Hon. Aurora Martinez Jones
Judge, 126th District Court; Travis County
Aurora Martinez Jones is the 126th District Court judge in Travis County (Austin), Texas and is a Civil, Family and Juvenile Court Judge. She is also the District Judge responsible for the oversight and administration of all Travis County Termination of Parental Rights lawsuits filed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Prior to that, she was the Associate Judge dedicated to the Travis County CPS Courts since January 2, 2015. Judge Martinez Jones is the presiding District Judge for the Travis County Family Drug Treatment Court: Parenting in Recovery specialty court and of the Crossover Program for Dual Status Youth.
Prior to taking the bench, Judge Martinez Jones was a solo practitioner with a general civil practice that included family law, personal injury, real estate, probate, consumer protection and immigration matters. She has extensive experience advocating for parents and children in the child welfare system as well, from her prior work as a litigator and currently runs a trauma-informed court. Judge Martinez Jones co-founded the Child Welfare Race Equity Collaborative in Texas and is committed to equitable, progressive, anti-racist, work and approaches to supporting the children and families who appear in her court. Judge Martinez Jones is now wrapping up a 3-year pilot that Re-Imagined the Child Welfare system locally and has established supports that highlight the voices of foster youth and people with lived experience.
She is the Chair-Elect for the Child Protection Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, is on the State Bar of Texas Advertisement Review Committee, and is on the Board for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), along with other professional and community leadership roles. Judge Martinez Jones and her husband, Mitchell, are the proud parents of two precious daughters.