Judge Xavier Rodriguez of San Antonio received the 2021 Samuel Pessarra Outstanding Jurist Award from the Texas Bar Foundation. The award was established in 1995, when the Foundation received a bequest to the endowment from the estate of Mrs. Samuel Pessarra in honor of her late husband Samuel Pessarra for the purpose of funding the Outstanding Jurist Award. Samuel Pessarra, a native of Quintana, attended Baylor University and Baylor University School of Law. Mr. Pessarra was a member of the Brazoria County Bar Association, where he served as president, director and secretary. The Pessarra Outstanding Jurist Award honors an active Federal or State Judge (including retired judges or judges of senior status who continue to sit) who exhibits an exceptionally outstanding reputation for competency, efficiency and integrity.

Judge Rodriguez is a former Texas Supreme Court Justice and currently sits on the bench as a United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a master’s degree from the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University of Texas Law School. Prior to assuming the bench, he was a partner in the international law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski (now known as Norton Rose Fulbright). Judge Rodriguez is a frequent speaker on continuing legal education seminars and has authored numerous articles regarding employment law, discovery and arbitration issues. He is the editor of Essentials of E-Discovery (TexasBarBooks 2014). He is a member of The Sedona Conference Judicial Advisory Board, the Georgetown Advanced E-Discovery Institute Advisory Board, and serves as the Distinguished Visiting Jurist-in-Residence and adjunct professor of law at the St. Mary’s University School of Law. He was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation.

In 2011 he was awarded the Rosewood Gavel Award for outstanding judicial service from the St. Mary’s University School of Law. In 2017, he received the State Bar of Texas Gene Cavin Award for Excellence in CLE, recognizing his long-term contributions to continuing legal education. He is an appointed judicial member of the Computer and Technology Section, Chair of the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section, Past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Labor and Employment Law Section, and Past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Continuing Legal Education Committee. He is currently enrolled in the Duke University, Bolch Judicial Institute’s LLM Program in Judicial Studies.

Judge Rodriguez will be publicly recognized at the Texas Bar Foundation Annual Dinner held on June 18, 2021 at the Omni Hotel in Fort Worth. The University of Texas School of Law will receive a $1,000 scholarship donation in honor of Judge Xavier Rodriguez.

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