NACHO TORTEYA GETS SENDOFF FROM COLLEAGUES IN CITY

By Juan Montoya
Friends and colleagues gathered at The Phoenix Restaurant during lunch today to give  Brownsville attorney Ignacio “Nacho” Torteya III a send off after his nomination to become as U.S. magistrate judge in the Brownsville Division was advanced by the  majority of active U.S. district judges in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas.
That's him in the center of the photo wearing a debonair dark suit and striped tie.
Present at the luncheon were Chief Municipal Judge Ben Neece and his dinner mate Amanda De Leon, municipal counsel John Chosy, Municipal Judge John Williamson, City Manager Charlie Cabler, Gerardo Acevedo Danache, a Matamoros, Mexico, lawyer who's vice president for the Matamoros and the state of Tamaulipas chambers of commerce, and a few court bailiffs and other friends.
All that remains for Torteya's ascension to the federal post is the completion of the vetting process by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service.
He replaces U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio IV, who retired at the end of October after 14 years on the bench.
After the federal agencies complete the vetting, the judges will again cast their vote on his nomination.
This is not the first time that Torteya will work in the federal court. He also clerked for the late U.S. District Judge Filemon B. Vela.
According to the Brownsville Herald, Torteya is a managing attorney at The Torteya Law Firm, PLLC, a consular attorney, and associate judge at the City of Brownsville Municipal Court. He earned his law degree from Baylor University in November 1995 and was licensed to practice law in May 1996. He also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Baylor. Further, he also received a diploma in 1995 from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara in U.S.-Mexico Comparative Law Studies.
Torteya, according to the State Bar of Texas, also has been admitted to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Florida Middle District Court, Louisiana Western District Court, Texas Eastern District Court, Texas Southern District/Bankruptcy Court, and Texas Western District Court.