Cynthia Orr

President, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Cynthia has attained national prominence defending citizens and entities in state and federal trial and appellate courts. She is the President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and Past President of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. She is on the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section Council and, in the local community, is a member of the Downtown Rotary Club and chair of the San Antonio Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee – Criminal Law Subcommittee. She is also on the Board Directors for for the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce and is on the San Antonio Woman’s Hall of Fame. She is co-founder of the Texas Innocence
Network and the San Antonio Minority Business Accelerator.

She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and is listed in the Best 100 Trial Lawyers in Texas by the American Trial Lawyers Association. Cynthia obtained the first confession of error by the State of Texas in a death penalty case. She was counsel on the amicus brief in CNN vs. General Manuel Noriega before the United States Supreme Court where she successfully defended this unpopular defendant’s attorney-client privilege.  She began her career clerking for Fifth Circuit Judge Emilio Garza when he was on the District Court bench in San Antonio, Texas. She is most active advocating criminal justice reforms. She is also Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has an AV rating by Martindale Hubbell.

A 1979 undergraduate of the University of Texas at Austin and 1988 graduate of St. Mary’s School of Law, she is proficient in trial, appeals, writs of habeas corpus, petitions for discretionary review, writs of certiorari, mandamus, prohibition and corum nobis.  Her breadth of experience with each vehicle compliments the others, making her a strong and experienced advocate.