Carlos M. Quiñones has 29 years of varied experiences in the legal field, representing clients in several legal practice areas, including employment law, civil rights, tort law, government agency law, contract law, property law, corporate law and general civil litigation.
Former New Mexico State Bar Board-recognized specialist in employment and labor law, serving as Chair of the New Mexico State Bar Employment and Labor Law Section in 2006. He has presented at various conferences and seminars, and has published several articles in legal journals and newsletters. He has extensive experience regarding the drafting, revising and reviewing of employee handbooks and employment policies. He has also conducted training on equal employment opportunity law to managers and other employees of clients as part of human resources best practices, including trainings mandated by the EEOC as part of settlement agreements. Mr. Quiñones is recognized by his peers and was selected to Super Lawyers for employment law for 2014-2015 and for 2020-2024.
Mr. Quiñones has represented numerous public entities like counties, municipalities, school districts and other government agencies in New Mexico in employment, civil rights and general law litigation. He is admitted to practice in New Mexico state courts (1995), New Mexico federal courts (1998), the United States District Court in Colorado (2000), and before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (2001). He has prior experience as a hearing officer in employment appeals. Mr. Quiñones has tried federal jury cases in St. Louis, Denver, Philadelphia and Little Rock, as well as throughout New Mexico. He is a former national board member for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), serving on its fundraising and property management committees. Mr. Quiñones is bilingual (English and Spanish). He grew up in Bayard, New Mexico and graduated from Cobre High School.
Education
Mr. Quiñones received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and social science from Western New Mexico University in Silver City. Prior to law school, Mr. Quiñones was a social studies teacher and basketball/baseball coach, as well as mock trial coach, for seven years at Pojoaque High School. While a law student at the University of New Mexico School of Law, he was on New Mexico Law Review and published a case note on an important employment law case, The Sexual Harassment Claim Quandary: Workers’ Compensation as an Inadequate and Unavailable Remedy: Cox v. Chino Mines/Phelps Dodge (1994). Mr. Quiñones also served as co-editor for the “United States – Mexico Law Journal” in 1994-95.
Following graduation from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1995, Mr. Quiñones served as federal law clerk to the Honorable Les Smith, United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court, District of New Mexico (1995-98). He then worked as an associate attorney at the Las Cruces firm of Sandenaw, Carrillo & Piazza from April 1998 to May 2000 before becoming the first Latino in-house attorney for Walmart Stores, Inc. the largest employer in the country. Prior to opening his Santa Fe law office in 2007, Mr. Quiñones was a partner at Narvaez Law Firm in Albuquerque for four years. He was active in coaching youth basketball for many years, with his Santa Fe Bulls high school team winning the City championship in 2015.
Representative Clients
New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority; CCMSI; City of Santa Fe; New Mexico Counties; Hutton Broadcasting LLC; Rio Grande Alcohol Treatment Program, Inc.; New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association; Bernalillo County Housing Department