The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Tuesday the first round of finalists and a few winners for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards.
Each year, ACC DFW and The Lawbook honor leading lawyers within the corporate in-house community who scored extraordinary successes and had a substantive impact on the legal profession and the business community in North Texas.
Today, The Lawbook announces the finalists and winners in four different categories: Business Litigation of the Year; M&A Deal of the Year; General Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department; and General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.
The finalists will be honored and all of the winners announced at the annual 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards gala on Thursday, Jan. 26, at the George W. Bush Institute, which is part of the presidential library.
The Lawbook received nearly 70 nominations for the 15 categories. ACC DFW and The Lawbook empaneled a group of independent judges – all of them cleared of any conflicts regarding the nominees and those making the nominations – to review each submission and determine up to three finalists. All finalists must be deserving of receiving the award.
In some categories, the judges selected only one or two finalists. In those categories where only one person or legal department was chosen, that sole finalist is the recipient of the award.
Below is the first round of nominations selected as finalists:
General Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department (21+lawyers): The judges selected McAfee Chief Legal Officer Sarah Decker as the sole finalist and thus the recipient of the GC of the Year Award for a Large Legal Department. Yvette Ostolaza, management committee chair at Sidley and a partner in the firm’s Dallas office, nominated Decker for the honor. Decker also serves as McAfee’s chief compliance officer.
General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department (6-20 lawyers): Vinson & Elkins partner Katherine Frank nominated HF Sinclair Corporation General Counsel Vaishali Bhatia as the General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department. The judges reviewed several nominations and concluded that Bhatia’s accomplishments in 2022 were so significant that she deserved to be the sole finalist and thus the winner of the award.
Business Litigation of the Year: ACC DFW and The Lawbook received several nominations for Business Litigation of the Year, which is one of three DFW Corporate Counsel Awards that recognizes both the in-house counsel at a business and the outside lawyers who scored extraordinary courtroom success. The judges selected two finalists for this honor. They are:
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Russ Falconer nominated Keurig Dr Pepper Chief Legal Officer Anthony Shoemaker, senior counsel and head of litigation Stephen Cole and former GC Jim Baldwin.
Womble Bond Dickerson partner Kristin Walker-Probst nominated Ocwen Financial Corporation assistant general counsel Joel Israel.
The judges reviewed the nominations and agreed that the legal teams for Ocwen Financial and Keurig Dr Pepper and their outside counsel deserved to receive the Business Litigation of the Year Award. Both will be honored and the winner announced at the Jan. 26 awards ceremony.
M&A Transaction of the Year: The judges reviewed multiple nominations but selected Celanese Corporation General Counsel Lynne Puckett, her in-house legal team at Celanese and the company’s outside counsel at Baker Botts as the sole finalist and, as a result, the recipient of the M&A Transaction of the Year Award for 2022. Baker Botts partner Catriona Hatton nominated Celanese and Puckett for the honor.
The Texas Lawbook will announce the finalists for the remaining categories over the next 10 days. In addition, The Lawbook plans to publish in-depth profiles of the finalists over the next six weeks.
For companies and law firms seeking to attend the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards on Jan. 26, please contact Texas Lawbook publisher Brooks Igo about purchasing a table or a sponsorship. All net revenues go to the Texas Lawbook Foundation, a non-profit that employs full-time pro bono, public service and diversity writer Natalie Posgate. You may read more about Posgate’s efforts and the Texas Lawbook Foundation here.