Luz Herrera
Treasurer
Name: Luz Herrera
Business affiliation: Texas A & M University
Title: Treasurer
Length of service: 20 years
Luz is the founder of CLI and the current Board Treasurer. She started the organization in 2005 and has served on the board for 8 years. She returned to the board in late 2022 to help get the organization back on track after the pandemic. CLI’s mission when it was founded was to be an organization that focused on community development in the legal sector. The mission was to increase delivery of legal services but to also help coaching legal services consumers, first-generation lawyers, and community-serving lawyers to be provide leadership and a vision for legal service delivery in underserved communities.
Luz Herrera is a nationally recognized attorney and law professor with a longstanding track record for advancing access to justice. As a member of the California Bar for more than 20 years, Luz has advocated for families, non-profits and entrepreneurs. After graduating from Stanford University and Harvard Law School, Luz honed her law skills at a large private California firm before turning to a legal career in public service. Setting up her solo practice in Compton, California in 2002, Luz immediately noticed the need for families to have greater access to legal services. At the time, Luz became the only Spanish speaking attorney to establish a private practice aimed at serving that fast-growing Latino community.
She also created a model for establishing community-based legal services. Now celebrating its 18th year in service, Community Lawyers continues to serve the residents of Compton and many other residents of Southeastern Los Angeles County. The non-profit agency’s mission is to help people in underserved and under-resourced neighborhoods navigate the legal system in times of need. Luz has never forgotten her Los Angeles roots and her belief that all people deserve equal access to justice. And there are many factors that make this possible.
Luz currently serves as Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Education at Texas A&M University.