law and Policy (2003). (Self-published teaching materials.)

Others

  • Commentary: Give Tax Collectors Tools to do Their Job, San Antonio Express-News  (May 30, 2021).
  • Comparison of S Corporations and Partnerships: Tax Treatment of Formation, Report to American Bar Association Tax Section, Committee on S Corporations (1985).
  • Unrelated Business Income Problems of Churches and Other Religious Organizations  (coauthor), PRENTICE HALL TAX EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS SERVICE, pg. 3649 et seq (1983).

Mark W. Cochran

Professor Emeritus of Law

Contact Information

Education

  • LL.M. in Taxation, University of Florida, 1981
  • J.D., Vanderbilt University, 1980
  • A.B.J., University of Georgia, 1977

License to Practice

  • Tennesee
  • United States Tax Court

Specialties and Courses

  • Conflict of laws
  • Federal income taxation
  • Taxation of business entities

Nicole Monsibais

Director of Law Career Strategy

Biography

Nicole Monsibais (M.P.A. ’11, J.D. ’12) is the Director of Law Career Strategy in the Office of Career Strategy (OCS). In this role, she advises and encourages law students and alumni as they explore career opportunities, including preparing them for potential challenges. As a first-generation law graduate, Monsibais understands the transformative impact that staff can have on a student’s career trajectory. With a passion for individualized student support, she is eager to be part of their career development journey.

Prior to attending law school, Monsibais worked in the public sector, serving as a Luna Scholar at the Texas State Capitol, an Archer Fellow in Washington, D.C., and as staff at nonprofit organizations. As a law student, Nicole served as a Senator on the Student Bar Association, as Vice President of the Women’s Law Association, as a Staff Writer on The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Race & Social Justice, and as a Teaching Assistant for the Civil Justice Clinic.

Upon graduation, Monsibais was a Clinical Administration Fellow at the St. Mary’s University Center for Legal and Social Justice. This unique role allowed her to spearhead initiatives, develop partnerships, manage external grants, and coordinate outreach programs that provided opportunities for law students to engage in legal services while serving the community.

Subsequently at other institutions of higher education, she oversaw compliance, specifically regarding university policy and laws related to campus security, equal opportunity, disability access, anti-harassment, non-discrimination, sexual misconduct, and sexual violence. Monsibais led the investigation, adjudication, and resolution of complaints, and provided training and consultation regarding compliance, regulations, and best practices.

She has presented at numerous local and national conferences on topics ranging from student services to contract management. Monsibais also chaired a university-wide inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility council, and served as the president of staff assembly.

Nicole Monsibais

Director of Law Career Strategy

Professional portrait of Nicole Monsibais

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2012
  • M.P.A., St. Mary’s University, 2011
  • B.S., The University of Texas at Austin, 2007

Awards

  • Sr. Jane Anne Slater Leadership Award for Staff, Our Lady of the Lake University, 2021
  • Key to Success Award, Our Lady of the Lake University, 2016 and 2018
  • Educating for Justice Award, St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2012
  • Adele Advocate for the Poor Award, St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2011

Tracy Almanzan

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Biography

Tracy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management with a minor Communications Management from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in 2002. She also earned a Juris Doctorate Degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas in 2006.

Tracy began her career with the El Paso County Attorney’s Office in 2006 as the Community Prosecutor. During her time at the County Attorney’s Office, she received training in representing clients in protective orders applications, handling mental health commitments, prosecuting juvenile cases, and eventually, representing Child Protective Services. In 2016, she went into private practice, where she practiced in child welfare law, juvenile law, family law, and some probate law.

Tracy has been a part of several committees through the State Bar of Texas throughout her career, to include the Racial Diversity in the Profession Committee and the Child Abuse Committee. For two years, she was the Chair of the Diversity in the Profession Committee and is now still a member. In addition, she recently served on Former State Bar President Sylvia Borunda-Firth’s State Bar Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force. She is now a member of newly created Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion State Bar Committee.

Tracy joined the University of Texas at El Paso in February 2023 as a Professor of Practice for the Law School Preparation Institute in the Patti and Paul Yetter Center for Law. Tracy taught classes to include legal writing and legal research.

Finally, Tracy married attorney, Alex Almanzán, in 2006 and they have two beautiful children, Noa and Paloma, and a dog named Frida. In her free time, she enjoys supporting her children’s love of theater arts, sports, and music, reading, traveling, and working out on her Peloton.

