Orlow, Steven S.

Rene Ordoñez, a lifelong Texas resident, was born in El Paso on April 28, 1962. He attended El Paso public schools and graduated from Bel Air High School in 1980. He graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts, with a major in Social Science and a minor in History in 1984. After graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso, he earned a full tuition scholarship to Drake University School of Law, and was granted a Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1987. While attending law school, he was awarded the Distinguished Deans Service Award, the Drake Scholar Award, served as President of the Hispanic American Law Students Association (HALSA), and was a recipient of a merit scholar award and scholarship from the Law Student National Civil Rights Research Council. Mr. Ordoñez is also a graduate of the United States Attorney General’s Criminal Trial Advocacy Institute and of the United States Attorney General’s Civil Forfeiture Trial Advocacy Institute. He is licensed to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Tax Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas, and the Texas Supreme Court. He is a current member of Phi Alpha Delta, the American Bar Association, El Paso County Bar Association, El Paso Probate Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, Mexican-American Bar Association, the College of the State Bar of Texas, the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee, and the Defense Research Institute.  Mr. Ordoñez has also served on numerous occasions as a lecturer on a variety of topics before the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, and the El Paso Community College.  Mr. Ordoñez has also presided as Court Master over bench trials related to mental health commitment petitions filed by the State of Texas for a period of over 9 years.

After receiving his juris doctorate, Mr. Ordoñez was named General Counsel for the El Paso International Airport, where he served for approximately two years representing the El Paso International Airport in aviation and litigation related matters. After serving as General Counsel for the El Paso International Airport, Mr. Ordoñez was appointed to serve as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of El Paso, Texas, where he was responsible for litigating civil rights, construction, and commercial matters.  Mr. Ordoñez was then appointed to serve as Assistant United States Attorney by the United States Attorney General under the administration of George H. Bush, where he prosecuted narcotics, organized crime, and white collar crime cases. After serving as an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Ordoñez joined Delgado, Acosta, Braden & Jones, P.C. (“DABJ”) in early 1998 as a shareholder.

Mr. Ordoñez served as a trial lawyer in DABJ’s litigation department for nearly ten years, where he represented several businesses, public utilities and individuals based in the United States and abroad. He also represented numerous foreign and American clients related to probate matters, defense of law enforcement officials in civil rights cases, and defense of school districts in civil matters.

In 2007, Mr. Ordoñez joined the efforts of his current partners to found the law firm of Blanco Ordoñez Mata & Wallace, P.C.  Mr. Ordoñez, the Firm’s managing partner, practices in the Litigation Department, where he manages a docket comprised primarily of complex international, commercial, and probate litigation matters.