Premium-Only Content From being the first African American elected to be Queen Cardinal at Harlingen High School in 1980 to leading one of the most successful corporate diversity efforts at one of the world’s largest corporations to being named the new chief legal officer of Sempra Infrastructure earlier this year, Carolyn Benton Aiman has earned a global reputation for leadership in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The Lawbook’s Mark Curriden asked Aiman about the kinds of relationships she expects with outside counsel and what they might need to know about her.
Sempra CLO Carolyn Benton Aiman: ‘DEI Should Be in a Corporate Legal Department’s DNA’
[Diversity, equity and inclusion] “should be more than an initiative or a once-a-year conversation. This has to be part of the DNA, like safety in a corporation, like culture in any relationship,” said Sempra Infrastructure Carolyn Benton Aiman. “You must tend to it. Legal departments and law firm leadership should set an expectation, and leaders should be selected for their ability to develop people across all demographics. Leaders not only talk diversity, but their actions should match their words, including who they surround themselves with and with whom they work.”
The Association of Corporate Counsels Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook agree and have named Aiman as a finalist for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.
HP’s Hartz: ‘People Were Going to Jail. We Knew We had a Great Case’
For a decade, HP battled a Taiwanese-based CD-ROM maker in courts from Texas to California over allegations of price fixing. HP senior counsel Brad Hartz and his team worked several thousand hours on objections, motions to dismiss, depositions and intense fights over discovery. HP’s outside counsel, Beck Redden, worked another 5,000 hours. It all paid off on June 5, 2020, when a federal appeals court handed Hartz and Beck Redden a $438 million victory. This is the behind the scenes story of one of the biggest judgments upheld by the Fifth Circuit in a decade and the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year.
Photo (credit Dylan Aguilar): Brad Hartz (center right) with attorneys from Beck Redden
Q&A: Brad Hartz
Premium-Only ContentFor a decade, HP battled a Taiwanese CD-ROM maker over allegations of price-fixing.Beck Redden a $438 million victory, one of the biggest judgments upheld by the Fifth Circuit in a decade.In a Q&A with The Lawbook, Hartz elaborated on other significant achievements at HP, what he looks for in outside counsel and why he takes special pride in resolving disputes without litigation.
Charlotte Rasche Helped Prosperity Bank Survive PPP Avalanche
Charlotte Rasche and her team at Prosperity Bank worked days and nights in the early weeks of 2020 to integrate its $2.1 billion merger with LegacyTexas Bank. Then March came and Covid hit. With 273 banking locations across Texas and Oklahoma, Prosperity had to decide whether to close branches, require face masks or just operate drive-throughs. Each jurisdiction had different rules. And then the federal Paycheck Protection Program launched and 14,000 PPP loans with a combined value of more than $1 billion had to be processed. These were the challenges that faced Rasche as Prosperty’s general counsel.
2021 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards Finalists Revealed
They led multibillion-dollar deals and won billion-dollar disputes. They are young lawyers who made their mark and seasoned leaders whose companies benefited from their wisdom. They used technology and good ole fashioned legal smarts to change the corporate law profession and how companies do business. They are the finalists for the 2021 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognizes the hard work and successes of the corporate in-house legal community in North Texas. The Texas Lawbook has the names.
SEC Asst. Director Jumps to Holland & Knight
Former SEC Assistant Regional Director for Enforcement Scott Mascianica, who was involved in cases against Nikola Motor Corporation, Akazoo and Breitling Energy, said he moved his practice to Holland & Knight because last year’s merger with Thompson & Knight gives its partners a larger national platform to represent clients and because the firm is growing its white-collar defense and international investigations practice.
EP Energy’s Jace Locke’s ‘Pretty Insane Time’
For 162 days in 2020, EP Energy General Counsel Jace Locke was in bankruptcy hell. In early March, Locke and lawyers at Weil convinced a bankruptcy judge to approve a highly contentious and complex multibillion-dollar plan to exit Chapter 11. Then Covid hit. The world went into lockdown. Saudi Arabia and Russia were in a feud that flooded the world with oil. Commodity prices plunged. The bankruptcy deal: Dead. All in 11 days.
Locke and Weil went “back to the drawing board.” There were negotiations and concessions. Cuts were made, losses were accepted and new funds were committed. A publicly traded oil company once worth billions was taken private. Restructuring successful. Locke and Weil are now finalists for the Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year.
Q&A: Jace Locke
In a special Q&A for Texas Lawbook premium subscribers, Mark Curriden visited with Locke, a finalist for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year, about what he learned from the Chapter 11 process, life changing experiences and pet peeves in hiring outside counsel.
Susman Godfrey Names Vineet Bhatia New Co-Managing Partner
Susman Godfrey’s newly elected co-managing partner, Vineet Bhatia, said Tuesday that 2021 was the most profitable year in the 42-year history of the Houston-based litigation powerhouse and that the law firm needs to hire more lawyers to keep up with client demand. Susman Godfrey announced Tuesday that long-time managing partner Neal Manne is stepping down as co-leader of the law firm Jan. 15 and that Houston partner Bhatia is his successor, along with current co-managing partner Kalpana Srinivasan in Los Angeles.