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Letitia D. Quinones
Letitia D. Quinones moved to Houston, August 1995 to attend law school at Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law. During her matriculation at Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Letitia earned many awards for mock trial and was nominated the President of American Trial Lawyer’s Association. Letitia always had a passion for trial and it showed in her many awards and victories throughout her law school career. After graduating from law school, Letitia hung out her shingle and started her own practice from the day she passed the Texas State Bar, November 6, 1998. Letitia initially began her career as a solo practitioner and immediately hung her shield after graduating from law school. Unsure of what areas of law she wanted to specialize, Letitia originally practiced civil, family and criminal law. It did not take long for Letitia to realize, she was born to practice criminal defense law; it was her purpose in life. “Fight for the Underdog!!!” After practicing on her own for almost seven years, she caught the eye of Mr. Robert Alton Jones. Mr. Jones took Letitia under his wing and taught her the ins and outs of the “real” practice of law. He would often state, “Letitia, you’re a real lawyer and I am going to see you reach your full potential.” With that being said, Mr. Jones cultivated her talents and poured as much knowledge into her as he possibly could. Armed with vast knowledge, talent, and the work ethic of a quarter horse primed and ready for the Kentucky Derby, Letitia propelled and advanced far beyond her dreams. Letitia became one of the most widely respected and successful criminal defense attorneys in Houston, male or female. Prosecutors are often overheard stating, “Letitia is the best cross-examiner I’ve ever experienced.” Other lawyers, prosecutors and defense attorneys profess to hire Letitia should they ever find the need for a criminal defense attorney.
Letitia enjoys many acquittals and dismissals on very complex and difficult cases, such as murders, aggravated robberies and the like. More importantly, Letitia has been extremely successful in negotiating and obtaining fair and equitable punishments for Defendants across the nation. Some newsworthy cases include, The State of Texas v. Noel Dean. Mr. Dean was charged with killing his wife, by shooting her in the head with his firearm after an argument over her infidelity. After a thorough and grueling cross-examination of the state’s star witness, Harris County Medical Examiner, Dr. Phatak, the state dismissed the murder charge against Mr. Dean in the middle of trial and subsequently expunged his record. Most recently, Letitia obtained a dismissal of murder charges for a young African-American woman, after she shot a young white male for violently attacking her vehicle and posing immediate serious bodily injury or death to her person; The State of Texas v. Scott. After a very hard fought pre –trial effort, the state agreed to dismiss the murder charges against Ms. Scott over the objection of the deceased’s family. Another noteworthy case: The State of Texas v. Pullard. Mr. Pullard was an African-American police officer charged in a predominately white conservative county with sexually assaulting a young white female citizen during a routine traffic stop. After three days of trial and grueling cross-examination of the complaining witness, the jury, predominately made up of white male and females, acquitted Mr. Pullard in less than 45 minutes. These are just a couple of the many cases where Letitia has overcome the odds of some very difficult cases and prevailing for minority Defendants who often lack the funds to hire high quality representation. She is widely known in the urban areas of Houston as the “Olivia Pope of the Neighborhood.”
Eventually, Letitia’s hard work and success caught the eye of one of the most famed, feared and successful attorneys in Texas, Mr. Chip B. Lewis. Mr. Lewis represented many high-profile clients, such as Robert Durst, Sheriff Trevino and Ken Lay, just to name a few. Mr. Lewis offered Letitia an opportunity of a life-time to assist Mr. Lewis on some of his high-profile cases and projects. Letitia humbly accepted and since then has worked either directly or indirectly on cases such as the Robert Durst Case, Constable May Walker’s case and many others.
Over the years, Letitia has broken down many barriers and has completely shattered the glass ceiling often found for African-American women. She is now the sole owner of the Law Office of Quinones & Associates, PLLC, which has two offices throughout Houston. Amazingly, Letitia out earns many of her male counterparts—unheard of for an African-American female from the East Side of San Antonio. Most lawyers go through the District Attorney’s office before they venture out on their own and reach the level of success Letitia has accomplished. Letitia has never worked for the District Attorney’s office; this sets her apart from 95% of similarly situated criminal defense attorney’s in Harris County, Texas.
Letitia has been noticed and acknowledged by many organizations and associations. The following are just a few: Best Attorneys of America – “Lifetime Member”, American Academy of Trial Attorneys – 2015 Premier 100 Trial Attorneys, “50 Top Attorneys in Houston, Member of State Bar College to name a few. Letitia has been asked to speak at seminars by very well respected organizations such as: The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Thurgood Marshall School of Law and Harris County Public Defender’s Office.
Letitia is most proud and feels most useful when she is giving back to the community and training young lawyers to become “real lawyers.” In 2011, Letitia was hand chosen to head up a new Elite Trial Advocacy program at Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Letitia willingly accepted the challenge and “volunteered” her time to build this program. The program is geared to help advance the careers, knowledge and talents of the predominately minority law students at Texas Southern University. Serving as co-chair for three years, Letitia and her partners have established the first premiere practical trial advocacy program at Thurgood Marshall School of Law. After just three years, Letitia was asked to chair the program and grow it into not just a premiere program of TSU, but of all law schools in the state and ultimately the Country. Already, Letitia has created a program that will offer students the opportunity to work on real felony and federal cases, job opportunities within Houston and surrounding counties. These opportunities will become a permanent fixture and benefit of the program. Letitia hopes to expand the program to include a clinic that will service the community and offer high quality representation to under privileged Defendants charged with the most serious of cases. Letitia has traveled all over the country coaching students at mock trial competitions winning several 1st place trophies, all on a volunteer basis.
Letitia has also formed Food For Growth, Inc., a non-profit organization that feeds the underprivileged community in Houston and surrounding areas. Through this program, Letitia will teach those children living in poverty, the importance of nutrition and how to develop a healthy relationship with food. An initiative first speared by the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Food For Growth, Inc., will not only teach the importance of healthy eating, it will also be a vehicle used to reach those young people who face very unfortunate odds giving their family and economic instability. Letitia will expose these children to lawyers, doctors, teachers and other professionals and entrepreneurs that look just like them; thus creating a sense of positive possibility for their future. Food For Growth, Inc.’s motto is “If we reach just one---We’ve made the world a better place! One young person at a time.”
Letitia is a single mother of two beautiful girls, age 12 and 20; Lauren and Elyssa. Lauren a seventh grader at The Imani School and Elyssa a senior at the University of Southern California – Go Trojans-Fight On! Through hard work, dedication, cultivating of talent, Letitia enjoys a reputation in Houston as a woman on the move. It’s plain to see; Letitia’s life is dedicated to the service of the people and she would not have it any other way.
