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2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Finalists Unveiled

April 9, 2025 Mark Curriden

Energy and infrastructure dominated a significant portion of the corporate legal work of Texas lawyers in 2024. Calpine, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Energy Transfer, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton, Phillips 66, Shell and Weatherford International all played integral roles.

So, it should not be a surprise that corporate in-house counsel for these companies are among the finalists for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognizes the legal and business successes achieved by lawyers employed by these iconic companies.

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have joined forces for the seventh consecutive year to recognize and honor the corporate in-house legal teams that help their businesses navigate increasingly complex legal, political and business issues.

“The Houston Corporate Counsel Awards showcase the tremendously sophisticated legal work done by corporate general counsel, senior counsel and their legal teams,” said Texas Lawbook publisher Brooks Igo. “In-house counsel are part lawyers and part business counselors, guiding their corporate executives through challenging conflicts and helping them find solutions.”

This year, The Lawbook and ACC Houston received more than 90 nominations for 14 different categories. Panels of independent judges consisting of past Houston Corporate Counsel Award recipients combed through the submissions and selected the best of the best to be finalists. Some categories have two finalists and some only have one finalist.

The finalists will be celebrated and the winners announced at the annual Houston Corporate Counsel Awards ceremony on May 22.

“Over the next 10 days, The Lawbook will announce the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel finalists and it is a very impressive group of brilliant lawyers and leaders,” Igo said. “Even those finalists who do not win the award have achieved extraordinary successes during the past year and in their careers and they deserve to be recognized.”

“The Lawbook plans to write and publish in-depth feature articles on each of the finalists,” Igo said.

Senior Counsel of the Year

The sole finalist and thus the recipient of the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year of a Midsized Legal Department (six to 20 attorneys) goes to Maverick Natural Resources Senior Litigation Counsel Sarah Payne. Payne was nominated by Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing partner Ryan Hackney.

The judges selected two finalists for the Houston Senior Counsel of the Year Award for a Large Legal Department. They are Phillips 66 Legal Counsel Kathleen Bertolatus, who was nominated by her P66 colleague Michael Voutsinas; and Weatherford International Deputy General Counsel Christi Morrison, who was nominated by Baker McKenzie partner Justin Whittenburg.

Creative Partnership

The 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Creative Partnership goes to the Black Women in Environmental Law (BWEL) and its founders. This is a truly creative initiative started in 2023 by Baker Botts associate Teresa Jones and Chevron Phillips Chemical Assistant General Counsel Cheryl-Lynne Davis. Other founding members include Calpine Corporation Head of Federal Affairs Zoe Cadore, Major League Soccer Associate GC Jordan Franklin, Fervo Energy Corporate Counsel Pilar Hastings-Smith, Shell USA Senior Litigation Counsel Cisselon Hurd, Shell General Manager of Developing Assets Tonya Lewis, Energy Transfer Counsel Celena Loeb, Shell Legal Counsel Taylor Moore, ExxonMobil Counsel K.K. O’Neal, TC Energy Corporation Senior Counsel Tracy Penn, Halliburton Assistant GC Tramaine Singleton and Venture Global LNG Senior Public Affairs Associate Claire Stevenson. Baker Botts partners Russell Lewis and Scott Janoe nominated BWEL and its founders for this award.

The finalists for General Counsel of the Year, Corporate Legal Department of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion, Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service, Business Litigation of the Year and M&A Transaction of the Year will be announced during the next 10 days.

Mark Curriden

Mark Curriden is a lawyer/journalist and founder of The Texas Lawbook. In addition, he is a contributing legal correspondent for The Dallas Morning News.

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