Premium-Only Content: Charlie San Miguel is recipient of the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department. The Lawbook’s Mark Curriden had a chance to ask him about the current issues facing in-house counsel and what he looks for in any relationship with an outside firm.
TechnipFMC’s Victoria Lazar Solves Billion-Dollar Problems
Victoria Lazar has designed, negotiated and closed numerous multibillion-dollar, high-profile M&A deals for corporate giants such as Electronic Data Systems and General Electric during her three decades practicing law. She worked on EDS’s separation from General Motors and GE Oil & Gas’s $32 billion purchase of Baker Hughes. She worked in Russia for Baker Botts representing the Azerbaijan International Oil Co. She became an expert on evaluating the risks of offshore, deep-water drilling equipment following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. She guided Bristow Helicopter Group out of a multibillion-dollar bankruptcy. Now TechnipFMC’s chief legal officer, Lazar recently completed a billion-dollar corporate spinoff.
But it was a pro bono divorce case Lazar handled when she was a young corporate transactional associate at Baker Botts in Houston that she considers her first memorable moment practicing law. Meet Victoria Lazar and her lifetime of achievements.
Q&A: Victoria Lazar
Premium-Only Content: During her three decades practicing law, Victoria Lazar has designed and negotiated multibillion-dollar, high-profile M&A deals for corporate giants like Electronic Data Systems and General Electric. Even as a young lawyer, she worked on the separation of EDS from General Motors in what was at the time the largest IPO in history. Here, Lazar shares her perceptions about the role of corporate counsel.
Mary Isensee is a ‘One-Woman Army at PROS’
Three years ago, Mary Isensee made some big changes in her career. After six years of practicing corporate law at three different large law firms in Houston, she decided to go in-house. Isensee went from oil and gas to technology and artificial intelligence – during a pandemic when PROS clients, many in the travel industry, were hit hard. “Mary is a young attorney practicing at an experience level beyond her years,” AZA’s Todd Mensing says. Isensee is also the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.
Q&A: Mary Insensee
In an exclusive Texas Lawbook Q&A with Mary Isensee, the technology counsel at PROS, Inc. explains the challenges facing in-house counsel, her pet peeves about outside counsel and what lawyers need to know about her if they want her business.
It’s Up to You! Leadership Lessons from the Ancients for GCs Today
The lessons of the ancients are as fresh and relevant today as they were thousands of years ago, perhaps even more-so as we face similar challenges brought on by war, pandemics (plagues), weather or social and political upheaval. Especially instructive for a general counsel today are the enduring leadership lessons of Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon, Marcus Aurelius of Rome, Socrates of Greece and Confucius of China.
Sarah Hurt: A Big Impact in a Short Time at Jefferson Energy
Sarah Hurt has been the GC at Jefferson Energy Companies for a year and has scored huge achievements. Three separate pipeline systems have been placed into service. The issuance of $425 million in Port of Beaumont bonds and a major terminal project well underway. The Houston Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook announce Hurt is a finalist for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.
Q&A: Sarah Hurt
In an exclusive Texas Lawbook Q&A with Sarah Hurt, the general counsel at the Jefferson Energy Companies squares off on the kinds of challenges facing in-house counsel, her pet peeves about outside counsel and what lawyers need to know about her if they want her business.
MilliporeSigma’s Christallyn Williams: A DEI Leader in the Texas Legal Community
Christallyn Williams was a junior in high school when she demonstrated her courage to step forward on issues of race, diversity and inclusion. The leadership she showed in a Houston classroom a couple decades ago continues today. Williams is senior corporate counsel for labor and employment law at MilliporeSigma, a multibillion-dollar global life-sciences company. She is also one of the most successful lawyers in Texas in pursuing diversity and inclusion in the profession and a finalist for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.
Q&A: Christallyn Williams
An exclusive Texas Lawbook Q&A with MilliporeSigma senior counsel Christallyn Williams on challenges facing in-house counsel, her pet peeves about outside counsel and what lawyers need to know about her if they want her business.
2021 Houston CCA Winners: TechnipFMC CLO Victoria Lazar, HP’s Brad Hartz, PROS’ Mary Isensee
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce the final three categories for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards and the recipients for each of those honors. Those categories are Rookie of the Year, Business Litigation of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award. In-depth profiles of the finalists and winners will be published over the next month.
Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Finalists for Achievements in D&I and Pro Bono and Public Service Revealed
Each year, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook honor corporate in-house counsel who are true role models for improving the legal profession from the inside and out. There are three finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion and one finalist for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service.
TX GC Forum Honors Lawyers Dawud Crooms, Farah Bhayani, Rishi Varma, Robert Bell and Others with Magna Stella Awards
The Texas General Counsel Forum honored seven top in-house counsel and the corporate legal departments at CenterPoint Energy and Toyota Motor North America on Thursday night with the 2021 Magna Stella Awards. Lone Star Circle of Care GC Tillery Stout received the award for GC of the Year for a Non-Profit. And legal leaders at Diamondback Energy, Enterprise Products, G6 Hospitality, SAExploration and Intercontinental Terminals were honored for their accomplishments.
The Texas Lawbook attended the Texas Forum annual meeting in Austin and has these exclusive details.
Updated — Expert to TX GCs on Cyber Attacks: ‘Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail’
General counsel at Texas companies are critical for preparing corporate executives and board members about cyberattacks and ransomware demands, Erin Nealy Cox, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, told members of the Texas General Counsel Forum Thursday.
What Do a Bank and Four Energy Companies Have in Common? Their Top Lawyers are Finalists for Houston GC of the Year
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards who have done some amazing legal work and demonstrated extraordinary leadership during some definitely unordinary times. Today, we reveal General Counsel of the Year finalists.
Four Energy Companies, Four Finalists for Houston Senior In-House Counsel of the Year Honors
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards who have done some amazing legal work and demonstrated extraordinary leadership during some definitely unordinary times. Today, we reveal Senior Counsel of the Year finalists.
LyondellBasell and EP Energy Finalists for 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards for Transaction of the Year
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards who have done some amazing legal work and demonstrated extraordinary leadership during some definitely unordinary times. Today, we reveal Transaction of the Year finalists.
Futurist to GCs: Businesses Face Constant Chaos, Worker Mental Health Crisis, High Turnover and Declining Productivity
WNDYR CEO Claire Haidar’s presentation to the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter was designed to be a cold, hard slap about the days ahead for most businesses. Companies today are fraught with constant chaos and face crisis after crisis. The workforce is increasingly unstable and is becoming less and less productive. Corporate leaders are trying to implement hybrid working conditions – efforts that she predicts will fail miserably. Bottom line: Business leaders face challenges today like nothing they have ever seen before.
Former Concho GC Heads to Bracewell
Travis Counts is the second former C-suite hire from a major oil and gas player this year. He has negotiated and closed transactions exceeding $75 billion in value over his career, which includes Concho’s $9.5 billion sale to ConocoPhillips that closed in January.
Magellan Midstream Exec Joins Sidley
Trent Bridges served as the lead lawyer on numerous mergers and acquisitions and other corporate matters for the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company.
Remembering Clarence Brown – General Counsel, Leader, Husband, Father, Friend, Fashion Guru
Clarence and Shonn Brown were married for 21 years and became one of the power couples of corporate law in Texas. He was the GC of Kronos Worldwide. She is the deputy GC of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a multinational personal care products maker. Last Friday, Clarence Brown died from complications from a head injury. He was 52. But the impact he had was immeasurable. The Texas Lawbook has an in-depth report.