Jenna Castleman – Alterman

Jenna Castleman grew up doing homework at a kitchen table that doubled as the office for her parents’ general contracting business based in Universal City, Texas. Long before she understood what a contract was, she understood what it meant to build something from nothing. She also experienced first-hand how much sacrifice, responsibility, and perseverance it took to keep a business moving forward. Those lessons would eventually shape not only her legal career, but her philosophy of leadership.

Jenna Castleman | Alterman | General Counsel

Today, Castleman is General Counsel of Alterman, a Century-old, employee-owned electrical construction and technology company operating throughout Texas and New Mexico. Her path there was anything but conventional. It was shaped by family, loss, mentorship, and a deeply held belief that opportunities carry an obligation: honor the people who opened doors for you by opening doors for those who come next.

Castleman wanted to be a lawyer from a young age, though the goal always felt out of reach. Her path did not move directly from high school into college and then law school, and as a first-generation college graduate, she had no roadmap for entering the profession.

Ultimately, her father refused to let her dream die quietly. He consistently pushed Castleman to continue her education and pursue ambitions she wasn’t always sure she could achieve at the time.

“He never let up on pushing me to go back to school,” she recalls. “He believed I was capable of things before I ever believed it myself.”

A turning point

The push finally found direction during a difficult undergraduate business law course, taken only because it was the sole summer option available. Castleman excelled, earning an A from Professor Rudy Sandoval, who had previously taught at Harvard Law. Still uncertain whether someone with her background realistically belonged in law school, she asked him directly. His answer changed the trajectory of her academic career. Professor Sandoval told her that not only would he have admitted her to Harvard, but he would also be proud to write the letter of recommendation needed to apply to law school. For someone who had spent years wondering whether the profession was out of her reach, that validation mattered. Paired with her parents’ unwavering belief in her, it gave Castleman the confidence to pursue law with conviction.

Castleman attended law school at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, then interned at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, initially believing criminal law might be her future. However, an early redirection from Judge Kevin Yeary ultimately pushed Castleman toward civil law, which would later define her career.

Two weeks before she was scheduled to sit for the Texas Bar Exam, her father died suddenly of a heart attack at age 57 while working on a construction project in Abilene, Texas. The loss changed everything.

Family duty becomes professional purpose

Her father’s death was immediately followed by a legal dispute over the family business. Still early in her legal career, Castleman found herself confronted with legal questions involving ownership, fiduciary duties, corporate governance, and the future of a business her parents spent decades building. She threw herself into every continuing legal education program she could find, absorbing business law, fiduciary duties, governance, and litigation strategy – not because she had planned a specialty, but because her family needed her.

That experience became an unexpected professional turning point. San Antonio attorney Kyle C. Watson ultimately took the lead on the family’s litigation after reviewing Castleman’s legal analysis and later hired her as his associate at Goode Casseb Jones Riklin Choate & Watson, PC. Watson quickly became one of her most influential mentors, guiding a first-generation lawyer as she learned to navigate both her family’s case and a career that once seemed inaccessible. The family litigation stretched for about seven years before the family prevailed at trial, and the case continued on appeal. Along the way, Castleman developed a practice focused on contracts, business disputes, and the ownership and fiduciary conflicts that can determine a company’s fate.

Building something that did not exist

Castleman was not looking for a new role when a family connection led her to Alterman, an employee-owned electrical construction and technology company operating throughout Texas and New Mexico that was established in 1923. What immediately stood out was the business’s scale and trajectory. Despite that scale, Alterman had never had an in-house legal operation. For Castleman, the opportunity carried a familiar sense of responsibility: help build something that would last and leave it stronger for the people who depended on it.”

When Castleman arrived in February 2024, Alterman was entering a period of extraordinary growth with revenue growing by 109% in the preceding three years. In many ways, Castleman and her team were building the plane while flying it. The company could not simply pause its growth while the new Legal Department figured out its place.

“We needed to build a legal operation that could grow with the company and become part of how the business makes decisions. I also knew that I could not do that alone. Fortunately, I was blessed with supportive leadership and incomparable teammates.”

She became Alterman’s first general counsel and leads a legal department of eight professionals overseeing contracts, litigation, employment matters, insurance, and risk management.

Castleman’s goal was not to build a traditional legal department that waited for contracts, claims or disputes to come up. She and her team set out to build a disciplined legal function capable of protecting a century-old company through its next stage of growth: one that could exercise independent legal judgment, recognize emerging risk, build scalable processes, and still understand the commercial realities facing Alterman’s work. That meant getting the legal department involved early enough to help prevent problems and improve business outcomes, while earning the trust required for colleagues to invite the legal department into those conversations.

For Castleman, building the department has also brought her career unexpectedly full circle. The girl who once did homework at a kitchen table that doubled as the office of her parents’ construction company now sits at the leadership table of one of Texas’ largest electrical contractors.

As Alterman continues growing, she is focused on scaling her department deliberately. Additionally, Castleman was elected in 2023 as one of two San Antonio board members of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, the public service arm of the State Bar of Texas. In this role, she has an opportunity to serve her legal community and mentor students and young lawyers as they begin their journeys in law.

She is conscious that these opportunities carry responsibilities in both directions: to honor the sacrifices of others that made her career possible and to create opportunities for the people coming behind her.

Throughout my career, I have had people believe in me, open doors for me, and give me opportunities I could not have created on my own. I don’t view those opportunities as something I earned. I view them as something I’ve been entrusted with. I have an obligation to do the same for others – to challenge them, believe in them, create opportunities for them to grow, and open doors for those yet to come.”