Irvin, Rita Herrera

I graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Arts degree (Cum Laude with Honors) in 1969 and from the University of Utah College of Law in 1972 with a Juris Doctor degree. During law school I was active in Moot Court and, during my senior year, worked as a law clerk to Justice J. Allan Crockett of the Utah State Supreme Court. In 1972, I was admitted to practice before the Utah State Supreme Court. I served on active duty with the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1973 until 1980. In 1981, I was admitted to practice before the Texas Supreme Court and opened a private law practice in El Paso, Texas.

My first courtroom experiences came at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where I was on a trial team retrying felony cases referred from the Republic of Vietnam. Several involved "fraggings" (soldiers killing their commanding officers). My second active duty assignment was in the Republic of Panama where I served as a prosecutor and legal assistance officer at Fort Davis. Following advanced training at the United States Army Judge Advocate General's School in Charlottesville, Virginia, I was transferred to Fort Bliss, Texas where I served as a legal advisor to the Sergeants Major Academy and then as Chief of Civil and Administrative law. That's how I got to El Paso, Texas. In January of 1981, I hung up my shingle in a sub-leased corner of a downtown El Paso, Texas, bank building and went to work as a partner in the fledgling two-person law firm. I now manage a general civil practice, representing clients in employment, family and commercial and business matters.

I am admitted before the Texas Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and the United States Supreme Court.

I speak Spanish. I have lived in Peru and Panama and have traveled throughout Central America and Mexico, including a twenty-day road trip from Panama to the United States in 1977. I have several Spanish-speaking clients. Recently, in conjunction with the El Paso Association of Court Administrators, I presented a seminar on Spanish Legal Terminology to court coordinators, interpreters, legal assistants and attorneys in the El Paso County Courthouse. I have just compiled a deskbook of Spanish-English, English-Spanish litigation terms for use in the El Paso County courthouse. See the Espanol section of this website for the dictionary.

I have taught law-related courses as an adjunct professor for Webster University, Florida State University, Park College and El Paso Community College.