Juliet K. Stipeche is a founding shareholder of the law firm, Nagorny & Stipeche, P.C. and has extensive experience as a trial lawyer, specializing in medical malpractice defense, health care liability, health care advising, and health care law, as well as general litigation. Cases defended include issues such as catastrophic injury, neurological damage, paralysis, and wrongful death.
Juliet participated in jury trials in various counties in Texas, represented clients in appeals, and lectured on legal topics to professional associations. She has successfully defended board actions against physicians and nurses before their respective state licensing boards.
In 2010, Juliet was elected to the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board of Education as the Trustee of District VIII in a special election. She served as Chairperson of HISD’s Audit Committee for three years, pushed for administrative and educational reform, and served in officer positions, including President in 2014. On February 1, 2016, Mayor Sylvester Turner selected her to serve as the City of Houston’s first Director of Education and created the Mayor's Office of Education (MOE). She focused on enhancing educational opportunity for all ages in Houston by promoting city-wide collaboration, communication, and coordination between public and private educational entities. Her community building and coordination strategies led Mayor Turner to appoint her as a special advisor in developing city-wide, post-disaster responses and resilience strategies after Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19. In 2021, Juliet returned to private practice and remains active and involved in her community given her varied experience in education, workforce, politics, and governance.
She is a graduate of the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice and Rice University, earning a B.A., magna cum laude, in Political Science, Policy Studies and Religious Studies in 1996. She also received the Joseph Cooper Prize as the most outstanding Policy Studies Senior in her graduating class. Juliet attended The University of Texas School of Law, earning her law license and admittance to the State Bar of Texas in 1999.
