by Catherine Deyarmond
Growing up in Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley, Armando Martinez always wanted to go to law school.
In 1998, after earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas-Pan American, which later merged to form the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Martinez hadn’t taken the LSAT and decided to put off law school for one year.
Already a volunteer firefighter who was certified as an emergency medical technician and a paramedic, he decided to take the civil service exam for the fire department in Weslaco. With the top exam score, Martinez took the job, thinking it would be a good way to save money for law school.
“I started with the fire department, and I never left,” Martinez explained. “I moved up the ranks pretty quickly and became a flight paramedic and an instructor. Life and family took over. The opportunity to go to law school never came after that.”
Although Martinez hailed from a family with a state legislator, county commissioner and city mayor, he said he never dreamed of running for office. However, his experience in the fire department resulted in a realization that would lead him to politics.
“It bothered me that patients would have to travel hours in order to get specialized care,” he said. “For example, a person with a head injury or with a cardiac issue would end up in the emergency room because there weren’t specialists nearby. We would have to transport them to the airport, load them on the aircraft, fly them out and then drive them to the hospital. It could take eight to 12 hours to get them to definitive care. That is a lot of time.”
“His colleagues have benefited from his unique experiences, and he has championed the law school with the Texas Legislature and others interested in a high-quality online legal education.”
— Patricia Roberts, J.D., Dean of the School of Law
Running for office
Martinez said the more patients he transported, the more medical needs he saw throughout the community. After serving on a statewide trauma advisory council and teaching advanced life support to health care professionals, he started thinking he could do more.
“In 2003, I told my parents that I wanted to run for the Texas Legislature,” he said. “As always, my parents were supportive. I ran for office at age 27 with the support of my family, friends and fellow firefighters. They all helped me to be elected.”
He took office in 2004 as the state representative for District 39, representing Hidalgo County. He is now in his ninth term, which ends in 2027. During his 21 years as a legislator, Martinez said he has focused on public education, health care accessibility and affordability, and job creation. While in office, he earned his Master of Public Administration at UT RGV.
The busy husband and father also has his own small construction business, instructs and certifies firefighters, and is a commercial pilot.
Realizing an old dream
However, it was his work as a state legislator that led him back to the idea of attending law school.
“I have constituents who come in my office and are looking for assistance because they don’t know where to go,” Martinez said. “Often, they come to me with issues that need to be handled through an attorney, but, unfortunately, they don’t have the financial means to do it. They don’t know who else to call, and it becomes very difficult for them. For me, the ability to assist the community in this manner really attracted me.”
Martinez said when he heard that the St. Mary’s University School of Law was offering the country’s first ABA-approved Online J.D. Program, he knew it was time to fulfill his dream of becoming a lawyer.
“With the program being fully online, I could get it to align with my work and legislative schedules, plus my home life,” he said.
Trailblazing a new program
Martinez started in the new Online J.D. Program’s first cohort in Fall 2022. He is one of eight students who completed their J.D. degree requirements this month. With about half of them, he will cross the stage to accept his degree at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13. The other half will participate in the May 2026 Commencement with more members of this first cohort.
“My favorite part of the online program was having classmates from different walks of life from across the country,” he said. “They all have jobs, all have families. We took the courses very seriously, and even though we weren’t in class together, we were very supportive of each other and had study sessions. We called each other to discuss certain chapters and subjects.”
Martinez said having professors who were engaged and supportive of their success was crucial.
“Our professors were extremely dedicated, and they worked hard to teach us everything we need to know,” he said. “I thank all of them for helping us learn and assisting us as we achieved our shared goal.”
After enjoying Commencement with his family and cohort members, Martinez will head back to Weslaco to study for the Texas bar exam. After passing the bar, he is interested in going into general practice so that he can assist fellow Rio Grande Valley residents with their legal issues.
Dean Patricia Roberts, J.D., called it a privilege to have State Rep. Martinez in the inaugural online J.D. class.
“He has taken full advantage of all that a St. Mary’s legal education has to offer, including joining us in Innsbruck, Austria, for our summer program,” Roberts said. “His colleagues have benefited from his unique experiences, and he has championed the law school with the Texas Legislature and others interested in a high-quality online legal education.”
The School of Law is proud of Martinez and the initial online cohort members who will graduate a semester early, she said.
“These trailblazing students have enriched our community and helped inform the program’s best practices,” Roberts added.
“Our professors were extremely dedicated, and they worked hard to teach us everything we need to know. I thank all of them for helping us learn and assisting us as we achieved our shared goal.”
— Armando Martinez, member of the first cohort, Online J.D. Program
