After being nominated by Commissioner Jack Morman, Debra Ibarra Mayfield was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the Commissioners' Court as presiding judge of Harris County Civil Court-at-Law No. 1 on October 11, 2011.  The day following her appointment, she took the bench and presided over the Court's motion docket.  She presides over one of four County Civil Courts at Law, which has constitutional jurisdiction of the county courts and concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts in civil cases in which the matter-in-controversy exceeds $500, but does not exceed $200,000.  The Harris County Court Civil Courts at Law also have exclusive jurisdiction over eminent domain proceedings. 

Judge Mayfield, a native Texan and Houstonian, was raised in Harris County Precinct 1 in the Northeast part of Houston.  As part of the first generation in her family to attend college, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University.  Many years before, Judge Mayfield’s grandfather worked as a waiter at Texas A&M’s Sebisa Hall (now a student cafeteria), and he had the dream of either his children or his grandchildren attending Texas A&M.  

Judge Mayfield earned her law degree from South Texas College of Law (“STCL”).  While in law school, she studied abroad at Collingsworth College at the University of Durham in Durham, England.  She was also a recipient of various moot court and mock trial awards, was awarded the Texas A&M Aggie scholarship, and was a member of the STCL Board of Advocates.  One of her most memorable experiences is having the honor of being selected as one of two law students to travel to Austin with the school’s president and members of the board of trustees to represent STCL before the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 

Serving the citizens of Harris County in the civil courthouse has a special significance for Judge Mayfield.  Her father, who was a sheet metal fabricator, led the team that fabricated the iconic star that now rests on top of the civil courthouse.