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GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

Caris Life Sciences Deputy GC Ginger Appleberry Guides the Biotech Company’s $494M IPO

Ginger Appleberry was a litigation partner at Locke Lord in Dallas when she received a call in December 2014 that an Irving-based biotech company was seeking an in-house lawyer.

“They think they want a contract lawyer,” the caller told Appleberry. “They think they want someone who can do hospital contracting. They don't. They need you. I think you should talk to them.”

Appleberry agreed, took the position and now, 11 years later, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Appleberry one of two finalists for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department (2-5 lawyers).

Mark Curriden

A Shining Star Returns to Dallas: PepsiCo’s Nur Kara Is a Natural at Marketing Law

Nur Kara joined the corporate legal department at PepsiCo in January 2024 having never practiced marketing law.

But during the past two years, the native North Texan has played a monumental role in leading the legal efforts for major redesigns and portfolio transformations for more than 15 PepsiCo Foods brands, including top revenue-generating portfolios like Lay’s and Tostitos. Kara’s impact, according to PepsiCo executives, has been extraordinary.

Now the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Kara as one of two finalists for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.

Mark Curriden

Chris Blevins: Navigating Solo Brands Through Crisis and Into Renewed Growth

As a teenager and college student, Chris Blevins watched his father — an accountant turned business entrepreneur — negotiate contracts, do deals with vendors and handle issues with clients and customers.

“I was taking a few business and law-related classes, and I started realizing that the things that frustrated him weren’t about the product or the customers, they were about navigating legal and contractual issues that felt foreign and risky,” Blevins said. “It clicked for me that I could be someone who helped businesses run better by removing the friction and risk around these issues, making things clearer and easier.”

For Blevins, the career strategy paid major dividends in 2025 when he scored some huge successes for Grapevine-based Solo Brands. As such, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Lawbook have named Blevins as a finalist for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department (two to five attorneys).

Mark Curriden

‘Put on this Earth to Serve:’ Award Honoree Shannon Cagnina Helped Pass Trey’s Law, Camp Safety Legislation

Shannon Cagnina, general counsel for Phillips Enterprises, is being honored with a 2025 Corporate Counsel Award for her pro bono and public service work on Trey’s Law and Texas camp safety legislation. Cagnina’s humility and faith-driven commitment to service have made her a quiet force behind reforms that are already reshaping protections for abuse survivors and camp goers.

Krista Torralva

‘Life is a Team Sport,’ Says Toyota’s Scott Young

Toyota Managing Counsel Scott Young is being honored with a 2025 Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service in recognition of his lifelong commitment to service, shaped by his upbringing and early humanitarian work. Alongside major legal leadership roles at Toyota, including transformative development and manufacturing projects, Young has led and expanded the company’s pro bono efforts, providing legal assistance to vulnerable communities. 

Krista Torralva

Brad Nitschke Connects Compassion to Counsel at Parkland Health

Brad Nitschke’s passion for public service started in his teens at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas.

“Justice and service have always been important to me, and my time at Jesuit left me deeply convinced that there are real problems hurting real people in the world, and we are called to use our gifts and talents to intervene where we can,” said Nitschke, who officially married his values and passion with his career mission five years ago when he joined the legal team at Parkland Health. Last month, Parkland named Nitschke its interim executive vice president for legal affairs due to his extraordinary successes. And ACC-DFW and The Texas Lawbook are awarding him the 2025 DFW GC of the Year Award for a Non-Profit/Governmental Agency to celebrate his achievements.

Mark Curriden

Brett Barnes Helps Build Presidio into a Publicly Traded Powerhouse

Brett Barnes is a landman.

His title is general counsel for Presidio Production, a Fort Worth upstream oil & gas company. But Barnes is a landman. Maybe not in the sense of the popular Paramount streamer — "I've never been kidnapped by a cartel," he notes — but a landman, nonetheless.

For the last eight years, he's been GC at Presidio Petroleum, a company that acquires mature, producing oil and gas properties in a market that is hitting a newfound stride. The company is on the cusp of going public thanks to a deSPAC merger announced late last year.

The DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook have named him 2025 GC of the Year for a Solo Legal Department.

Allen Pusey & Mark Curriden

PepsiCo Foods GC Adrienne Mosley’s ‘Remarkable Journey’

PepsiCo Foods Deputy General Counsel Adrienne Mosley entered 2025 with a dizzying number of projects on her agenda.

Mosley started the year by leading the company’s $1.2 billion acquisition of the Mexican-American foods company Siete Foods. She guided the legal components of the rebranding and reformation of PepsiCo’s Lay’s and Tostitos brands. She played a leading role in the transformation of the company's North America legal department in the wake of the company combining its North America food and beverage operations. And she supported the overhaul of the law department’s adoption of digital technologies and process optimization. In March, corporate executives promoted Mosley to general counsel of PepsiCo Foods. 

“Adrienne stepped into the GC role amid a perfect storm — a major restructure of both the law department and the business, a new executive team and a challenging business environment,” said Phillips Murrah director Leanne Oliver, who is the former PepsiCo Foods GC. “Adrienne provided the calm during the storm.”

Mark Curriden

Energy Transfer’s Sam Hardy Reflects on ‘Verdict of A Lifetime’

Energy Transfer Partners faced months of protests that delayed the Dakota Access Pipeline, prompting a defamation suit against Greenpeace and allied groups over allegedly false statements that fueled sometimes‑violent demonstrations.

Sam Hardy became deputy general counsel in 2022, inheriting the case and hiring Gibson Dunn’s Trey and Collin Cox and former Judge Gregg Costa, valuing their deep trial experience and alignment with Energy Transfer’s aggressive, trial‑ready culture. By 2025, the company sought $350 million; a North Dakota jury instead awarded $667 million, including $400 million in punitive damages.

Hardy’s team also won a complete defense win in a $150 million fraud and contract case against Goldman Sachs and secured a $15 million settlement of a securities class action once valued above $2.1 billion, earning Hardy the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter and The Texas Lawbook’s recognition as a finalist for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year.

Michelle Casady & Mark Curriden

Look Closer, Think Bigger: The M&A Mindset of Celanese’s Adam Shulman

Adam Shulman lives by two lessons from his father: anything becomes interesting when examined closely, and mastery begins with the willingness to be terrible.

As vice president of corporate global strategy and development at Dallas-based Celanese, Shulman applies both principles daily. Celanese is a global leader in producing specialized chemicals and engineered materials essential to countless industries, from cellulose acetate used in glasses and packaging to high-performance polymers found in solar panels and orthopedic implants.

This appreciation for complexity and disciplined curiosity helped earn Shulman recognition from The Texas Lawbook and the DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel as a finalist for the 2025 M&A Transaction of the Year.

Allen Pusey & Mark Curriden

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