Michelle Hernandez, J.D. ’97

When UCLA’s La Raza Law Students Association recommended Michelle Hernandez, J.D. ’97 to the dean of admissions, Hernandez was ecstatic. UCLA was her dream school. This special recommendation would inspire a remarkable law career for Hernandez and her future commitment to public service.

Besides excelling in government and civics in high school, Hernandez liked to argue and her family suggested that she pursue a career in law. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in political science, she was accepted by the UCLA School of Law and made the transition from her home in the southwest to the west coast. “I had never been to the campus and it was quite a culture shock moving from Albuquerque to Los Angeles.” Hernandez was able to ease the transition with the help of new friends and a focused academic schedule. She joined and actively participated in La Raza Law Students Association and was selected to write for the school’s Entertainment Law Review. During only her first year, her hard work was acknowledged with a Pioneering Women in the Law Scholarship.

Hernandez’s law school experience was unique for many reasons. “We were attending UCLA Law at one of the most pivotal times in Los Angeles’ history” she says. She attended UCLA during the O.J. Simpson criminal and civil trials, as well as the Rodney King trial. While in her third year of school, when Hernandez was an intern at the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office, the O.J. Simpson trial was moved there from downtown Los Angeles. She says “We were so close to what was happening. When the verdicts were announced for both cases it created and lost unity amongst UCLA Law students.”

After graduating in 1997, Hernandez moved back to New Mexico and was admitted to the New Mexico Bar Association. Her summer included interning for Modrall, Sperling, Roeh, Harris and Sisk, the largest law firm in New Mexico. After receiving encouragement from her favorite UCLA Law professor, Laura Gomez, she applied and was accepted for a prestigious appellate court position, serving as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Joseph F. Baca, senior justice for the New Mexico Supreme Court. This opportunity would affect her life and practice in many positive ways. “If I hadn’t gone to UCLA, I wouldn’t have applied and been accepted to the job that would be such an important step in my career.” After the clerkship, Hernandez received an offer for a permanent position at Modrall Sperling. In 1999 she was admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Bar and in 2000 to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico Bar.

Today Hernandez is a vital member of the Modrall Sperling professional team. Since becoming chair of the firm’s healthcare practice group in 2009, she has focused her practice on healthcare, litigation, products liability, torts and personal injury, and has received board certification as a health law specialist. As a result of her talents in litigation, torts and contracts, she has an extremely broad practice. Most recently Hernandez was named president of the New Mexico Defense Lawyers Association. She is a member of the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry, the Hispanic National Bar Association, Leadership Albuquerque Alumni Association, International Association of Defense Counsel, New Mexico Emerge and the New Mexico Bar Association.

Hernandez was also named a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America in 2007 and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2010. She received special recognition in the Martindale Hubbell BV Distinguished Peer Review Rating, was included in Who's Who in American Law in 2007 and in 2011 she was honored by New Mexico Business Weekly as one of their 40 Under 40. Hernandez lives in Albuquerque with her husband, Jon, a pharmacist, and their two daughters, Mia and Lena.