American Airlines and Chuck E. Cheese. Farmer Brothers and HMS Holdings. Southwest Airlines and Aventiv.
The chief legal officers and general counsel at these six North Texas companies utilized their legal acumen and business leadership skills to lead their employers through a monumentally challenging year.
To recognize their achievement, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are honored to announce that they are finalists for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards.
ACC DFW President Derek Lipscombe, who is managing counsel at Toyota North America, said that 2020 was a difficult and stressful year for all businesses, but these corporate general counsel showcased extraordinary leadership and legal skills.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook received more than 85 nominations from nearly 60 law firms, corporate legal departments and clients for the 14 award categories.
The 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards ceremony will be held June 3 at the George W. Bush Institute. More details to come.
Over the past two weeks, The Texas Lawbook and ACC-DFW announced the finalists for Senior Counsel of the Year, Creative Partnership, Business Litigation of the Year, Rookie of the Year, M&A Deal of the Year, Legal Innovation, Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion and Pro Bono and Public Service. The names of those finalists are in the articles below.
The finalists for the General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department are:
- Farmer Brothers General Counsel Jennifer Brown, who was nominated by Brinks Assistant GC Helen Yoon and Insight Business Growth Advisors General Counsel Allie Parnell; and
- CEC Entertainment Chief Legal Officer Rudy Rodriguez, who was nominated by Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
The finalists for General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department are:
- Aventiv Technologies General Counsel Dennis Reinhold, who was nominated by Bell Nunnally; and
- HMS Holdings Chief Legal Officer Meredith Bjorck, who was nominated by Sidley Austin.
There are two finalists for the General Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department, and they are:
- American Airlines General Counsel Priya Aiyar, who was nominated by Carter Arnett and the Dallas Asian American Bar Association; and
- Southwest Airlines Chief Legal Officer Mark Shaw, who was nominated by Vinson & Elkins.
2020 DFW Corp. Counsel Finalists for M&A Deal of the Year, Diversity, Pro Bono and Legal Innovation
Vistra Energy, 7-Eleven, Toyota, Match.com, Kimberly-Clark, Boy Scouts, Fannie Mae and Ben. E. Keith Company have something new in common: Lawyers in their in-house legal departments are finalists for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards.
This year, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook received more than 85 nominations from nearly 60 law firms, corporate legal departments and clients for the 14 award categories.
ACC DFW President Derek Lipscombe said that the Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards showcase the expertise and extraordinary work of corporate in-house counsel during 2020.
Last week, The Texas Lawbook and ACC-DFW announced the finalists for Senior Counsel of the Year, Creative Partnership, Business Litigation of the Year and Rookie of the Year. The article on those awards is below.
Today, ACC and The Lawbook reveal the finalists for M&A Deal of the Year, Legal Innovation, Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion and Pro Bono and Public Service.
The finalists will be honored – and the winners announced – at the annual 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards being held on June 3 at the George W. Bush Institute. More details to come.
The finalists for M&A Deal of the Year are:
- Match Group Chief Legal Officer Jared Sine and his outside counsel at Debevoise & Plimpton for its multibillion-dollar spinoff from IAC; and
- 7-Eleven Senior Counsel Dawud Crooms and Akin Gump for the convenience store chain’s $21 billion acquisition of Speedway.
There are three finalists for the Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion award. They are:
- Punam Kaji, assistant general counsel at Ben. E. Keith Company;
- A. Shonn Brown, deputy general counsel at Kimberly-Clark Corporation; and
- Elizabeth Ramirez-Washka, associate general counsel of the Boy Scouts of America.
For the category of Pro Bono and Public Service, there are two finalists, and they are:
- Toyota Managing Counsel Meyling Ly Ortiz; and
- Vistra Energy General Counsel Stephanie Moore.
Finally, three independent judges who reviewed the nominations for Legal Innovation and they selected Fannie Mae Deputy General Counsel Todd Barton as the sole finalist – and thus the winner.
2020 DFW Corporate Counsel Finalists for Rookie of the Year, Creative Partnership and Business Litigation of the Year
From Forterra and Methodist Health Systems to Blackbeard Operating and Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Thursday a second round of finalists for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards.
There are three finalists for the Rookie of the Year honor, two finalists for the Creative Partnership Award and the sole finalist for Business Litigation of the Year.
Nearly 60 law firms, corporate legal departments and clients submitted more than 85 nominations for the 14 award categories. The Lawbook and ACC-DFW President Derek Lipscombe, who is managing counsel at Toyota, appointed an extraordinary panel of independent judges review the nominations and select one to three finalists for each award.
There are three finalists for the 2020 DFW Corporate Counsel Award’s Rookie of the Year, which goes to lawyers who have served as in-house counsel for two years or less. The finalists are:
- PMG Digital Worldwide General Counsel Jim Phillips, who was nominated by Dykema;
- Blackbeard Operating General Counsel Ricky Torlincasi, who was nominated by Thompson & Knight, Winstead and Davis Gerald & Cremer; and
- Methodist Health System Associate In-house Counsel Ashley Yen, who was nominated by Carter Arnett and the Dallas Asian American Bar Association.
The two finalists for the Creative Partnership Award, which recognizes unique ways that in-house corporate legal departments work with their outside lawyers, are:
- Eunice Nakamura, general counsel of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and DLA Piper; and
- Noah Webster, general counsel at Zix Corporation, and Baker Botts.
For Business Litigation of the Year, the judges have declared Forterra General Counsel Lori Browne and Sidley Austin as the winner. Business Litigation and Creative Partnership are two awards that recognize in-house counsel and their outside lawyers.
On Tuesday, The Texas Lawbook and ACC-DFW announced the finalists for Senior Counsel of the Year. The article is below.
DFW Senior Counsel Award Finalists
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce the first round of finalists for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards.
This year, about 60 law firms, corporate legal departments and clients submitted more than 85 nominations for the 14 award categories.
The Lawbook and ACC-DFW had an extraordinary panel of independent judges review the nominations and select one to three finalists. Five of the categories, according to the judges, had nominations in which the winner was obvious.
This week and next week, The Lawbook will announce those finalists and winners, who will be recognized at the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards event June 3 at the George Bush Center.
The finalists for the 2020 Senior Counsel of the Year Award for Large Legal Departments (21 lawyers or more) are:
- American Airlines Associate General Counsel Kate Hayashi, who was nominated by Haynes and Boone;
- Kimberly-Clark Corp. Deputy General Counsel Shonn Brown, who was nominated by Sidley Austin; and
- Southwest Airlines Corporate Counsel Jason Shyung, who was nominated by Carter Arnett.
The judges selected only one finalist – and thus the winner – for the 2020 Senior Counsel of the Year award for Mid-sized Legal Departments (6-20 lawyers) and Small Legal Departments (1-5 attorneys).
The winner of the Senior Counsel of the Year award for a Mid-sized Legal Department is Yuki Whitmire, associate general counsel at Vistra Energy, who was nominated by the Dallas Asian American Bar Association.
And the recipient of the Senior Counsel of the Year award for a Small Legal Department goes to CEC Entertainment Deputy General Counsel David Deck, who was nominated by Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
During the next three months, The Texas Lawbook will publish in-depth articles of each of the finalists and winners.
More finalists for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards will be announced Thursday.