School of Law

Peter Cubra is a longtime civil rights attorney whose career focused on advocating for people with disabilities, incarcerated individuals, and children in state custody. Peter was born in Detroit, where his grandparents migrated to work in the auto industry. Three worked in auto factories and became disabled, so young Peter often visited institutions for people with disabilities, learning that institutions are inherently soul-crushing and dangerous.

After earning his B.A. from Western Michigan University, Peter taught special education and worked in a group home for people with developmental disabilities. Seeing their neglect and lack of advocacy, he enrolled at the UNM School of Law in 1976.

After graduation in 1981, he worked for survivors of the 1980 Santa Fe prison riot at the Public Defender’s Prison Riot Defense Project. He then opened a law practice representing people in prisons in the Duran consent decree case and people facing involuntary commitment; and co-founded Advocacy, Inc. representing abused and neglected children.

He worked for Disability Rights New Mexico in the Jackson v. Fort Stanton class action that resulted in the closure of New Mexico’s institutions for people with developmental disabilities. As an ACLU cooperating attorney, he brought several lawsuits for incarcerated youth and adults, including the ongoing McClendon v. Albuquerque case.

Peter has shifted to supporting other lawyers, disability advocates and the Coalition for a Safer Albuquerque to reduce police interactions with people with disabilities and people who are unhoused, by improving behavioral health services.

Judge M. Monica Zamora, born and raised in northern New Mexico, graduated from the UNM School of Law in 1987. After practicing law for more than 18 years, she served as a Second Judicial District Court Judge, assigned to the Children’s Court division. In 2012, Judge Zamora went on to serve on the New Mexico Court of Appeals until her retirement in 2020.

Deeply engaged in judicial and child advocacy work, Judge Zamora served on numerous committees, including the New Mexico Tribal-State Consortium, New Mexico Kids Matter (CASA), Big Brothers Big Sisters (Central ), and DADvocacy Consulting Group. Judge Zamora’s work has been recognized with multiple honors, including the Governor’s Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women, the Henrietta Pettijohn Award, and the Justice Mary Walters Award.

Since retiring, she helped to launch the creation of a new state agency, the Office of Family Representation and Advocacy, by chairing the initial Family Representation and Advocacy Commission. She currently serves on the UNM Hospital Board of Trustees. She continues to mediate criminal and juvenile cases in the Second Judicial District.

For more than 38 years, her dedication to the legal community has included mentoring many law students and young lawyers in civil trial practice, civil rights issues, juvenile justice, child welfare, tribal-state relations, and peacemaking.

Paul Biderman has devoted his 55-year career to public interest law, judicial education, and ethics reform in New Mexico.

After earning his J.D. from New York University in 1970, he moved to Crownpoint to work with DNA Legal Services, where his class action lawsuit changed pawn transactions for Navajo consumers. Moving to Albuquerque, he developed a consumer law seminar he would teach for eight semesters at the UNM School of Law.

In 1975, he became the first full-time assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division, where he successfully initiated utility rate interventions and helped amend the Unfair Trade Practices Act to allow private causes of action. In 1983, Governor Anaya appointed him Secretary of Energy and Minerals, where he championed renewable energy, conservation, and environmental protections.

From 1991 to 2011, Paul served as founding director of the UNM Judicial Education Center and later the Institute of Public Law, building nationally recognized training programs for the judiciary. He received the American Bar Association’s Judicial Educator of the Year Award in 1997, accepted the State Justice Institute’s 2002 Howell Heflin Award for the Center’s pioneering work in online judicial education, and received the State Bar of New Mexico’s Public Lawyer of the Year Award in 2005.

Since retiring from UNM in 2011, Paul has actively promoted public ethics, serving on the Advisory Committee for the Code of Judicial Conduct and the City of Santa Fe Ethics Board, co-authoring the ethics guide for the judiciary, consulting for the State Ethics Commission, and teaching public ethics through the NMSU NM EDGE program.

Paul and Ellen, his wife of 57 years, live in Santa Fe, and have two sons, a daughter-in-law and three grandchildren.

Lauren E. Riley practices Family Law at Batley Riley Family Law, P.A., where she is grateful to serve New Mexico families during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

A proud graduate of the UNM School of Law, J.D. 2018, Lauren contributed to the law school community through a variety of roles and initiatives. She served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Tribal Law Journal and Vice President of the Association for Public Interest Law. In recognition of her contributions, she received both the Clinical Legal Education Association’s Outstanding Student Award and the Dean’s Award.

Lauren’s dedication to public service began well before law school. After earning her B.A. in Social Work from Colorado State University, she worked as a Social Worker in Pennsylvania assisting individuals with disabilities experiencing chronic homelessness. Missing the mountains and green chile, Lauren returned home to Albuquerque where she joined New Mexico AIDS Services as the Housing and Program Manager, where she administered statewide housing assistance grants for individuals facing homelessness.

In her legal career, Lauren has continued her commitment to service. She currently serves as Chair of the State Bar of New Mexico Young Lawyers Division. She previously served as the New Mexico and Arizona District Representative to the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, where she helped implement a Disaster Legal Services hotline for victims of the Hermits Peak – Calf Canyons Fires. Additionally, serves as a board member of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of New Mexico.