A black and white photograph of nine law faculty and students who qualified as finalists in a client counseling competition
Law student finalist for the client counseling competition, including M. Colleen McHugh (leftmost person, second row), Diamondback Yearbook, 1981 | Courtesy of the Portal to Texas History

MARGARET COLLEEN MCHUGH was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1946 as the oldest of three daughters. Her father worked in oil and gas exploration, and her mother was a homemaker. When Margaret was a toddler, her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. As a child, Margaret attended St. Patrick Catholic School in Corpus Christi. McHugh later remembered her fourth-grade teacher, Sister Mary Philomena McCormack, who taught her the importance of, among other things, a firm handshake. “Sister squeezed tightly, compelling me to match her grasp,” McHugh later wrote in a 1996 article for the journal of the Texas State Bar. “This lesson was one of many she taught me. We also learned discipline, self-respect, and respect for one another.”

As a young adult, McHugh attended Southern Methodist University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1969. She later credited her undergraduate training as a journalist in helping her to sharpen her writing skills for her career in law. When she was 35 years-old, McHugh returned to school in San Antonio, Texas where she attended St. Mary’s University School of Law. As a law student, McHugh served as editor-in-chief of the law school newspaper, The Witan, for the 1980-1981 school year.. She earned her J.D. in 1981.

Fresh out of law school, McHugh worked for the law firm of James R. Sorrell. Next, she became a shareholder in the Corpus Christi based law firm Matthews and Branscomb, where she headed the firm’s employment and labor department. As a board-certified attorney in labor and employment, McHugh’s expertise earned her a place in the highly prestigious American Law Institute, which publishes the Restatement of Law book series. She was also elected to the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in recognition of her work in the field. Throughout her legal career, McHugh gained a reputation for being, smart, deliberate, civil, a consensus builder, and serious but quick to smile.

Her hard work as an attorney earned McHugh a place on the Texas State Bar Board of Directors from 1990-1994. She served on the State Bar’s Executive Committee from 1991-1994, and she served as chair of the Texas State Bar for the 1992-1993 Bar year, making her the first woman to serve as chair of the State Bar of Texas. While serving on the Board of Directors, McHugh also chaired both the Nomination and Elections and the Goals and Implementation committees. Her work with the State Bar earned McHugh two State Bar Presidential Citations. She also received a Certificate of Merit for outstanding State Bar service in 1988.  Then, McHugh served as the President of the Texas State Bar from 1996-1997. Her most notable achievement during her one-year term was the passage of state legislation which required lawyers to pay small fees when making certain civil filings to raise money for legal representation for middle and low-income families battling eviction, denial of Medicare benefits, and other similar challenges.

McHugh was also deeply involved with Texas state politics. While she never ran for office, McHugh was immersed in Republican politics. From 1999-2000, she set a personal goal of raising $100,000 for then Governor George W. Bush’s first presidential campaign. She also contributed approximately $3.100 to Rick Perry’s gubernatorial campaigns, and she even briefly represented the Perry family in a land appraisal case. Additionally, McHugh served as vice-chairman for a committee constituted by Texas’ two U.S. Senators which interviewed candidates for federal judgeships and U.S. attorney positions in Texas. Despite her Republican roots, McHugh was never one to wear her politics on her sleeve, and she was widely respected, especially in her native Corpus Christi.

In addition to her involvement with state politics and her career as a lawyer, McHugh has also served on a variety of boards, committees, and commissions during her professional career. Former Governor George W. Bush appointed her to the Texas Public Safety Commission in 1998, making her the first woman to ever serve on the commission. In 2001, Governor Rick Perry reappointed McHugh as chairman of the Public Safety Commission, thus making her the first woman to chair the Commission as well. Also in 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, Governor Perry appointed McHugh to the Governor’s Task Force on Homeland Security, a position she held until 2003.

In 2005, McHugh resigned her place on the Texas Public Safety Commission to accept her six-year appointment to the U.T. System Board of Regents. As a member of the U.T. Board of Regents, McHugh helped oversee the University of Texas System, which then included 15 academic and health campuses. As Vice Chairman of the Board of Regents, McHugh chaired the Health Affairs Committee and served as a member of the Academic Affairs Committee. On March 3, 2010, McHugh was elected Chairman of the Board of Regents, making her the first woman to chair the Board of Regents since its inception in 1881. She served as chairman until February 2011.

McHugh has also been active in her local Corpus Christi community. As of 2010, she worked as Vice-President, Compliance, Risk Management and Privacy Officer for CHRISTUS Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi. She is also a former president of the Corpus Christi Bar Association, and she served on the board of directors of the Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance. McHugh is also a member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Corpus Christi Region. She has also served as the President of the U.S.S. Lexington Museum in Corpus Christi.  Today, she continues to reside in Corpus Christi and continues her practice as a labor and employment lawyer. 

By Christopher Hohman, St. Mary’s University Law Fellows in Public History (2022)

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