Years Of Experience
About Me
Leonard Ray Saenz is a retired Travis County Associate Judge certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Family and Criminal Law. Criminal Law with over 31 years of courtroom experience. He also sits as a Visiting Associate Judge for Travis County. He brings reliable and accessible alternative dispute resolution services that efficiently resonate with the company ethos of ‘letting your voice heard’. When the foundations have been built on commitment, excellence, integrity and professionalism, it is no wonder that litigants turn to him time and again for quality and considerate professional mediation and arbitration services.
An ingrained desire to help people has allowed Judge Saenz to provide quality legal services for over 31 years. His commitments towards helping others extends beyond just a professional obligation as every litigant receives the same level of dedication regardless of the situation surrounding their case.
Having served as a private attorney, in Manhattan New York and Austin Texas, a former prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York and Travis County and an Associate Judge for Travis County for good measures, for almost 18 years, has enabled him to provide an unparalleled service in a comprehensive manner focusing on every aspect of the case. He has presided over thousands of family law cases involving child custody, property division, spousal maintenance, grandparent/third party access to children, modifications of orders, enforcement and civil family violence protective orders.
Judge Saenz received his education from the University of Texas, where he completed his Minor in Economics and BA in Government. He further attended Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College in Portland to gain access to practice law in New York and Texas.
As a mediator, for the past four years Judge Saenz has always aimed at helping individuals resolve their disputes avoiding costly legal proceedings in the future and provide peace of mind to the concerned party by allowing control towards how the issue is resolved.
Judge Saenz has professionally conducted high-level mediations involving family violence cases to those involving protective orders. Understanding the dynamics of family violence has been the most paramount to him and with his extensive experience in the field, he is uniquely poised to mediate cases involving family violence or property related issues. Furthermore, Judge Saenz was involved in the national training on Family Violence and Civil Protective Orders where he gave judicial training. Moreover, he has presented continuing legal education courses locally.
Judge Saenz carried on his tradition of distinct and quality legal services as a public servant. In his role as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County, Brooklyn, New York for over 4 years, enlightened him with an extensive experience in handling a variety of criminal cases including both Felony and Misdemeanor offenses. He personally dealt with and evaluated numerous bench and jury cases for violent crimes like, aggravated assault, sexual assault, robbery, and murder. He also handled with cases dealing with distribution and possession of controlled substances. Judge Saenz also worked with the New York Police Department’s Bias Unit while serving in the Civil Rights Division. It was there that he learned to work on crimes involving sexual orientation, ethnic origin, person’s race, and religion.
The lifelong experience of Judge Saenz further involves:
- Serving as an associate for Speyer & Perlberg in 1995 in New York, New York where he represented major insurance carriers in cases involving property and business interruption claims as well as insurance fraud and coverage issues.
- Working on multiple felony bench and jury cases as an Assistant District Attorney in Travis County after returning to Texas in 1996.
- Serving as Travis County Associate Judge in in February 2002 handling juvenile cases. He was the first Judge to be responsible for the Travis County Truancy Court Pilot Project.
- Member of Austin Bar Association, Texas Academy of Family Law Specialist, Texas Family Law Foundation, State Bar of Texas Family Law Section, Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, Hispanic Bar Association. He is a founding member of Barbara Jordan American Inn of Court.
- Served as Past Chair, Chair, Vice- Chair, Secretary/ Treasurer and Member at At Large of the Austin Bar Association Family Law Section.
- Currently, Vice- Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution and as served as a Director for two years.
- Served as a board member for the Hispanic Bar Association Charitable Foundation and assumed the role of Secretary/Treasurer, Vice-Chair and Chair of the Austin Bar Association Criminal Law Section.
- Further served on the Austin Independent School District’s Dropout Prevention Task Force. Also was appointed Co-Chair for the City of Austin, Travis County and A.I.S.D. Joint Sub-committee’s Judicial Task Force, which provided several important recommendations for the handling of student’s curfew and other class C misdemeanors in conjunction with truancy filings.
- Served as a member of the Austin Child Care Council for several years.
Judge Saenz has a clear understanding of various challenges facing our children, parents and blended families. He understands how the emotional, physical and financial stress can impact the family dynamic. Over the years he has sharpened his ability to hear litigants’ concerns, evaluate their credibility, apply the law and ultimately decide the issue(s) raised during the hearing. His experience as a trial attorney and Judge provides litigants with the judicial insight and evaluation of their unique issue(s). As a mediator Judge Saenz’s experience offers litigants a unique perspective in helping parties resolve their differences especially in high conflict cases .
Why Choose Me?
If you require the professional, compassionate and experienced alternative dispute resolution services, then Saenz Mediation & Arbitration Services is the right option for you. As a renowned mediator, my job is to structure a process that enables me to help you get a legally binding settlement As arbiter I will carefully listen to all parties and evaluate my findings to create a final resolution. I have offered my family and civil law mediation, arbitration, and med-arb services for years to help litigants and their attorneys resolve their issues without costly court intervention. . My collective experience in mediation includes:
- Over 4 years of mediation and arbitration experience
- Almost 11 years Served as a Trial Attorney (Criminal, Civil, Family Law issues)
- Almost 18 years of judicial experience in handling family law matters
- Handled complex cases involving child custody along with property issues and more
- Certified Attorney in Family Law and Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
Under all circumstances, I work with the parties and their attorneys to work towards a final resolution ending the need for further costly and uncertain Court action. ,. I look upon sensitive matters and handle them with care to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment or emotional harm