Tracy Almanzan

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., St. Mary’s School of Law, 2006
  • B.S., Trinity University, 2002

License to Practice

  • Texas

Joaquin Gonzalez

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Biography

Joaquin Gonzalez is a San Antonio native and civil litigator. Prior to joining the St. Mary’s faculty, he was the Senior Supervising Attorney in the Voting Rights Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project.

He has played a leading role in some of the most significant Texas voting rights cases in recent years. This includes halting an attempt to improperly purge nearly 100,000 naturalized citizens from the voter rolls and forcing Texas to fully comply with the federal motor voter law, which has led to over 2,000,000 voter registrations. He helped design Bexar County’s S.M.A.R.T. Elections initiative in 2020, which successfully expanded access and ensured safe and effective elections during the COVID pandemic.

One of Gonzalez’s focus areas has been redistricting. He has served as the redistricting counsel for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, and recently argued a major Voting Rights Act case in front of the En Banc Fifth Circuit.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Gonzalez worked in policy and campaign positions for a number of state and local elected officials.

Publications

Media Highlights

Joaquin Gonzalez

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Professional portrait of Joaquin Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Practice of Law, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie.

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., Yale Law School, 2018
  • B.Sc., University of London, 2015

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Legal Research and Writing
  • Election Law

Shem Vinton

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Biography

Originally from Pearsall, Texas, Shem Vinton, J.D., Assistant Professor of Practice of Law, was — like many of his current students — a non-traditional law student. Before attending the SMU Dedman School of Law, Vinton enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves and completed several active-duty tours, including one supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn. After graduating from law school, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in Nueces County, representing the State of Texas in misdemeanor and felony prosecutions as well as representing his office on the Veterans’ Court treatment staff.

In 2022, Vinton returned to his law school to work as a policy attorney for the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center, where his research focused on early-stage criminal procedure and prosecutorial discretion. As part of his work with the Deason Center, Vinton had the opportunity to meet with elected prosecuting attorneys across the country and discuss their charging policies, and to work closely with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office on several research projects.

Most recently, and before joining the faculty at St. Mary’s, Vinton served as an Assistant Public Defender in Bexar County, representing indigent defendants charged with misdemeanor offenses.

When not preparing materials for his class, Vinton enjoys word puzzles, reading, running and spending time with his friends and family.

Shem Vinton

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Professional portrait of Shem Vinton

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., SMU Dedman School of Law, 2018
  • B.A., University of Texas, 2008

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Legal Writing
  • Research
  • Criminal Law

Publications

“The Difference a D.A. Makes,” Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Forthcoming (with Prof. Pamela Metzger and Dr. Victoria Smiegocki)

“Charging Decisions, Pretrial Detention, and the Defense Attorney’s Duty to Enforce,” American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, November 17, 2022, Atlanta, GA

“Weeding Out Racial Disparity: Dallas DA Declination Policies,” Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center: Criminal Justice Reform Workshop, February 9, 2023, Dallas, TX (with Prof. Pamela Metzger and Dr. Victoria Smiegocki)

“Roundtable: Challenges and Innovations in Courts Research and Practice” presenting on “Innovations in Prosecutorial Screening and Charging,” American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, November 15, 2023, Philadelphia, PA (with Prof. Pamela Metzger and Dr. Victoria Smiegocki)

Monesca Smith

Director of Law Student Affairs

Biography

Smith’s background is comprised of strong leadership and diverse experiences that has played an integral role in her career.

Smith, J.D., Ed.D., is well-versed in many facets of higher education which includes student conduct, disabilities services, Title IX, student activities, and internal compliance reviews.

She attended the University of Southern Mississippi and obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Master’s degree in Counseling Personnel Services with an emphasis on College Student Personnel. She obtained her certificate of graduate study in Conflict Management from Lipscomb University, a Doctorate in Higher Education (Ed.D.) from AU-Atlanta. Smith recently earned her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from WMU-Cooley Law School.

Prior to joining St. Mary’s University School of Law, Smith served as an Associate Dean of Residence and Student Life at Kentucky State University, Associate Dean of Student Affairs at South University-Savannah, Adjunct Faculty, and an Area Coordinator for Housing and Residential Education at Vanderbilt University.

