Beyond the Courtroom: Three Judges Share a Message of Service for Hispanic Heritage Month

October 13, 2026

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III, BA ’92, JD ’95, (Center) Speaks. Hon. Laura Enriquez, JD ’96, (L) and Hon. Lauren Sepulveda, JD ’11 (R) during PDP Panel Discussion at Baylor Law School — U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Enriquez, JD ’96 (L), U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III, BA ’92, JD ’95 (Center), and McAllen Municipal Judge Lauren Sepulveda, JD ’11 (R).

For 2L Mari Sanchez, advocacy begins long before a lawyer enters the courtroom. It starts earlier, in the communities that lawyers call home and with the people they encounter every day. This perspective shaped a recent Baylor Law School Professional Development Program that celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month. U.S. Magistrate Judges Laura Enriquez, JD ’96, and Ignacio Torteya III, BA ’92, JD ’95, joined McAllen Municipal Judge Lauren Sepulveda, JD ’11, for a conversation on access to justice, representation, and service.

The panel asked students to consider how their backgrounds can strengthen their understanding of and advocacy for others. For Sanchez, president of Baylor Law’s Hispanic American Law Student Association (HALSA), that connection is personal.

As a Baylor undergraduate, Sanchez worked in the Law School’s Dean’s Suite. Seeing Hispanic and Latino voices represented at Baylor Law School helped influence her decision to return as a law student.

“Our main job is serving others,” Sanchez said. “It is being the voice for those that we see at the grocery store or out and about at a restaurant or a coffee shop.”

Baylor Law School Student Mari Sanchez poses with Hon. Laura Enriquez, Hon. Ignacio Torteya III, and Hon. Lauren Sepulveda — Baylor Law School Student Mari Sanchez (Second from Left) with (L-R) U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Enriquez, JD ’96, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III, BA ’92, JD ’95, and McAllen Municipal Judge Lauren Sepulveda, JD ’11.

That idea reaches beyond campus. Sanchez grew up in Waco and spoke about the Hispanic and Latino restaurant and coffee shop owners, as well as other community members who contribute to the city’s vibrancy. She emphasized that law students should understand the people they may one day represent.

Sanchez now puts that belief into practice as HALSA president and Student Relations Committee Chair for Baylor Law School’s Student Bar Association, where she helps students communicate their concerns to faculty and administration.

The judges also reminded students that service does not have to wait for a diploma, bar card, or courtroom. “It doesn’t have to be once we pass the bar. It starts now,” Sanchez said. “Being an advocate, it goes far beyond the courtroom.”

For Sanchez, that may be the larger lesson of Hispanic Heritage Month: heritage can shape not only who future lawyers are, but how they choose to serve.