Judge Alvarez joins us to talk about her path from San Antonio, to Stanford and back to San Antonio. She was educated and worked as an engineer before going to law school. After law school she had a few jobs before running for District Judge in Bexar County. Join us to hear her talk about her unique path and the great things happening at the courthouse.

Transcript:

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Justin Hill: Hello and Bienvenidos San Antonio. Welcome to The Alamo Hour, discussing the people, places, and passion that make our city. My name is Justin Hill, a local attorney, a proud San Antonio, and keeper of chickens and bees. On The Alamo Hour, you'll get to hear from the people that make San Antonio great and unique and the best-kept secret in Texas. We're glad that you're here.

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All right. Welcome to The Alamo Hour. Today's guest is the Honorable Mary Lou Alvarez. She is a civil district judge at the 45th Civil District Court in Bexar County. She was educated as an engineer prior to being a lawyer. Born just south of here, raised in San Antonio, a graduate of Incarnate Word High School. Bean and cheese are her favorite breakfast tacos I learned. I didn't know that.

Mary Lou Alvarez: Yes.

Justin: If you're spicy, it sounds like bean and cheese and bacon.

Mary Lou: Bacon or brisket, a little meat to add something to the mix.

Justin: The beans have to be good you said, so we're going to ask some questions about that. Judge Alvarez, thank you for being on here. We asked you to come on today, talk about what's going on in the court. I want to talk about your path into elected politics because I don't know why anyone would do that to themselves but you've got a lot of thoughts on that. I've practice law in front of you. I've gotten to know you, really over the last five years, as you decided to run and it's really been very enjoyable for me to get to know you, see you on the court, see how passionate you are about it.

You're not just a judge, you're actually volunteering your time to improve some of the processes of the courthouse, which I think is really invaluable because people maybe don't realize but Bexar County has been revolutionary in the way we run our courts for so long. Old Judge Casseb brought in the presiding system, which I tell everybody to this day, we have the most efficient court system in the state of Texas. You should file all your cases here because you're going to get hearings, you're going to get justice, you're going to get answers and other places don't have that benefit.

I think it's good that we are still moving to improve what we have that is already a really good system. I start with everybody, top 10. It's never really 10 but I have a stick to it. Who has the best beans?

Mary Lou: Real beans or fast food beans?

Justin: For your bean and cheese taco, let's go there because that's where I've got this from.

Mary Lou: All right. Well, it depends on how much time I've got. If I can sit down and have a bean and cheese taco and wait, then it's going to be a hole-in-the-wall taqueria. My favorite right now is the one that's off McCullough and Dewey, Taqueria Jalisco I think, or El Chapala. I forget the sign because I think it changed once while I was off Locus, but it's off McCullough and Dewey.

Justin: Where's Dewey at?

Mary Lou: Dewey, it becomes St. Josephine closer to 35 I think.

Justin: Further down McCullough Monte Vista area?

Mary Lou: No, it's St. Josephine is what it becomes. It's by Hawthorne, Hawthorne Academy right across on the backside of the Pearl. Then coming up to McCullough, it's Dewey, and...