Mark Curriden

Every day, Bill Dunne deals with overlapping, even conflicting, interests as the GC of Civitas Capital Management — deal team members wanting to close on our latest endeavor, our international team needing immediate answers on the intricacies of marketing laws in up to 40 countries. But Dunne worked day and night for several months reading and analyzing hundreds and hundreds of pages of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and guidelines to successfully register Civitas as an official investment advisor.
 
The achievement had a huge impact on Citivas’ business operations. As a result, Dunne is a finalist for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Solo Legal Department.

Jonathan Koh won his first court case in the sixth grade when he was the prosecutor in a mock trial in a speeding case. He was hooked on becoming a lawyer. Two decades later, Koh is the assistant GC at MB2 Dental, which provides support to more than 500 dental practices in 41 states. His mornings start with questions from dentists on the East Coast offices on payroll taxes and the day ends with doctors in California asking about California’s Covid paid sick leave law. Plus, he implemented a process that allows him to get involved early when conflicts arise between the dentists and patients and insurance providers, which helped avoid scores of lawsuits.

“I’m the fixer of the legal department, so I usually hear from people on their bad days,” Koh said. He is also a finalist for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

Only three years out of law school at the University of North Texas, Chelsea Casiano is the general counsel of the Forney Corporation, a 95-year-old Addison-based manufacturer of front-end combustion components. In 2022, she negotiated more than 100 contracts, implemented a new signature designation policy, updated the company’s noncompete agreements and wrote the business’ new human rights policy to regulate compliance internally and to set expectations for its suppliers and vendors.



“Chelsea has been amazing,” said Forney CEO Tom Demrick. Casiano is also a finalist for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year, which goes to lawyers who have been in-house counsel for three years or less.

Back in middle school, Johnathan Jordan played Halo, a military science fiction game set in the 26th century in which the player controls a technologically created super soldier to battle evil aliens. But young Jordan also knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a lawyer. Never did he think the two passions — law and gaming — would come together.

Last year, Jordan became the first GC in Texas of an esports and gaming business, OpTic Gaming. The legal work he has done since has been groundbreaking and the reason he is a finalist for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year. This is his call to duty.

Joel Israel oversees about 500 mortgage foreclosure-related lawsuits as the assistant GC at mortgage giant Ocwen Financial. He tries to foster a compassionate approach as most are single-plaintiff cases with customers in unfortunate financial distress. But there are lawsuits by those abusing the system, fabricating facts and just seeking nuisance settlements.

Using innovative research techniques and an aggressive litigation strategy, Israel and his outside counsel at Womble convinced California judges to reject two such lawsuits. In doing so, they sent a message that frivolous litigation would not be tolerated. They also are finalists for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year.