Retired Senior Judge, Arbitrator & Mediator

Caroline Baker served the citizens of Harris County as a judge for 21 years before retiring at the end of 2018 as a senior state district judge. She continues to sit by assignment and oversees a Multidistrict Litigation. Prior to the bench, she was a partner in the litigation firm of McFall, Sherwood & Sheehy. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Texas School of Law, she is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and has been elected to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates, an honorary organization of plaintiff and defense lawyers dedicated to the preservation of the right to trial by jury and excellence in the legal profession. Candidates are nominated and elected by the members of the organization and must have a proven record as a trial lawyer. She serves as President of the Houston Chapter of ABOTA, on the ABOTA National Board as a representative from the Houston ABOTA Chapter and is a Judicial Advisor for the Civil Jury Project at NYU School of Law. As a judge, Caroline Baker consistently has been rated “Outstanding” in the Houston Bar Association Polls and received the 2017 “Trial Judge of the Year” Award from the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists, as well as the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas 2018 Service Award for “Outstanding Public Service in the Community as a District Court Judge.”

She also is a mediator with a certificate from the AA White Dispute Resolution Center and has served as an adjunct professor in Trial Advocacy at the University of Houston Law Center. Strongly committed to professional service, Caroline has served on several committees of the State Bar of Texas, including the Committee on Judicial Ethics, Judicial Section. She is a Past President of The Texas Association of Civil Trial & Appellate Specialists (TACTAS), a Past Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Houston Bar Association, and a past member and Chair of a State Bar Grievance Committee.

Caroline is steadfast in her commitment to education and mentorship. She has served as an HBA mentor and has devoted her time to mentoring aspiring lawyers through internships in the court, as well as judging mock trials and mock hearings for students from the Houston law schools. She was instrumental in developing and instituting the Young Lawyers in the Courtroom Program, which is committed to ensuring that young lawyers get meaningful speaking opportunities in the courtroom through hearings and trials. She also served as Co-Chair of Houston’s inaugural Teachers Law School, sponsored by ABOTA. Teachers Law School is a program for middle school and high school government and social studies teachers designed to expose them to all areas of the judicial system so that they have the tools to inform and engage their students. In addition, Caroline is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Youth Leadership Forum held for the last 15 plus years at Rice University, with the dedicated mission of “Engage, Educate, Empower: By Service We Lead.” She also is Co-Editor of the Texas Business Litigation treatise, now in its 5th Edition.

Caroline is a graduate of Leadership Houston (where she received the Patrice Johnson Alumnus Award for Leadership), the American Leadership Forum, the Center for Houston’s Future, and was a member of the Connecting Communities Initiative at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. She has been honored by Social Motion, Inc. with the “Shining Star” Award, by Aspiring Youth with the “Star for Girls’ Education” Award, was selected by Texas Executive Women as a “Woman on the Move,” and by Houston Woman magazine as one of the “50 Most Influential Women in Houston.” Equally committed to community service, she serves on the TSU Board of Regents and as a Founding Executive Committee Member and Board Member of the Richard Tapia Center for Excellence and Equity at Rice University. She serves and/or has served on the Board of Directors of many non-profit organizations, including BakerRipley, Girls Inc. of Greater Houston (former Chair), The Heritage Society (former Vice President), Hobby Center Foundation, Leadership Houston (former Chair), Houston BARC Foundation (former Secretary); on the Advisory Boards of Posse Houston and The Chinquapin School.