Veronica Chavez Law was recently elected to Place 7 on the Board of Trustees for Tarrant County College—a position she believes will allow her to champion a vital yet often overlooked community resource.
A native of southern Colorado, Law spent her childhood caring for animals and working on her father’s ranch. She said her decision to run for the Board of Trustees was largely informed by those early life experiences.
“Where I grew up was west of Trinidad, and Trinidad had a community college,” Law said. “My mother went there for two years and got an associate’s degree, and a lot of people from the community went there to learn a trade. I feel like if that community college was not available, I don’t know what a lot of my classmates and people in my community would have done. So, I’ve always been very appreciative of community colleges and what they offer.”
The Fort Worth attorney’s interest in pursuing a career in law was first piqued during this period.
“I started working at a pretty young age helping my father,” Law said. “He had a small construction company, and he would take me to his office. I remember meeting some of the attorneys he worked with and being impressed by the way they communicated and analyzed problems. From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be an attorney.”
Growing up in a region where property and water rights were essential, Law developed a strong interest in how people acquire and own real estate in different ways.
Now an attorney with the international law firm Duane Morris LLP, Law primarily focuses on commercial real estate transactions and banking related to real estate and business dealings.
She first came to Fort Worth the summer before her third year of law school, when she became the first summer clerk in the legal department at DFW Airport. Upon graduating, she joined the airport’s real estate department—work she says perfectly aligned with her interests.
“I love it,” Law said. “I find it very fulfilling. I prefer transactional work because, when a deal closes and both sides are happy, there’s a sense of accomplishment. In litigation, one side
typically wins and the other loses—and even the winning side often doesn’t feel fully satisfied. But in deal-making, when both the buyer and seller or lender and borrower walk away happy, it’s rewarding.”
Law has always had a passion for community service, which makes her new role on the TCC board especially meaningful.
“It wasn’t necessarily on my radar,” she said about the board position. “But when Kenneth Barr decided not to seek another term, I think he was considering who might succeed him. My name came up, and when he suggested it, I took a few days to think about it. I realized I have a strong connection to community colleges because of how important they were in my hometown. That made me understand their true value.”
Law also credits her parents for instilling the importance of education.
“My parents both grew up with very little, but they believed deeply in the power of education,” she said. “I have three siblings, and because of our upbringing, all four of us earned undergraduate and postgraduate degrees—largely through scholarships and student loans.”
Her husband, Tom Law, Managing Broker and Director of Property Management at VCL Commercial Real Estate Services, LLC, believes she is uniquely suited for the position.
“Veronica cares about people and understands the impact education can have on an individual, their family, and ultimately the community,” he said. “Coming from a rural area with limited opportunities, the local community college was both affordable and meaningful to many of her friends.”
In her free time, Law enjoys playing tennis and golf and attending concerts. As she steps into her role on the board, her goals are focused on expanding awareness of the college’s impact and building on the institution’s existing successes.
“I want to help bring more visibility to the community about how important Tarrant County College is,” Law said. “The college has also done a really good job of partnering with businesses and other educational institutions so that students can see and have a pathway after they attend Tarrant County College. I want to continue developing those relationships so that students can see a pathway once they get a certification from TCC, or if they want to go on to a four-year institution, there is a way for them. These things are already in progress, so it’s just a matter of continuing them.”