Presentations

  • Conflict Management, Professional Development Presentation, Virtual, Savannah, GA, 2023, 2012
  • Ole Miss Way: Excellent Customer Service, Candidate Presentation, Oxford, MS, 2016
  • Eagles Engaged: Enhanced Pathway Experiences, Candidate Presentation, Hattiesburg, MS, 2016
  • The Power of Social Media, Student Leadership Training, Savannah, GA, 2013, 2015, 2016
  • Faculty & Student Engagement, Professional Development Presentation, 2012
  • Got Leadership? Student Leadership Training, Savannah, GA, 2012
  • The Student Leadership Challenge, Student Leadership Training, Savannah, GA, 2012
  • College Student Success: Formula for Student Persistence, Doctoral Coursework, Atlanta, GA, 2012
  • Advising Student Groups & Organizations, Professional Development Presentation, Savannah, GA, 2011
  • Driving Education with a Purpose: A Roadmap to creating a Living Learning Community, NASPA Conference, 2011
  • The Price of the Privilege, Professional Development Presentation, Nashville, TN, 2010

Monesca Smith

Director of Law Student Affairs

Contact Information

Education

  • Juris Doctor (J.D.), WMU-Cooley Law School, 2020
  • Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Higher and Postsecondary Education, AU-Atlanta, 2017
  • Certificate of Graduate Study, Conflict Management (Rule 31 Mediator), Lipscomb University, 2012
  • Master of Education, (M.Ed.) Counseling Personnel Services, University of Southern Mississippi
  • Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Sociology (Psychology minor) with honors, University of Southern Mississippi

Aaron Diaz

Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law

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.

Aaron Diaz

Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law

Professional portrait of Aaron Diaz in a blue suit with red tie.

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., (cum laude), St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2020
  • M.A., Texas State University, 2014
  • B.S., University of Texas Pan-American, 2012

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Criminal Law
  • Appellate Law

Publications

  • Aaron Diaz, Comment, Restoring the Presumption of Innocence: Protecting a Defendant’s Right to a Fair Trial by Closing the Door on 404(b) Evidence, 51 ST. MARY’S L.J. 1001 (2020)

Jena Martin

Professor of Law | Katherine A. Ryan Chair for Global and International Law

Biography

Jena Martin is Katherine A. Ryan Chair for Global and International Law and a Professor of Law at the St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. Her research is in the field of business and human rights, where she has written extensively on many issues, including: the intersection of human rights with a number of fields including data privacy, AI and securities regulation.

Prof. Martin has emerged as a thought leader on these subjects and her work has been presented in a variety of forums including newspapers (such as The Chicago Tribune and The Houston Chronicle); law journals (including a forthcoming co-authored work in the Yale Journal of Law and Technology and a prior piece in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law); and the United Nations. Professor Martin has also co-edited and co-authored a number of books in the field of securities regulation and business and human rights, including “The Business and Human Rights Landscape: Moving Forward, Looking Back” (Cambridge University Press); “When the Levees Break: Re-visioning Regulation of the Securities Markets” (Lexington Books), and “Dying to be Heard: Businesses’ Impact of Communities” (Anthem Press).

Prior to coming to St. Mary’s Prof. Martin was the Robert L. Shuman Professor of Law and Ethics at West Virginia University.

Prof. Martin also draws heavily on her practice experience as a consultant and advisor for small businesses and her previous position serving as Senior Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. She earned her LL.M from the University of Texas, Austin and her J.D. from Howard University School of Law.

Publications

Books

  • INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, POLICY AND PROCESS, 5TH ED., Carolina Academic Press (2021)(with David Weissbrodt)(spearheaded overhaul of the casebook with a new organizational structure and streamlined content. Drafted the casebook’s first Teacher’s Manual)
  • WHEN BUSINESS HARMS HUMAN RIGHTS: AFFECTED COMMUNITIES THAT ARE DYING TO BE HEARD, Anthem Press (2020)(ed., with Karen Bravo and Tara Van Ho)
  • WHEN THE LEVEES BREAK: RE-VISIONING SECURITIES MARKET REGULATION, Lexington Books (2017)(with Karen Kunz)
  • THE BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS LANDSCAPE: MOVING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK, Cambridge University Press (2015)(ed., with Karen Bravo)

