The Texas Center is fortunate to have a highly dedicated, well-educated and professional staff that works diligently and tirelessly on behalf of the Texas judiciary. If you have attended any of our judicial education conferences this year you’ve had the opportunity to see this for yourself. To give you a better sense of just how talented and experienced our staff is we have prepared the following biographical summaries of three of our staff and will continue this spotlight with other members of the Texas Center staff in future issues.
Marlon Drakes: Marlon Drakes is the Associate Director of the Texas Center. Marlon is from Trinidad and Tobago and came to the United States on a basketball scholarship to the University of Texas where he played under Coach Tom Penders and Coach Rick Barnes. After receiving his B.A. in Kinesiology from the University of Texas in 2002, Marlon went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Educational Leadership from Southwest Minnesota State University in 2005. Marlon came to the Texas Center in September 2010 from the Justice Court Training Center where he was the education manager. As Associate Director Marlon handles the day to day administration of the Texas Center.
Courtney Gabriele: is currently the Program Attorney for the Texas Center for the Judiciary. She is licensed to practice law by the State Bar of Texas and previously litigated with a boutique commercial litigation firm located in Houston, Texas. Ms. Gabriele earned her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 2009 and served as an editor on the Houston Journal of International Law. Prior to attending law school, she graduated summa cum laude from Lamar University with a B.S. in Political Science. She was the recipient of the Lamar University Academic Excellence Scholarship and Jack Brooks Scholarship. She is admitted to practice in the Northern and Southern districts of Texas.
Holly Doran: The Texas Center for the Judiciary’s Traffic Safety Grant is pleased to introduce Ms. Holly Doran as the newly appointed Program Director. Holly is a native of Southern California; however, she now considers Austin home. She first moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas, where she played volleyball for the Longhorns and earned her B.A. in English. Before joining the Texas Center for the Judiciary in December of 2010, Holly lived and worked in a variety of places including New Jersey, Washington D.C., and China. Having grown up with a mother who worked as a counselor for an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center, Holly takes a special interest in the Traffic Safety Grant’s mission to reduce the number of alcohol-related fatalities in the State of Texas. She is looking forward to providing innovative and valuable training to judges and court staff across Texas.
