Cynthia Orr – San Antonio Criminal Lawyer

Cynthia Eva Hujar Orr has attained national prominence defending citizens and entities in state and federal trial and appellate courts. She is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Criminal Law and Criminal Appeals. She serves on the Texas Board of Law Examiners and and is the Criminal Justice Act Representative for the Western District of Texas.

She is the current President of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law where she leads the Society’s international law conferences and the presentation and study of reforms in criminal law globally.  She has earned the profound respect of her colleagues in the United States who elected her to Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Criminal Justice Section in 2014.

Cynthia was President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers from 2009-2010 and is currently the President of its Criminal Justice Foundation that supports criminal justice education and reforms nationally. She was President of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association in 2003, and became the founding President of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association in 1999. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit.

In the local community, Cynthia is chair of the San Antonio Bar Association Criminal Law Section and its Federal Courts Committee. She is also the CJA Panel Rep for the Western District of Texas. She was also  inducted as a Fellow in the American Board of Criminal Lawyers in 2018.  She has been a Texas Super Lawyer  for twenty years as determined by Thompson Reuters from 2003 t0 2023 and was chosen as the top one percent among lawyers by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel in 2023. Cynthia is listed in The Best Lawyers in America as recognized by BL Rankings and is listed as the Best 100 Trial Lawyers in Texas by The National Trial Lawyers. She has an AV rating by Martindale Hubbell.

She is a member of the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce. Cynthia is an inductee into the San Antonio Woman’s Hall of Fame for Law. She is co- founder of the Texas Innocence Network, the San Antonio Minority Business Accelerator and the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Women’s Opportunity Week.

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 and won Moreno -Gonzalez vs. U.S., No. 07-400 (2008) in the United Supreme Court holding that the mere hiding of money transported across the border does not constitute money laundering. She is most active advocating criminal justice reforms. More recently she joined with SABA, the San Antonio and Hispanic Chambers of commerce and the ABA to advocate for health care reform and achieved Medicare coverage for lymphedema care that begins on January 1, 2024.

A 1979 undergraduate of the University of Texas at Austin and 1988 graduate of St. Mary’s University Law School, Cynthia began her career clerking for “Retired” Fifth Circuit Judge Emilio Garza when he was on the District Court bench in San Antonio, Texas. She is proficient in trial, appeals, writs of habeas corpus, petitions for discretionary review, writs of certiorari, mandamus, and prohibition. Her breadth of experience with each vehicle compliments her other strengths, making her an effective and experienced advocate.