Diana Melendez

Diana graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007 with a degree in Psychology and Mexican American Studies.  Throughout her undergraduate career at UT, Diana was involved in organizations that promoted diversity and social and racial justice.  Upon graduation, Diana was offered a position at the Texas Civil Rights Project, where her passion for justice was only further ignited.  There she worked primarily with undocumented victims of domestic violence and was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to do the same type of work in her hometown of El Paso, TX.

In 2009, she became an Accredited Representative before the Board of Immigration Appeals which allowed her to represent clients before Citizenship and Immigration Services and in immigration court.  She was also a member of the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, Crime Victims’ Rights Council, and Domestic Violence Prevention Commission of El Paso.  Furthermore, as a result of her own educational experiences and the challenges the children of her clients faced, Diana initiated a mentoring program so that these youth could have a support system to be able to discuss issues like domestic violence, as well as provide encouragement for the youth to finish high school and attend college.  She also became especially concerned with educational policies as so many youth were being shortchanged out of a good education and being discouraged to apply for college.  Furthermore, Diana was a volunteer coach for a “Girls for A Change” team, where she and another colleague coached a group of middle school girls on social change and monitored and supported a community advocacy project for the team.

Diana returned to Austin in 2011 to pursue more opportunities in policy and legal work.  She was fortunate to be offered a position at Mueller Law in June 2011 with the mesh intake team.  Working with the team at Mueller Law has been a great experience for her and she strives to provide the best services possible to our clients affected by defective surgical mesh products. Diana is also currently an intern at the Texas Center for Education Policy, where she is conducting research on the new policies for high school graduation requirements and the effects it will have on students.  Diana hopes to return to school for a PhD in policy or to law school to continue being an advocate in policies directly affecting the communities she works with closely.