Mark Curriden

Tana Pool is a self-described “small town girl.” The adopted daughter of Texas panhandle cotton farmers, she had never traveled outside the U.S. before becoming a lawyer. Then, a decade ago, Pool became the general counsel of a global Norwegian-based energy data and intelligence corporation that has a $1.7 billion market cap. She now has offices in Oslo, London and Houston. She is doing M&A deals around the world.

During her 17 years at TGS and Quanta Services, Pool has done more than a dozen acquisitions and joint ventures, negotiated more than $1 billion in credit facilities and is now on the verge of closing TGS’ largest M&A transaction — the acquisition of Oslo-headquartered Petroleum Geo Services (PGS) for 9.3 billion Norwegian crowns (roughly $864 million) in a merger of equals. Recognizing her long list of extraordinary achievements, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are awarding Pool with the 2024 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement.

As a first-year lawyer at Mayer Brown in Houston, Hugo Testé was given a case that his partner told him he was “going to lose.” His new client was a 19-year-old Honduran mom and her three-year-old daughter seeking asylum. The son of Cuban immigrants, Testé said the case hit home right away. “After one meeting with my clients I knew that I couldn’t afford to lose,” he said.

Nineteen years later, Testé is the general counsel of Vopak, where he has guided the chemical, oil and gas and biofuels storage corporation through numerous transformation transactions. Testé’s 2023 successes are the reason that the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are honoring him with the 2024 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department (less than five lawyers).

For 18 months — from the last quarter of 2022 through the first quarter of 2024 — Tabitha Bailey faced trials and tribulations that few young corporate general counsel have encountered. As GC of Avantax, Bailey played a critical role in the $720 million sale of its TaxAct software business in October 2022. Days later, the Richardson-based wealth management firm became embroiled in an alleged data breach crisis that led to congressional inquiries, state and federal investigations, four class action lawsuits and hundreds of individual arbitrations, which required extensive communication with investors and the private equity fund buyer that was making noises about terminating the deal.

The excitement for Bailey was only starting. In the months that followed, Avantax faced its third activist challenge and proxy contest in three years, executed a $250 million tender offer, overhauled its executive compensation plan and successfully completed a $1.2 billion take-private merger with competitor Cetera. Earlier this year, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Lawbook honored Bailey with the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department. This is her story.

Kay Lynn Brumbaugh is a Dallas antitrust litigator who has been head of litigation for the London Stock Exchange Group since 2021. A former lawyer at Andrews Kurth and Strasburger & Price, Brumbaugh went in-house in 2017 and then became part of the London Stock Exchange legal team when LSEG purchased financial market data company Refinitiv, which had a market value of more than $20 billion.

Brumbaugh is also the focus of a new Texas Lawbook feature called “The Corporate Client,” which focuses on members of the Association of Corporate Counsel in Texas. In this Q&A, Brumbaugh discusses her position at LSEG, the challenges she faces, successes she has achieved and what her criteria are for hiring outside counsel.