The Texas Lawbook

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GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

H-E-B’s Abel Martinez Opens Doors for the Next Generation of Texas Lawyers

As the son of a construction worker who bounced between the Rio Grande Valley and Chicago, Abel Martinez saw firsthand how ZIP codes dictate opportunity. Today, as H-E-B’s group vice president of partner relations, risk solutions and government affairs, he uses his platform to ensure young attorneys get a seat at the table. For his decades of mentorship and leadership, Martinez is the winner of the 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion, presented by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook.

Krista Torralva

USAA’s Michael Danforth Helps Veterans Navigate Life’s Legal Challenges

Raised by a military family that trusted USAA, Michael Danforth has spent 18 years as an attorney there and countless afternoons at San Antonio Legal Services Association clinics helping veterans with housing, family and benefits problems. As SALSA’s board vice president, he helped keep the group open through a 2025 funding crisis. He is the 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award winner for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service.

Krista Torralva

Building From the Ground Up: Jenna Castleman Has Transformed Alterman’s Legal Strategy

A family tragedy just weeks before her 2017 bar exam taught Jenna Castleman what clients face when their livelihoods are on the line. Now, as the first-ever general counsel for 103-year-old electrical contractor Alterman, she has built a proactive, nine-person legal department from scratch. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Castleman the winner of the 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.

Mark Curriden

When It Comes to Ethics, Vericast’s Shelayne Clemmer is ‘Not Afraid to Speak Up’

As deputy general counsel and compliance officer at Vericast, Shelayne Clemmer built the company’s centralized compliance framework from scratch amid the COVID-19 disruptions. Outside counsel and corporate peers praise Clemmer as a principled, fearless leader whose commitment to transparency and ethical decision-making has defined her 18-year career in San Antonio. She has been named the recipient of the 2026 Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life & Leadership Award by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook.

Mark Curriden

Frost Bank’s Nick Munro Bridges Pro Sports Sponsorships and Digital Banking Governance

As a third grader in El Paso, Nick Munro wrote that he wanted to be a lawyer for a professional sports team. After helping negotiate the arena naming rights for the San Antonio Spurs, he joined Frost Bank in 2024 — steering high-stakes sports partnerships, rewriting digital banking contracts and crafting AI governance frameworks. Now, he has been named the 2026 San Antonio Senior Counsel of the Year.

Mark Curriden

A ‘One-Man Hands-on Army’: Valero’s Alex Miller on Managing a Nine-Figure Docket and Taking the EPA to SCOTUS

Valero Energy Corp. senior counsel Alex Miller, an appellate specialist who initially joined the refiner on a two-day-a-week schedule, now directs a worldwide nine-figure docket spanning environmental, commercial and tax disputes. Over the past 18 months, his strategic oversight guided complete defense trial verdicts in Oklahoma and Louisiana, as well as a 7-2 victory at the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller has been named Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook.

Mark Curriden

For Jackson Walker’s Robert Soza, Ethical Leadership is a Family Legacy 

When Jackson Walker partner Robert L. Soza Jr. accepts the prestigious C. Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award on Oct. 29, he’ll be thinking of two people who won’t be there to celebrate with him — his father, a small-town pharmacist from far West Texas who died in August, and his brother, an Odessa lawyer known for providing free legal services to those in need, who died in 2023.

Growing up in his father’s Alpine pharmacy, Soza learned lessons about trust, compassion and service that would shape his decades-long legal career. Today, the San Antonio lawyer has built a distinguished litigation practice while devoting much of his time to expanding access to justice, including helping establish the San Antonio Legal Services Association.

For Soza, this year’s recognition is as much a tribute to his family’s legacy as it is to his own accomplishments. “Any ethical life I’ve managed to live, I learned from them first,” he said.

Krista Torralva

Premium Q&A with Rachel Donnelly

Texas Lawbook: What do you look for in hiring outside counsel? Rachel Donnelly: I look for outside counsel that is an expert in their field, incredibly responsive and with a

Mark Curriden

Affinius Capital’s Rachel Donnelly is the ‘Simone Biles of the Texas Legal Community’

Rachel Donnelly once planned to become a forensic psychologist before a law degree changed her path. Now she’s chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel at Affinius Capital, where she’s helped steer the firm through SEC exams, a corporate rebrand and its expansion into AI-driven data centers. Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named her the winner of the 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for Chief Corporate Compliance Officer of the Year.

Mark Curriden

Brenna Nava’s Hard Work, Leadership ‘Literally Saving Lives’

The 2017 class of Leadership San Antonio was touring the nonprofit healthcare organizations BioBridge Global and helping assemble packets used to match marrow donors with patients. One class member — Rackspace Technology Senior Counsel Brenna Nava, a former high school dance teacher turned corporate in-house counsel — was fascinated.

Seven years later, Preferred Legal Counsel President Morgan Matson called Nava with an interesting opportunity: the deputy general counsel position at BioBridge. Nava is the 2026 San Antonio Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

Mark Curriden

Lewis Energy’s Wes Sharples Runs a Lean Legal Team and a Growing HR Department

Wes Sharples had a clear vision when he left Texas for college at Dartmouth in 1999: Play football, earn a degree in economics and get a big job on Wall Street.

“My playing career ended after a year and a half along with my interest in economics,” Sharples told The Texas Lawbook. "I ultimately determined law school was the best fit, but it was more pragmatism than lifelong ambition.”

Twenty-seven years later, Sharples is the GC at Lewis Energy Group, where he has guided the San Antonio-based privately owned energy company through five transformational corporate transactions and negotiated a highly favorable settlement agreement in an eight-figure litigation during the past two years. And he is also the 2026 San Antonio GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

Mark Curriden

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