Mayda Colón Tsaknis

Mayda Colón Tsaknis, was born and raised in Utuado, Puerto Rico.  Ms. Tasknis graduated from the University of Puerto Rico where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.  She obtained her Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas in two and a half years where she was on the Dean’s list during her entire tenure.

Ms. Tsaknis began her legal career back in 1970, as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Adrian A. Spears, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. 

Thereafter, Ms. Tsaknis developed her litigation skills when she worked for five (5) years as a Trial Attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), involved in and personally litigating complex employment discrimination cases against major U.S. firms all across the country.  In 1977, she started her solo practice in Montgomery County. In 1980, the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico appointed her as General Counsel for the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration where she and her staff of two attorneys and two secretaries provided legal advice to the Governor as well has heads of the various governmental agencies, including but not limited to defending the Bureau of Prisons for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

In 1981, Ms. Tsaknis became a Senior Associate with Galland, Karasch, Calkins & Short where she continued to represent the Bureau of Prisons of Puerto Rico and Dominican Airlines.  When the firm closed its doors, Mayda again ventured into the world of solo practitioner in 1982.  In 1989 she and Mari Carmen Aponte formed Aponte & Tsaknis (formerly Peña, Aponte & Tsaknis) and in 1992, Mayda continued her private practice in Maryland, forming COLÓN TSAKNIS & ASSOCIATES.

After many years in private practice, Ms. Tsaknis is finally fulfilling her dream of creating a fully bilingual women’s law practice in Maryland.  She has offices in Rockville as well as in Frederick.  The firm is an asset to the growing Latino population.

Mayda has maintained extensive community involvement, as well as an active participant in many legal organizations such as the Maryland State Bar Foundation (Chair-Fellows), the Maryland State Bar Association, the Bar Association of Montgomery County, the Frederick Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association.  She is also a certified Mediator for both the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, as well as Frederick County. 

Ms. Tsaknis has been a member of several important commissions; most notably she was the Chair for two terms on the Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs from 1996 through 1999. Since 1998, she is a member of the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission and has been a member of the Judicial Administration Council since 2002.  In 2004, she joined Montgomery County’ Gang Prevention Task Force.

In over thirty years in the legal profession Ms. Tsaknis has been admitted to the following distinguished courts: U.S. Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Texas, Supreme Court of D.C., Maryland Court of Appeals, United States District Courts for the District of Maryland the District of Columbia, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the 11^th Circuit. She has also appeared before the Board of Military Review.

In 1993, Ms. Tsaknis founded the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association (MHBA). She was also its first president.  In 2003, she once again was elected as said organization’s president, and presently, sits on the MHBA Board. 

Mayda’s greatest achievement is her loving family.  She was married for over thirty years to Col. Peter J. Tsaknis, (Ret.) whom she tragically lost in 2002.  Her strength and motivation come from her two children, her eldest son, Dr. John A. Tsaknis, a successful dentist, and her daughter Cassandra S. Tsaknis, a fashion stylist in New York and Retail and Credit Editor of Bazaar Magazine in New York City.

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