Articles

  • Everything New is Old Again: The Veil of Scale, Platforms as Premises and the Coming Metaverse, __ YALE J. OF L. & TECH. __ (forthcoming 2024)(with Lara Putnam)
  • The Securities and Exchange Commission as Human Rights Enforcer?, 18 VA. LAW. & BUS. REV. 93 (2024)(with Rachel Chambers)
  • “A Change is Gonna Come:” Developing a Liability Framework for Social Media Algorithmic Amplification, 13 UC IRVINE L. REV. 155 (2023)(with Amy Cyphert)
  • Reimagining Corporate Accountability: Moving Beyond Human Rights Due Diligence, 18 NYU BUS. L. J. 773 (2022)(with Rachel Chambers)
  • Reckoning: A Dialogue about Racism, Anti-Racists and Business and Human Rights, 30 WASH. I. L. J. 171 (2021)(with Erika George and Tara Van Ho)
  • Data Privacy Issues in West Virginia: An Overview, WV. L. REV. ONLINE (2021)
  • The United Postal Service—The One Word that Makes all the Difference, 99 Texas L. Rev. Online 72 (2020) (with Matthew Titolo).
  • It’s Complicated: The Challenge of Prosecuting TNCs for Criminal Activity under International Law, 29 IND. INT’L & COMP. L. REV. 219 (2019)
  • Easing “the Burden of the Brutalized”: Applying Bystander Intervention Training to Corporate Conduct, 68 CATHOLIC U. L. REV. 1 (2019) (lead article)
  • Parallel Worlds: Comparing Rural Development to Development in Global Communities, WV. L. REV. (with Karon Powell)(2018)(invited symposium piece)
  • Hiding in the Light: The Misuse of Disclosure to Advance the Business and Human Rights Agenda 56 COLUMBIA TRANS’L L. J. 530 (2018)
  • Changing the Rules of the Game: Beyond a Disclosure Framework for Securities Regulation 118 WV. L. REV. 59 (2015)
  • Business and Human Rights, What’s the Board got to do with it?, 2013 ILL. L. REV. 959 (2013)
  • The End of the Beginning?: A Comprehensive Examination of the U.N.’s Business and Human Rights Agenda from a Bystander Perspective, 17 FORDHAM J. CORP. FIN. L. 871 (2012)(lead article)
  • What’s in a Name? Transnational Corporations as Bystanders under International Law, 85 ST. JOHN L. REV. 1 (2011)(lead article)
  • The SEC and Shareholder Empowerment – Analyzing the New Proxy Regime and its Impact on Corporate Governance, BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES REPORT (2011)
  • In Praise of Process: An Exploration of the SEC, Rule 14a-(8)(i)(8) and AFSCME v. AIG, 5 U.MD. J. BUS. L. & TECH 23 (2010)

Refereed Articles and Book Chapters:

  • “UN Guiding Principle Number 8” in ThE RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON THE UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Edward Elgar Press (2024)(Barnali Choudhury, ed.)
  • “Commentary, Dodge v. Ford” in FEMINIST JUDGMENTS: REWRITTEN CORPORATE LAW OPINIONS, Cambridge University Press (2023)(Kelli Alces et. al., eds.)
  • “Corporations 101” in TEACHING BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Edward Elgar Press (2023)(Anthony Ewing, ed.)
  • “United States: Potential Paths Forward after the Demise of the Alien Tort Statute,” in CIVIL REMEDIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN FLUX, Bloomsbury Publishing (2022)(Ekaterina Aristova & Ugljesa Grusic eds.)
  • “The Use of Disclosure-Based Regulation to Advance the State’s Duty to Protect” in THE RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND BUSINESS, Edward Elgar Press (2020)(Surya Deva ed.)
  • “The Evolving Business and Society Landscape: Can Human Rights Make a Difference,” (with Michael Addo) in THE BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS LANDSCAPE: MOVING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK, Cambridge University Press (2015)(Martin & Bravo, eds.)
  • “Transnational Corporations as Bystanders under International Law,” in BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Sage Publications (2013)(Manoj Sinha, ed).
  • Into the Breach: The Increasing Gap between Algorithmic Trading and Securities Regulation, Vol. 44, JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH No. 2 (peer reviewed journal) (co-authored with Karen Kunz)(Oct. 2013)

