Meet Your HYLA Directors

KIRSTEN BARRON COHOON is a trial attorney with Bracewell & Patterson, L.L.P. She is an active member of Houston Young Lawyers Association, co-chairing the Special Olympics Auction Committee. Cohoon also is a member of the South Texas Alumni Association, serving as an editor for the Quarterly magazine. She is a regular volunteer for the HBA’s LegalLine program and The People’s Law School.
Cohoon received her Bachelor of Science degree in business communications from Texas Christian University and her J.D. from South Texas College of Law. During law school, she competed on the South Texas College of Law Varsity Moot Court Team, where she won first place for best team and brief in the 2001 National Health Law Moot Court Competition. Prior to graduation, Cohoon clerked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She is married to J. Patrick Cohoon, a trial lawyer with Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.

JUDGE GRANT DORFMAN serves as HYLA’s liaison to the Harris County judiciary. He was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the 129th District Court in May 2002. Prior to his appointment, Judge Dorfman maintained a general civil trial practice, specializing in commercial litigation and securities arbitration, as a partner with Ogden, Gibson, White & Broocks, L.L.P. He is married to Katie Dorfman, and they have one daughter, Emma.

GINDI L. ECKEL is an environmental attorney with Campbell George & Strong, LLP. Eckel recently moved from Fort Worth, where she was the president of the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association. Eckel is a first time director on the HYLA Board and co-chairs the Arts & Entertainment Committee. In addition to her local bar activities, she is a director on the Texas Young Lawyers Association Board and was awarded the President’s Award for her work with TYLA in 2002-2003. Outside of her bar service, Eckel works with several charities and is a speaker and author on emerging issues in environmental law. She earned her law degree from Vanderbilt Law School in 1998.

MAUREEN GARRETT is a solo practitioner concentrating on matters pertaining to premises liability and toxic tort litigation. She served as treasurer and director of the Texas Young Lawyers Association from 2000-2003. Garrett received the President’s Award of Merit for 2000-2001. She has served as chairperson of the Law Week, Keep Justice Alive Week, TYLA Job Fair and the Career Development committees. She also served as a member of the Long Range Planning Committee. Since 1996, she has been an active member of HYLA, serving as a director, membership chair, and law student outreach chair. In addition, Garrett has participated in various social, athletic and community service-based Houston Young Lawyer Association activities. She is a member of the Houston Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and she serves as president of the Houston-Area Florida State University Alumni Chapter.
Garrett received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Florida State University and earned her law degree from South Texas College of Law. She is licensed to practice law in the State of Texas and the United States Southern District of Texas.

TANYA GARRISON is a third year attorney practicing in the area of business and consumer litigation at Weycer Kaplan Pulaski & Zuber, P.C. She obtained her J.D., cum laude, at the University of Houston Law Center, where she graduated with both academic and oral advocacy honors. Garrison also holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State University.
She is licensed to practice in both the State of Texas and the State of New Mexico, and is admitted in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, and Eastern District of Texas and the District of New Mexico. Garrison is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Houston Bar Association and the Houston Young Lawyers Association. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the Houston Lawyer Referral Service and serves on the HBA’s Speakers Bureau Committee. She is also the chair of the HYLA’s Teen Court Program and volunteers with the Justice for Children Program and with The People’s Law School.
Garrison’s husband, Darin, is head of the estimating department for Coastal Fire Protection. They have two children, Duke and Katy.

SERGIO GARZA is a trial lawyer with Baker Botts L.L.P. He is currently serving as an HYLA director and a fellow of the Houston Young Lawyers Foundation. Garza also is a co-chair of the HYLA’s Membership and Minority Affairs committees, co-chair of the HBA’s LegalLine Committee, and secretary of the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston.
Garza received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1999, where he was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. Upon graduation, he clerked for Judge Reynaldo G. Garza, Senior Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He received his B.A., with honors, in political science from Stanford University in 1995. Garza’s wife, Vanessa, is a trial lawyer with Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.

