Hon. Tonya Parker '98

The Hon. Tonya Parker is Judge of the 116th Judicial District Court, a position she has held since 2011. Elected by her judicial colleagues, she has twice served as the Presiding Judge for the Dallas County Civil District Courts. Judge Parker has also served as the president of the Texas Association of District Judges. She is an Executive Board member for SMU Dedman School of Law and is a member of the American Law Institute where she serves as an Adviser to the ALI’s Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Remedies project. Judge Parker is consistently recognized for her performance and temperament on the bench. In six biennial Dallas Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Polls, between 2013 and 2023, her overall approval ratings exceeded 92% and were the highest ratings of any civil district judge evaluated in the polls.

She serves with distinction, and is recognized at the local, state, and national levels for her contributions. In just her fifth year on the bench, Judge Parker was named Trial Judge of the Year by the Dallas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Since that time, Judge Parker has received more than a dozen awards, including: Judge of the Year from Dallas Lawyers Magazine, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Justice Award from the Dallas Bar Association, the Luminary Award from the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance - a Washington, D.C. think tank, the Distinguished Jurist Award (twice) from the State Bar of Texas African American Lawyers’ Section, the Stonewall Award from the American Bar Association’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Commission, the Distinguished Alumni Award for Judicial Service from SMU Dedman School of Law, and the Maura Women Helping Women Award from the Dallas Women’s Foundation.

While in private practice she earned the esteem of her peers. She was recognized as one of the top lawyers in Texas by being voted a Super Lawyers Rising Star three years in a row from 2006 to 2008, and again for a fourth time in 2010 just before she was elected to office. Also, in 2010, she received Outstanding Mentor Awards from both the J.L. Turner Legal Association and the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers. A few years prior, the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers also named Judge Parker Outstanding Young Lawyer of Dallas. The Dallas Bar Association recognized her with its Outstanding Minority Attorney Award and an Award of Excellence. Judge Parker is also a former American Marshall Fellow, in which capacity she traveled throughout Europe for a period in 2005 to promote transatlantic relations and learn about the social, political, and economic systems of various European countries.