Second Judicial District Court
Civil Court Judges
The civil division has ten (10) judges who handle a broad array of cases from debtor/creditor matters to complex commercial, products liability and professional malpractice claims.
Contract claims, employment disputes, personal injury claims, disputes over money and property, and appeals from decisions by state, county or local government boards and agencies make up just a part of civil decision caseload. If a case does not involve a jail sentence or the dissolution of a marriage, there’s a good chance it will be litigated in the court’s civil division.
Biography: Judge Allison was raised in a small farm community in the middle of Illinois: Lincoln, Illinois, which is said to be the only town named for Abraham Lincoln before he became President of the United States. He worked on a hog farm in the summers, and his family vacationed in northern New Mexico when he was young. It was on those vacations where Judge Allison developed a love for our high desert. He received his bachelor’s degree in History from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois in 1996 and came to New Mexico in 2000.
After graduating from University of New Mexico School of Law, Judge Allison clerked for then-Chief Justice Edward L. Chávez of the New Mexico Supreme Court. Following his clerkship, he worked as a civil litigator for ten years before taking the bench in April of 2019.
Biography: Judge Barela-Shepherd has been a District Court Judge since December 2003. She has the unique experience in presiding over both criminal and civil law cases. She currently presides over civil law cases. She previously presided over all phases of criminal law cases ranging from misdemeanor to 1st-Degree felony offenses.
Judge Barela-Shepherd has served as the Chairman of the District Court Security Committee since 2005, which develops and oversees security issues and concerns involving the Court. She was previously appointed by the NM Supreme Court to serve as a member of the Statewide Court Security Committee. Judge Barela-Shepherd is a long-time standing member of the Bench Bar Media Committee, which serves as a liason between the Judiciary and the Media.
Judge Barela-Shepherd is a native New Mexican. She received her high school diploma from Valley High School, her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Texas Tech University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico.
Biography: Judge Brickhouse began practicing law in New Mexico in 1993, after graduating from the University of Arizona Law College. She was appointed to be a State District Court Judge in January 2009. She is assigned to the Civil Division and hears a wide variety of cases, including personal injury, employment, breach of contract, civil rights, probate and guardianship, and business disputes. Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Brickhouse practiced as both a civil and criminal litigator for 16 years in New Mexico.
Judge Brickhouse is a member of the New Mexico State Bar, the Albuquerque Bar Association, and the New Mexico Black Lawyers’ Association. She is also the New Mexico Chair for the National Association of Women Judges, and is on the Board of the New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners. She previously served as the Lincoln County Bar Association President and as a Bar Commissioner for the New Mexico State Bar.
She is married, with two children, and resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Biography: Judge Lisa Ortega graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1997 and enjoyed a civil litigation practice for more than twenty years before taking the bench. Her law practice focused on personal injury and wrongful death claims throughout the state including those involving product liability, premises liability, and general negligence.
On March 15, 2019, she was appointed to Division XIII of the Second Judicial District Court by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Judge Ortega serves in the Civil Division.
Biography: Judge O’Connell was appointed to the civil bench in February 2019. She is Co-Chair of the Second Judicial District Court Pro Bono Committee, and is Co-Chair of the New Mexico Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission. Judge O’Connell is committed to facilitating and expanding access to civil legal services to New Mexicans in need across Bernalillo County and the State.
Judge O’Connell graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law. She was a law clerk for two years for Justice Charles W. Daniels of the New Mexico Supreme Court. Following her clerkship, and until appointed to the bench, she was in private practice as a trial and appellate lawyer. Judge O’Connell is an active supporter of the Second Judicial District Court’s judicial clerkship program, which affords law students the opportunity to serve as a law clerk with Judge O’Connell and to experience working with all divisions of the Court.
Biography: Judge Daniel E. Ramczyk practiced law for twenty years, both in the private and government sectors. He was appointed to the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court in 2003 and handled both criminal and civil dockets. He served on several of the specialty courts and was appointed the first Chairperson of the Metropolitan Court Rules Committee in 2006 and served until 2012.
He resigned from Metropolitan Court when he was appointed to the Second Judicial District Court in February 2019, Criminal Division.
Judge Ramczyk graduated from the UNM School of Law in 1983 and was admitted to the New Mexico State Bar later that year.