The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

Avatar photo

Krista Torralva

Krista Torralva covers pro bono, public service, and diversity matters in the Texas legal market.

Krista Torralva

Krista Torralva covers pro bono, public service, and diversity for the Texas Lawbook Foundation and The Texas Lawbook. Previously, she covered courts for The Dallas Morning News. Krista has spent the bulk of her decade-plus-long career covering criminal courts in Texas and Florida. Her reporting includes the high profile federal terrorism trial against the Pulse nightclub shooter’s widow in Orlando, which ended in a rare acquittal. Her civil courts coverage has included the long-winding Texas voter ID lawsuit, legal battles over local Covid-19 mandates and school board disputes. Krista's work has been recognized by the State Bar of Texas' Gavel Awards, the Texas Association Press Managing Editors, the National Headliner Awards program and various local chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The daughter of a Naval officer, Krista grew up traveling every few years but calls Corpus Christi home and talks about the Texas Gulf Coast every chance she gets. She lives in Dallas’ North Oak Cliff with her husband, Fares Sabawi.

Krista graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington.

P.S. — Law Firm Delivers with Hams for Easter; Houston’s Legal Rockers Battle for Charity Glory

In this week’s P.S. Column, one Dallas-Fort Worth law firm is putting $50,000 toward feeding families this Easter with a ham meal giveaway. Also, Law Rocks is making its way to Houston, where lawyers face off in a battle-of-the-bands style competition for charity. Meet the Houston bands who are competing. Finally, The Texas Lawbook continues to invite submissions on pro bono collaborations between corporate legal departments and law firms for a new monthly column.

Krista Torralva

P.S. — Reed Smith’s Global Managing Partner Celebrated, Volunteers Needed in San Antonio 

In this week’s P.S. column, the San Antonio Legal Services Association and another nonprofit are seeking volunteer lawyers to participate in a housing rights workshop on Saturday to educate tenants on housing rights and show them how to draft repair requests. Also, the Center for Women in Law will honor Reed Smith global managing partner Casey Ryan with the Hortense Ward Courageous Leader Award at its April 4 luncheon, featuring BBC journalist Katty Kay as keynote speaker. Finally, The Texas Lawbook invites submissions on pro bono collaborations between corporate legal departments and law firms for a new monthly column.

Krista Torralva

Q&A with Trial Lawyer Michael Lyons

Michael Lyons is a student of heroes. An avid reader, he concentrates on what makes a hero and how they’re portrayed in stories. It’s no wonder that the trial lawyer finds heroes in his own cases, whether it be a man killed saving his fiancée from the deadly 2021 Astroworld crowd surge or a Good Samaritan who comforted a dying truck driver.  

Krista Torralva

Q&A with Trial Lawyer Whitney Wendel

Rounding out the five-lawyer Reese Marketos team that secured a $150 million false claims verdict against Janssen Products last summer was a young, chipper associate named Whitney Wendel, who joined the Dallas-based firm in 2023. In her short career, she has fortified herself as a litigator, her colleagues said. Wendel enjoys preparing for trial, which she compares to memorizing lines and building sets before a stage play, she said in a November interview with The Texas Lawbook.

Krista Torralva

P.S. — Food from the Bar Campaign Benefits North Texas Food Bank, $5M Gift Creates Law School’s Business and Transaction Law Center, Firm Covers Lyft Rides from Rodeo Houston 

Let the competition begin. In this week’s P.S. column, the North Texas Food Bank is set to soon start its annual “Food from the Bar” campaign, a friendly competition among the Dallas-area legal community to raise food for children while they’re out of school this coming summer. Also, St. Mary’s University School of Law got a generous gift to create a center for business and transaction law. And one law firm is making sure Houston Rodeo participants get home safe with free Lyft rides. 

Krista Torralva

O’Melveny, SMU Law Clinic Secure Pro Bono Win for Permanent Injunction Over Jail’s Mail Policy

U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant entered a permanent injunction in a First and Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit against Grayson County and its sheriff that requires the jail to allow books, magazines and other correspondence sent to incarcerated people from the nonprofit prison advocacy Human Rights Defense Center. The Florida-based group is represented on a pro bono basis by O’Melveny & Meyers and the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic. 

Krista Torralva

P.S. — Toyota and Baker Botts Bring Legal Aid — and Laughter — to Exploited Victims

For several weeks that a woman found refuge at Dallas’ New Friends New Life for formerly trafficked and sexually exploited victims, the staff hadn’t seen a small measure of her joy: laughter.

Finally, at a pro bono legal intake clinic with attorneys from Toyota North America and Baker Botts, staffers caught a glimmer of hope as they heard the woman laugh after receiving legal aid. It was a moment that resonated with the staff and the volunteer lawyers, said Scott Young, managing counsel of Toyota North America in Plano.

“That is more than just turning a page,” Young said. “That’s like freeing her from her limitations.”

Krista Torralva

Q&A with Trial Lawyer Charla Aldous 

Two peppy chihuahua mixes trail Charla Aldous through her Dallas office. Lucy and Loretta Mae are adopted rescue dogs who are considered as much law firm staff as any of the human employees. Aldous’ rescuer spirit has translated to her decadeslong career as a trial lawyer pursuing social justice. In one of her earliest cases, recognizing her guardian-like persona, clients gifted her a gold-plated angel lapel pin, which she wears in trials to this day. “I've been doing this for 37 years, and strangely enough, I still love it,” Aldous said in a November interview with The Texas Lawbook.

Krista Torralva

Kirkland & Ellis Partner Launches IRISI, Empowering North Texas Teens Through Leadership Camps

Daniel Hernandez Alvarenga’s mother noticed a change in her 17-year-old son when she picked him up from the Dallas airport following a two-week stay at a rural camp nearly 2,000 miles away in Maine. Indeed, Hernandez had changed. The Dallas high school student gained energy, ideas and hope, he said in a testimonial video published by IRISI, a non-profit organization founded by Kirkland & Ellis Dallas partner Michael Considine and his wife, Megan Considine, that raises scholarships to send teenagers to camp. Irisi, which since 2023 has sent about a dozen North Texas students to the Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield, Maine, officially launched this year. 

Krista Torralva

© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.