Kathleen Bertolatus had a “pivotal family conversation” with her dad three decades ago when she was looking at colleges. “His advice to me was that, since the most important role in my life was going to be as wife and mother, I should go to the least expensive school,” Bertolatus told The Texas Lawbook. “While my mother didn’t work outside the home, I already knew at that young age that I wanted to make a broader impact in the world.” Today, Bertolatus is a wife, a mother and one of the most respected environmental and regulatory lawyers in the energy industry, where she serves as managing counsel for Phillips 66. “I’m proud of 18-year-old me, and all those versions in between, for holding fast to a vision that has made my family and career successful,” she said. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Lawbook have selected Bertolatus as one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Senior Counsel of the Year Award for a large legal department. The awards ceremony is set for May 22 at the Four Seasons downtown.
Julia Wright ‘Sets the Example for All General Counsel Globally’
Julia Wright was a third grader when she did a book report on Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “I didn’t know women could be lawyers until I read that book,” Wright told The Texas Lawbook. “I knew then that it was what I wanted to do. Throughout the 1980s, my dad would cut out newspaper articles showing the data of increased enrollment in law schools of women, showing me it was possible.” Forty-two years later, Wright is the general counsel at ChampionX, where she is one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston General Counsel of the Year Award for a Midsized Legal Department.
Maverick Natural Resources’ Sarah Payne is ‘Like Having a Cheat Code Against the Other Side’
Sarah Payne went to college and graduate school to be a journalist covering the music industry with the dream of writing for Rolling Stone. Her father, then a Houston trial lawyer, had other ideas. “I was worn down by my tenacious father over the course of two decades,” Payne told The Texas Lawbook. “My entering the profession was likely inescapable. It’s in my veins for better or worse.” Payne recently led her employer, Maverick Natural Resources, to a huge courtroom victory after a four-year contract dispute with XTO Energy regarding revenue sharing as part of a joint venture. Citing the jury trial success, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Lawbook named Payne the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award recipient for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.