Awards

  • West Virginia Executive’s Lawyers & Leaders, Class of 2022
  • 2019 Reviewer of the Year Award – Business and Human Rights Journal (Cambridge University Press)
  • Dean’s Award of Distinction in Teaching – Adjunct (College of Business & Economics) 2015
  •  “50 Under 50,” Law Professors of Color, Lawyers of Color
  • WVU ADVANCE Grant Recipient, grant provided to organize a conference on Business and Human Rights (2012 – 2013)
  • Significant Scholarship Award, WVU College of Law, (awarded for “The End of the Beginning?: A Comprehensive Examination of the U.N.’s Business and Human Rights Agenda from a Bystander Perspective”)(2012)
  •  WVU Public Service Grant Recipient, provided to fund an outreach program within the State of West Virginia to help local businesses understand contract pitfalls (2011 – 2012)
  • Shortlist Finalist, Fletcher Fellowship (administered by Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research)(2010).
  • Next Generation Fellow, The Next Generation Fellowship (part of the American Assembly Series, run by Columbia University). Invited participant in three-day conference to discuss the future of U.S. global policy. (2007)
    Recipient, Director’s Award, SEC Division of Enforcement. (2004)

Jena Martin

Professor of Law and Katherine A. Ryan Chair for Global and International Law

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D., cum laude, Howard University School of Law, 1997
  • B.A. McGill University, 1994

License to Practice

  • Maryland
  • District of Columbia
  • West Virginia

Specialties and Courses

  • Business and Human Rights
  • Securities Regulation
  • Business Association
  • Corporate Governance

Krystal Moczygemba

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Biography

Krystal earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Economics with a minor in History from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas in 2017. She then earned a Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in 2019. She also earned a Juris Doctorate Degree from Notre Dame Law School in South Bend, Indiana in 2021.

Krystal began her career with Chasnoff Valkenaar Pepping & Stribling LLP in San Antonio, Texas, where she advised foreign and domestic insurers in complex matters arising out of director and officer liability, management liability, professional liability, cyber liability, commercial general liability, and excess insurance policies. She also represented foreign and domestic insurers in federal and state court lawsuits concerning declaratory judgments, breaches of contract, bad faith allegations, and statutory violations in complex civil litigation matters.

Krystal joined St. Mary’s University School of Law in the fall of 2024, where she is teaching legal writing and research in the school’s Legal Communications, Analysis, and Professionalism course.

Finally, Krystal married attorney, Cam O’Connor, who she met in law school, in 2024. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, family, and friends, going to the theater, reading fantasy and mystery stories, various outdoor hobbies, working with her family’s cow-calf operation, and cooking.

Krystal Moczygemba

Assistant Professor of Practice of Law

Education

  • J.D, Notre Dame Law School, 2021
  • M.Sc., University of Oxford, 2019
  • B.S., Texas A&M University, 2017

Contact Information

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Legal Communication, Analysis, and Professionalism

Match Dawson

Assistant Professor of Law

Biography

Match Dawson (J.D. ’13) began his legal career working for Justice Paul W. Green of the Texas Supreme Court, and later joined the distinguished Austin-based law firm of Giordani, Swanger, Ripp, & Phillips, LLP where he counseled clients on asset protection and estate planning. Prior to joining St. Mary’s University, Dawson formed his own firm, Dawson Law LLP®, and primarily represented high net worth clients with complex estate and asset planning matters.

Dawson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from California State University Sacramento and a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from St. Mary’s University School of Law.  Dawson is a Chartered Trust and Estate Planner®, a distinguished Fellow of the Global Academy of Finance & Management, and he’s been awarded the prestigious Accredited Estate Planner® designation by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Dawson is a member of the Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law section of State Bar of Texas, the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, and the College of the State Bar of Texas, an honorary organization reserved for attorneys dedicated to high ethical standards and advanced legal training. Dawson is also a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, a collaborative organization of professional service providers who have distinguished themselves through advanced education.

Dawson and his wife, a large animal veterinarian, favor quiet country living where they raise three spirited children. Dawson is an avid outdoorsman, a passion he shares with his family, and their RV can often be found at campsites across the great state of Texas.

Awards & Highlights

  • Accredited Estate Planner®, National Association of Estate Planners & Councils
  • Charted Trust and Estate Planner®, GAFM
  • Fellow, GAFM

Match Dawson

Assistant Professor of Law

Contact Information

Education

  • B.A, Economics, California State University, 2006
  • J.D., (cum laude), St. Mary’s University School of Law, 2013

License to Practice

  • Texas

Specialties and Courses

  • Asset Protection
  • Wills, Trusts, & Estates
  • Property
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