Rose Vela (R)

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Personal Information

Rose Vela was born on November 5, 1964, at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Southwest Texas State University in 1985, with a major in English and a minor in Political Science. Justice Vela received a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in 1988, and was licensed to practice law in Texas that same year.

Upon graduation from law school, Justice Vela served as a Briefing Attorney for the Fourth Court of Appeals for one year. After moving to Corpus Christi in 1990, she served as a Briefing Attorney for the Thirteenth Court of Appeals for two years. In 1998, she was elected to the 148th District Court of Nueces County, Texas, where she served two full terms. Justice Vela was elected to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals in November, 2006.

Justice Vela is a member of the American Inns of Court, American Bar Association, Texas Bar Association, National Association of Women Judges, Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, the College of the State Bar of Texas, and the Texas Bar Foundation. She is also a graduate of the Texas College of Advanced Judicial Studies (General Jurisprudence), the National Judicial College (Conducting the Trial, Advanced Evidence), and the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation.

Before joining the Court, Justice Vela previously served as the Presiding Administrative Judge of the Nueces County Council of Judges, President of the Corpus Christi Young Lawyers' Association, Director of the Texas Center for the Judiciary, and Director of the Corpus Christi Bar Association.