CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Susan Fuertes joined Hughes Watters Askanase in October 2011. She supports clients of the firm's Default Services Practice Area, particularly handling bankruptcy issues. Susan values being a part of the HWA legal team. She has known and respected many of the firm's attorneys for years. She is accustomed to managing a high volume of cases on behalf of creditors.
Susan was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1994. She is licensed to practice in the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Federal District Courts of Texas, the Eastern District of Illinois, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Susan has gained a broad base of experience in the greater Houston metropolitan area and has served in a variety of roles over her legal career -- from working with national and boutique firms to staff attorney for a Chapter 13 Trustee to sole practitioner. The main emphasis of her career has been consumer and business bankruptcy - she has represented creditors, trustees, and debtors. She also has experience in property tax collections, wills, probate, guardianship, general civil litigation, and family law.
Immediatley prior to joining HWA, Susan worked as a property tax collections and bankruptcy attorney for Aldine Independent School District, while also supporting her own clients as a solo practitioner.
Earlier in her career, Susan served as a staff attorney for Michael Gross, the former Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Eastern District of Texas, and she first gained experience in bankruptcy as a law clerk and associate at Waldron & Schneider, P.C. handling Chapter 7 Trustee work.
CLIENT EXPERIENCE
Susan focuses her practice on effectively managing a high volume of cases. Some of her experience includes:
• Supporting a Chapter 13 Trustee's office with more than 7000 active cases.
• Managing a docket of more than 675 cases across half of the United States on behalf of a lender that financed large construction and agricultural equipment.
• Administering bankruptcy collections in both business and consumer bankruptcy cases for Aldine Independent School District, which is usually one of the state's highest performing school districts.
Earlier in her career, Susan authored a brief in a case that was argued at the Fifth Circuit by outside counsel for the Trustee regarding the payment of modified secured claims directly by the Debtor, instead of through the Chapter 13 Trustee.
She also authored a brief for submission to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for a case that dealt with a Debtor's attorney "manufacturing" Debtor's schedules, rather than listing their actual income and expenses.
EDUCATION
- Juris Doctor, South Texas College of Law, 1994
- Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a minor in Speech Communication, Sam Houston State Univeristy, 1991
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Houston Bar Association
- State Bar of Texas
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
When she is not working, Susan enjoys spending quality time with her family. She resides in the Houston suburb of Pearland with her husband and two young children. She is a member of Epiphany Lutheran Church (Pearland Campus), where she teaches the kindergarten Sunday school class.
Susan enjoys cooking and tinkering with computers and electronic gadgets. Also, as a past member of Pearland Fit, she has competed in two half marathons.
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