BRAD HANCOCK is a trial lawyer with McFall, Martinez, Sherwood, Breitbeil & Sullivan, P.C. He has been active in the HYLA as the co-chair of the Arts & Entertainment Committee and co-chair of the HYLA Leadership Academy. He has been active with the Houston Bar Association and has served on the Speakers Bureau Committee. He has also served on the board of directors for Leadership Houston since 2001.
Hancock is licensed in Texas, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia. He obtained his B.A. at Texas A&M University and his J.D. at Texas Tech University. His trial practice focuses mainly on health care, employment, and corporate matters. His wife, India Chumney Hancock, is with Christus Health Gulf Coast. Brad and India have one daughter, Kathryn Adair.

LIA HAYES is a third-year law student at South Texas College of Law. She will receive her Juris Doctorate in May of 2004. She currently serves as the treasurer for Phi Delta Phi, as the alumni coordinator for the Black Law Students Association, and she is a member of Currents International Trade Law Journal.
Hayes is currently clerking at the Federal Court of the Southern District of Texas, serving as a judicial intern for the Honorable Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore and Honorable Magistrate Judge Marcia A. Crone.

DAVID W. HENDERSON was admitted to the Texas bar in 2001 and practices litigation with Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. He co-chaired the HYLA’s “It Could Be You: Kids Speak Out Against Crime” Committee in 2002-2003 and was an active participant in the Courthouse Tours and TASTE programs. This year, he will co-chair the Urban Colonias Committee.
Henderson has a Plan II Honors degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.

BRIAN LOWENBERG is beginning his third year at the University of Houston Law Center, where he sits as a justice on the Law Center Honor Court and will tutor a first-year research and writing class. He has been published in the Defense Counsel Journal (April 2003) and is Casenotes and Comments Editor for the Houston Journal of International Law. Lowenberg has worked for the United States Senate in Washington, D.C.; Allan Kanner & Associates in New Orleans; Waters & Kraus in Dallas; Judge Marcia A. Crone; and Robins, Cloud, Greenwood, & Lubel in Houston.
Prior to law school, Lowenberg earned a degree in international affairs from Trinity University in San Antonio, where he volunteered at the Bexar County Battered Women’s Shelter. He hopes to become involved in national political governance.

DERRICK M. MITCHELL practices in the area of public finance at Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Midtown Redevelopment Authority and the Gulf Coast Community Services Association/ Head Start Policy Council. In addition, he is a commissioner on the Building and Standards Commission for the City of Houston. Mitchell is a member of the Houston Bar Association, where he served on the Committee for Minority Opportunities in the Legal Profession from 1999-2001. He is also a member of the Houston Lawyers Association and the State Bar of Texas. Mitchell serves as a mentor to a young high school student in connection with the Leaders of Tomorrow program.
Mitchell received a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Houston in 1996 and a J.D. in 1999 from the University of Houston Law Center, where he was honored with the Distinguished Service Award Insignis Officio Dedica and served as president of the Black Law Students Association.

MARK RODRIGUEZ is a trial lawyer with Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. He is currently serving as an HYLA director and is co-chair of the HYLA Hunger Relief Campaign. Rodriguez also serves on the Associate Development and Diversity Task Force subcommittees at Vinson & Elkins.
Rodriguez earned his B.A. from Rice University in 1992 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1995. His wife, Cristina, is a trial lawyer with Baker Botts L.L.P. in Houston. They have a daughter, Ana Maria, who is one year old.

DENOTRA KAYE STEWARD graduated from Grambling State University in December of 1997 with a B.S. in Business Marketing. Upon graduation, she worked as a marketing representative for the John Deere Company. After becoming a certified paralegal in 1999, she worked for the Houston law firm, Daw & Ray, P.C. In 2000, Stewart accepted a paralegal position with the Business Litigation Division of the City Attorney’s office. Now a third year law student at Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Steward has participated in mock trial competitions and as a member of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity. Currently, she is on Thurgood Marshall Law Review, works as a student representative for Westlaw, and is an active participant in the Housing Law Clinic. This summer she clerked at the law offices of Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins and Mott.
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