Linda Reyna Yáñez
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Linda Reyna Yáñez (born Soila Linda Reyna, November 30, 1948) is a former American judge, Harvard Law clinical instructor and the former Regional Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in Chicago, Illinois. She was the first Hispanic woman to serve on a Texas appeals court.[1]
Yáñez was born in her family home in Rio Hondo, Texas. She was raised by her grandparents while her parents traveled the country for work, occasionally working herself in local cotton fields.[2] Yáñez was socially and academically successful, and was active in the National Honor Society and student government, though she was affected by racial discrimination in her segregated school.[1][3] After high school, she enrolled in Pan American University (later the University of Texas–Pan American and now the University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley) in Edinburg, Texas.