Kristen L. Vela is a Senior Associate at Ramon Worthington Nicolas & Cantu, PLLC. Kristen focuses her practice primarily on complex civil litigation and on serving as a trusted advisor to corporate clients in dealing with commercial and business disputes, personal injury claims, and labor and employment matters. Kristen’s proactive approach often enables clients to anticipate and resolve business problems, business disputes and workplace and employment issues before they end up in court; however, when litigation is unavoidable, Kristen is a skilled and zealous advocate for her clients. Kristen has litigation experience representing clients in a wide variety of cases on both sides of the docket.
Kristen graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rice University with a BA in Political Science in 2012—after only two years—and was inducted into the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa. Kristen received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in the Spring of 2017. Following her first semester of law school, Kristen’s Legal Research and Writing Class Memo was selected and named as Outstanding Memorandum of her first-year class. As a result of her outstanding performance in the area of research and writing, Kristen was invited to join UT Law’s Legal Research Board and served as Co-Chair from 2016-2017. She was also a member of the American Journal of Criminal Law.
In February 2018, Kristen was published in the State Bar of Texas’ 10th Annual Damages in Civil Litigation CLE for her role as co-author of, “Defamation Damages in Texas: Placing A Dollar Amount on The Impairment of Good Name and Reputation as A Result of Libel or Slander.”
Kristen volunteers her time by proudly involving herself in various professional and community organizations. She is a graduate of Class 41 of Leadership McAllen and served on Leadership McAllen’s Board of Directors both as a Steering Board member and as PR Chair until April 2024.
After serving on the Friends for Hope Board since 2021, in July 2024, Kristen finished her term as President of the Friends for Hope Board, a local organization that is dedicated to helping the needs of children suffering from cancer in the Rio Grande Valley by ensuring that no child is denied lifesaving treatment and by raising awareness for the Vannie E. Cook, Jr. Children’s Cancer & Hematology Clinic. During her tenure as President, Friends for Hope had a record-breaking year, raising nearly $500,000, all of which was donated to the Vannie Cook Children’s Cancer Clinic for direct patient care.
In 2023, Kristen Co-Founded and Co-Chaired the Hidalgo County Bar Association’s Business Law and Commercial Litigation Section. During its inaugural year, it was awarded HCBA Law Section of the Year. Kristen continues to serve as Co-Chair of the Business Law and Commercial Litigation Section and this year helped start a new initiative entitled, Attorneys Give Back: Contribute…Connect…Community.
Since 2022, Kristen has served a member of the Young Lawyer’s Committee of the National Center for State Courts (“the NCSC”), an organization created by the US Supreme Court and based in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its purpose is to improve the State Court judicial system around the Country by bringing together lawyers, judges, administrators and others to consider challenges to litigants and the system as a whole in areas as varied as access to justice, courthouse security, jury service and the like. Earlier this year, Kristen was selected to serve as Chair of the Young Lawyer’s Committee and has been working to improve the engagement of the Young Lawyer’s Committee in a meaningful way that ensures the perspective of younger lawyers are considered in our justice system to serve litigants, judicial officers, jurors and the system as a whole.
In addition, Kristen was recently selected to participate in Class X of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership Leadership Program, a 9 month-educational program to engage and educate leaders on the importance of collaboration and discussion on the region’s most pressing challenges and opportunities.
In August 2024, Kristen was selected by the State Bar of Texas and the Texas Young Lawyers Association to participate in the 2024-2025 Leadership SBOT Program. This program was designed to recruit, train, and retain Texas lawyers for leadership positions in the legal community and the State Bar of Texas. Only 20 Texas lawyers are selected each year to participate in this prestigious program.
During her free time, Kristen enjoys playing tennis, working out, reading and spending time with her family and friends. Kristen is licensed to practice law in the State of Texas and in the Southern District of Texas.
Education:
The University of Texas School of Law, J.D. May 2017
- Outstanding Memorandum Award – Best memo from first-year writing section
- Co-Chair Legal Research Board
Rice University, B.A. Political Science, summa cum laude, May 2012
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Awarded President’s Honor Roll every semester
Bar and Court Admissions:
Texas
U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas
Publications:
with Ray Thomas, Defamation Damages in Texas: Placing a Dollar Amount on the Impairment of Good Name and Reputation as a Result of Libel or Slander, State Bar of Texas 10th Annual Damages in Civil Litigation CLE (2018)
Professional & Community Affiliations and Involvement:
- Member, Hidalgo County Bar Association 2018-Present
- Member, Young Lawyers’ Committee, National Center for State Courts 2021-Present
- Board Member, Friends for Hope 2021-2024
- Vice President, Friends for Hope 2022-2023
- Graduate, Class 41, Leadership McAllen 2021-2022
- Board Member, Leadership McAllen 2022-2024
- Gala Committee Member, Teach for America RGV 2022-2023
- President, Friends for Hope 2023-2024
- PR Chair, Leadership McAllen 2023-2024
- Chair, Young Lawyers’ Committee, National Center for State Courts 2024-Present
- Co-Founder & Co-Chair, Business Law & Commercial Litigation Section, Hidalgo County Bar Association 2023-Present
- Member, Rio Grande Valley Partnership 2024-Present
- Class X Participant, Leadership Program, Rio Grande Valley Partnership 2024-Present
- Participant, 2024-2025 Leadership SBOT Program, State Bar of Texas and Texas Young Lawyer’s Association
2024-Present
