About Josh

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A native Texan fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, Josh is also an accomplished attorney and ethics and compliance expert.

As both a lawyer and a concerned citizen, Josh has successfully driven for positive change in public life.  He knows first-hand how important a quality education is to Harris County:  he is a product of public schools and the father of a public school student.  His two brothers are public school teachers and administrators, and his spouse is a public school therapist.

Due to an unexpected death, Josh and his brother Eric were raised for many years by a single mom.  With the support of his community and good public schools, Josh excelled and ultimately graduated from Stanford Law School.  He wants all Texas children to have great opportunities, and feels that the time for him to give back is now.

Public service has always been Josh’s passion.  He served in Washington, DC (for Congressman J.J. Pickle) and as an intern at the Texas Capitol.  As a law student, he volunteered to serve both the United Nations (at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) and the Organization of American States (at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights).

 As a past endorsed candidate for this very role, the Houston Chronicle noted that Josh “was chief compliance officer of a major corporation.”  Noting that he “has already demonstrated his ability to incite action,” Josh will bring to an elected role the crucial skills of “minimizing waste, fraud and abuse, conflict of interest and self-dealing and maximizing efficiencies for schools.”  Houston Chronicle.

Professionally, Josh now leads The Wallenstein Law Group, P.C., a boutique law firm.  He is a published author (in English and Spanish) and a frequent public speaker on ethics and compliance-related issues.  In addition to a number of philanthropic priorities, until the HISD takeover Josh served as District G’s representative to the HISD Capital Planning Steering Committee.

Josh is a member of Emmanuel Episcopal Church.  He is married to Luciana, a trilingual Brazilian national and now a proud naturalized Texan.  He is also the proud father of his son Noah…and a pair of ferocious little dogs named Teka and Twitch.