Three Questions With an Alum: Lyda Ness Garcia ’88

Lyda Ness Garcia ’88 has been a judge of the Texas 383rd District Court in El Paso since 2021. We had an opportunity to speak with her recently about her childhood in Greece, her family’s menagerie of pets, and how law school wasn’t even on her radar in college.

How did you arrive at Greenhills and how was your experience?
My years at Greenhills were some of the best of my life. I arrived in 9th grade after attending the British Embassy school in Athens, Greece, as a child. My mother is Greek-English, and we moved to Greece when she started medical school there. I loved Greenhills for its small classes, critical thinking, and dynamic discussions about anything and everything. I participated in musicals and sports every season—even though I wasn’t really sports-oriented in any way!

How did you find your way to law as a career?
At the University of Michigan I was an English literature and creative writing major. I thought I’d go to grad school and be a professor or a novelist. While traveling after college, I fell in love with and settled in Austin, Texas. As I worked and volunteered at local organizations I started to become interested in how law can effectuate real change. At the same time my father, who was an English professor at Dickinson College, would tell me about the increasingly difficult path to tenure in academics. I have many lawyers in my family—two uncles, grandfather, and great grandfather—so I took the LSAT on a whim and only applied to the University of Texas School of Law. I found out two weeks later I was accepted and my path was set.

What does your life and work look like today?
After law school, I was offered a job in El Paso, an area I was familiar with thanks to some rock climbing trips. I’ve lived here ever since, raised my family here, and feel very fortunate to serve this community in my role as a judge. For 25 years I have worked with children and parents in the child welfare system. The state of Texas votes for district and county judges, and my first primaries and general election took place during Covid. My day involves lots of hearings and conferences with children. My favorite cases are the adoptions—being there when families are created. In my off-hours, I enjoy reading fiction, and spending lots of time with family and our evolving cast of dogs, cats, and stray pets.