Ricky Torlincasi has seen a lot in less than 20 months as general counsel of Blackbeard Operating. Mark Curriden, founder of The Texas Lawbook had a chance to talk with Torlincasi at length about what he’s learned about himself, what he likes about in-house legal work and what he looks for in outside counsel.
Todd Barton: A ‘Steady Hand’ at Fannie Mae
Imagine a law practice in which you serviced tens of thousands of real estate transactions annually and oversaw the litigation in thousands of cases a year. Welcome to the world of Fannie Mae Deputy GC Todd Barton and his team, who provide legal support for all properties in the U.S. that are acquired by Fannie Mae in foreclosure.
How does he do it? The answer rests in the fact that Barton is the recipient of the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award for Innovation. The Texas Lawbook has his story.
Q&A: Todd Barton
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Todd Barton is Deputy GC of Fannie Mae. His legal department Fannie Mae handles thousands of real estate transactions annually. As a result, important decisions come fast and furious with consequences that extend far beyond the daily grind. How does he do it? How did he learn to do it? The Lawbook’s Mark Curriden had a chance to ask him.
‘The Most Heartbreaking Situation of My Life’
No corporate in-house counsel saw her or his world turned upside down any faster or more severely because of the Covid-19 pandemic than CEC Entertainment CLO Rudy Rodriguez. The 741 Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper restaurants in 47 states were shut down within days last March, thousands of workers were furloughed and then came bankruptcy.
The situation required extraordinary legal work, strong leadership and a tender heart. Rodriguez provided it. CEC survived and is poised to thrive. And Rodriguez, as a result, is a finalist for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department. This is his story.
Q&A: Rudy Rodriguez
For Premium Subscribers No corporate in-house counsel saw her or his world turned upside down any faster or more severely because of the Covid-19 pandemic than CEC Entertainment CLO Rudy Rodriguez. The 600 Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper restaurants in 47 states were shut down within days last March, thousands of workers were furloughed and then came bankruptcy.
A Pro Bono ‘Ball of Fire’
Toyota Managing Counsel Meyling Ly Ortiz has won a major wage and hour class action lawsuit, developed and implemented cutting-edge programs to address bias in the workplace and played a huge role in guiding the world’s largest carmaker through Covid-19 restrictions. But Ly Ortiz is a finalist for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award for Pro Bono and Public Service for one reason: she has a servant’s heart, which she attributes to extraordinary decisions her parents made 7,800 miles away four decades ago.
Q&A: Meyling Ly Ortiz
For Premium Subscribers Only Meyling Ly Ortiz is managing counsel for labor and employment law for Toyota North America. Mark Curriden, founder of ,em>The Texas Lawbook had the chance to ask her about her philosophy regarding pro bono and its importance in considering outside counsel.
Neiman Marcus’ Tasha Grinnell – Standing Up and Standing Out
Tasha Grinnell started at Neiman Marcus exactly one year ago. Days after she started, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Stores needed to be closed and some employees furloughed. Two months later, the luxury department store filed for bankruptcy – a brutal and costly process that Grinnell and her predecessor Tracy Preston conquered. “We had a lot of balls in the air, and we still do,” Grinnell, who became Neiman Marcus’ interim GC on Friday, told The Texas Lawbook in an exclusive interview.
PepsiCo’s Leanne Oliver – 2020 DFW Corporate Counsel’s Lifetime Achievement Award
For a quarter of a century, Leanne Oliver has been a corporate in-house lawyer for PepsiCo and Frito-Lay. She has been a groundbreaker in developing family leave policies and internal training efforts to eliminate sexual harassment. She’s also a highly successful labor and employment lawyer.
2020 DFW General Counsel of the Year Finalists
American Airlines and Chuck E. Cheese. Farmer Brothers and HMS Holdings. Southwest Airlines and Aventiv. The CLOs and GCs at these six North Texas companies utilized their legal acumen and business leadership skills to lead their employers through a monumentally challenging year. They are finalists for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards.
