The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook handed out the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Thursday night to 14 in-house lawyers who achieved extraordinary success during the past two years.
The big winners of the evening included Chevron Corporation Managing Counsel Siva Barnwell Adams, Houston METRO Transit General Counsel Cydonii Fairfax, Prosperity Bank General Counsel Charlotte Rasche and EP Energy General Counsel Jace Locke.
Siva Barnwell Adams, senior counsel at Chevron Corporation, received the 2021 Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department (21+ lawyers).
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) General Counsel Cydonii Fairfax received the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.
The 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel’s General Counsel of the Year for a Midsize Legal Department (6-20 attorneys) goes to Prosperity Bank GC Charlotte Rasche.
The 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year goes to EP Energy Jace Locke and outside counsel at Weil Gotshal.
More than 150 fully vaccinated corporate lawyers from Houston attended the annual event at the Four Seasons.
The ACC Houston members celebrated TechnipFMC Chief Legal Officer Victoria Lazar receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, CenterPoint Energy’s Monica Karuturi and Jason Ryan for being honored for their extraordinary commitment to pro bono and public service, and HP’s Brad Hartz for winning Business Litigation of the Year.
The 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement goes to TechnipFMC Chief Legal Officer Victoria Lazar (middle).
The 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service went to CenterPoint Energy General Counsel Monica Karuturi and CenterPoint Executive VP Jason Ryan.
A handful of individual in-house counsel were honored, including David Rassin of SAExploration, Sarah Hurt of Jefferson Energy, PROS Inc. Technology Counsel Mary Isensee, Enterprise Products Assistant General Counsel Charlie San Miguel and Williams Companies Assistant General Counsel Kathryn McCoy.
The 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Solo GC goes to SAExploration General Counsel David Rassin.
The 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department (1-5 lawyers) is Jefferson Energy Companies GC Sarah Hurt (middle).
The 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department (6-20 attorneys) is Enterprise Products Assistant GC Charlie San Miguel, who is also the GC of Texas Monthly.
Williams Companies Senior Counsel Kathryn McCoy is recipient of the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.
ACC Houston and The Lawbook held the pre-award ceremony reception outside on the fourth-floor deck of the Four Seasons Hotel. The number of those attending the awards event was limited to one-third capacity to allow for social distancing.
Exxon Mobil Intellectual Property Senior Counsel Joseph Yao, who is ACC Houston Chapter president-elect, said the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards ceremony was a huge success.
“We had extraordinary finalists this year, including some finalists who didn’t win but still accomplished remarkable successes,” Yao said.