Robert L. Lucero, Jr.
The New Mexico State Senate on March 15, 2023, confirmed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s appointment of Robert L. Lucero, Jr., to the New Mexico Highlands University Board of Regents. His term on continues to Dec. 31, 2028.
A native of Las Vegas, New Mexico, Lucero grew up across the street from Highlands campus. His father and grandfather obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees from Highlands, and his father formerly directed the Highlands mariachi ensemble. Lucero recognizes the importance of Highlands to the State of New Mexico and its students, particularly in the communities of Las Vegas and surrounding areas. He is excited to work with his fellow Regents and all other NMHU stakeholders to help Highlands advance into the future.
Lucero is a graduate of Stanford University (B.A. 1998, with departmental honors, James W. Lyons Award for Community Service) and the University of New Mexico School of Law (J.D. 2008, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif).
Lucero practices law with an emphasis on real estate, land use, business, and estate planning. He enjoys assisting clients throughout all phases of real estate development and he finds helping clients with estate planning needs particularly rewarding. He also serves as an administrative law judge in the area of zoning law. He has been recognized in Chambers USA-America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, as a Southwest Super Lawyer, as one of New Mexico Business Weekly’s 2011 40 Under Forty, and as the State Bar of New Mexico 2012 Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year. Lucero’s academic writing in the field of law has been cited favorably by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and the New Mexico Court of Appeals in published opinions.
In addition to his legal career, Lucero has an accomplished musical career as a performer and educator. During and after his time at Stanford, he performed mariachi and other musical genres professionally in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. As a student, he founded and directed Mariachi Cardenal de Stanford, which continues to perform to this day, and he later taught the mariachi class at Stanford as adjunct faculty. Returning to New Mexico in 2005 to begin law school, he performed with professional mariachis across New Mexico. Lucero also has taught armonía and trumpet at Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque, and other mariachi conferences and festivals in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas. In autumn 2019, Lucero re-initiated the mariachi ensemble class at UNM, which he continues to direct.
Lucero remains active in community service with several organizations such as the UNM John Donald Robb Musical Trust, the State Bar of New Mexico, the UNM School of Law Alumni/ae Association (Past President), and the United Way of Central New Mexico Hispano Philanthropic Society. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the UNM School of Law, and he is a frequent presenter at continuing legal education classes.