Judge Aida Salinas Flores: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

The Hon. Aida Salinas Flores (Ret.) was a judge for the 398th District Court in Hidalgo County, Texas. She was elected to the District Court in 2000 becoming the first judge to be elected to the court after its creation in 1999. Flores retired in 2016.

During her tenure on the bench, she served as Overseer of the Hidalgo County Indigent Defense Program and became the first female Local Administrative Presiding Judge for the Hidalgo County Board of Judges in 2008.

Flores attended Pan American College, where she earned a B.A. in English and Spanish. She then worked as an English teacher at La Joya High School and later as an adult probation officer and rehabilitation counselor in Hidalgo County before completing a J.D. at the University of Texas School of Law in 1977.

Flores began her legal career as the first female assistant district attorney at the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office. Over the course of her employment there, she served as the chief juvenile prosecutor as well as the chief felony prosecutor in the 93rd and 139th District Courts.

In 1980, Flores left the District Attorney’s Office to open her own private practice, where she handled civil and criminal cases involving personal injury, divorce, child custody, and business disputes. In addition, she served as a judge for the Alton Municipal Court for two and a half years.

After her retirement, Flores joined her son in private practice as of counsel at the Law Office of Rene A. Flores.

She was a member of the State Bar of Texas Standing Committee on Jury Service and its Pattern Jury Charges Oversight Committee. Flores also served as a board member of the Judicial Section, Place 7, of the State Bar of Texas.

Her other memberships included the College of the State Bar of Texas, the Alumni of the Judicial College of the State of Texas, the Association of District Court Judges, the Women and the Law Section of the State Bar of Texas (past president), the National Association of Women Judges, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Hidalgo County Women’s Bar, and the American Judges Association.

She is also an active member of her community, serving as a member of the Organization of Women Executives, the Hidalgo County Citizen’s League, the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas, the Hidalgo County Texas Democratic Women, and Mission Noon Lions Club.

Her accolades have included the Life Member Award, the Order of the Silver Cane Award, and the Jack Wiech Fellowship Award.

Flores, who was one of seven children, worked alongside her mother in the cotton fields to help earn money for the family. She later married her high school sweetheart, and they went on to have three children.