Vasquez, Emily Elizabeth

Mr. Lara's civil trial work in state and federal district courts has included such diverse matters as the successful representation in the local United States District Court of a nuclear weapons facility in a significant employment dispute with a guard union (for which he received a letter of commendation from the U.S. Department of Energy), litigating partnership disputes, personal injury suits, wrongful death and personal injuries from truck/car collisions, attorney malpractice, products liability, divorce, custody, and probate disputes. He has maintained a general civil practice and is recognized in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers and as a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. Although most of his clientele are individuals, he has over his career represented numerous corporations, including a regional shopping center, an agricultural chemical company, a network television affiliate, and a Catholic charitable agency. Because of his undergraduate studies in economics and finance, and his work through the years with his father's insurance agency he developed a strong understanding of business and finance that helps him everyday in his representation of individuals dealing with such things as the consequences of car wrecks, understanding the value of property divided in divorce, and the economic impact of major personal injuries.

Mr. Lara also served an extended tenure with the Office of the District Attorney in El Paso, Texas. During that time he tried approximately one hundred contested jury trials involving such felony criminal activities as international drug smuggling, murder and the firebombing of a department store by radical activists. He supervised and trained other district attorneys to try felony cases and completed the trial advocacy skills course through the National College of District Attorneys.

Upon his graduation from law school, Mr. Lara was accepted through the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Graduate program to employment as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division. Among his duties were the coordination of prosecutions of narcotics and dangerous drug offenders in such upper mid-west cities as Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati. During this period, he successfully briefed and argued the Department's appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) of a search and seizure issue.

Art B. Lara, Jr. graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1973. During law school he received American Jurisprudence Awards in both Family Law and Evidence, was named as Chief Justice on the student bar association court, served as a research assistant, and was employed as a teaching assistant for the Council on Legal Educational Opportunities (CLEO) program (a minority law student admissions program).

Communication of Concerns

Mr. Lara will seek to be candid in addressing any concerns he has regarding your conduct as it relates to your case. Likewise, if you have any concern as to the conduct of Mr. Lara or his staff in representing you, please be candid in letting us know of your concerns.