Legal Departments: Doing More with Less
For any industry, what goes up must come down. We see this in the airline industry on a minute-by-minute basis as planes take off and land as scheduled. In 2020, COVID-19 brought radical and immediate changes to businesses and their legal departments. Like airlines, the key is to agree on a flight plan and bring everyone in for a soft landing.
Schwab Hires Shamoil Shipchandler as New Chief Counsel
Financial services giant Charles Schwab, which just relocated its HQ on Jan.1, is expected to announce next week that it is hiring former Securities and Exchange Commission regional director and former federal prosecutor Shamoil Shipchandler as its new chief counsel.
Marathon Oil Hires Alta Mesa GC to Lead Legal Team
Houston-based Marathon Oil has chosen Kimberly Warnica, the former general counsel at Alta Mesa Resources, to replace Reginald Hedgebeth as its new general counsel.
Updated – Fired DFW Asst GC Paul Davis: ‘I was not trying to break in’ the Capitol
Westlake-based Goosehead Insurance terminated the employment Thursday of its assistant GC, Paul Davis, who posted a video on Instagram Wednesday that appears to show himself inside the Capitol building as part of the Trump protest that turned into a riot. Davis, who posted several social media messages claiming the elections were a fraud, said Thursday that he was “fired for exercising my First Amendment rights.”
Halliburton Names Van Beckwith its Chief Legal Officer
One year ago, Halliburton Chief Legal Officer Robb Voyles hired Baker Botts litigation partner Van Beckwith to be the oilfield service giant’s general counsel with the idea that he would eventually replace Voyles. Eventually has arrived. In exclusive interviews, Beckwith and Voyles tell The Texas Lawbook about their moves and what is ahead.
Marlie Ruth’s Cancer Fighting, Mutton Bustin’ Gives GC Kevin McDonald Perspective
Kevin McDonald has experienced extraordinary career successes. He has rung the opening or closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange three times with three companies. In 2019, he helped engineer a $1.8 billion merger between Keane Group and C&J Energy, creating an oil field services powerhouse with more than $4 billion in annual revenues. For those achievements and more, McDonald is the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department. The Texas Lawbook has his complete story – and an amazing story it is.
Implicit Bias in the Courts and at the Bar
Everyone has biases. Not everyone tries to identify theirs. Some don’t realize they are discriminatory. And lawyers who see prejudice with judges or other lawyers “need to pushback against it,” U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore told the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter in a CLE webcast last week called “Implicit Bias in the Courts.”
Kylie Loya – Keeping the Legal Trains on Time
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County lawyer Kylie Loya was born in a refugee camp in Manila. She was still a baby when she was granted asylum and was still in high school when she represented herself in court. Today, Loya is a rising star in the Texas legal community; she is a legal expert on drone usage and helped bring Wi-Fi to public transit customers in Houston. She is also the recipient of the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.
Q&A: Kylie Loya
The Texas Lawbook provides unique and substantive content to our Premium subscribers. In this exclusive interview, METRO staff attorney Kylie Loya discusses the mentors in her life, discusses her best day on the job, provides insight what she looks for when hiring outside counsel and the need for more diversity in the legal profession.
Prosperity Bank’s Charlotte Rasche and Bracewell’s Will Anderson – Real Lawyers for Real Bankers
Charlotte Rasche has handled more than 30 M&A transactions for Prosperity Bank – first as a lawyer at Bracewell and now as the financial institution’s chief legal officer. None of those deals, however, were close to being as large or important as Prosperity’s $2.1 billion purchase of Plano-based LegacyTexas Bank a year ago. Working with Bracewell’s Will Anderson, Rasche completed one of the largest bank deals in Texas history in less than five months. Rasche and Anderson are the winners of the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for M&A Transaction of the Year.
Q&A: Charlotte Rasche
The Texas Lawbook provides unique and substantive content to our Premium subscribers. In this exclusive interview, Prosperity Bank General Counsel Charlotte Rasche provides insight what she looks for when hiring outside counsel, key things that outside counsel need to know about her, how the role of the GC has changed and the need for more diversity in the legal profession.