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GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

Kathy McCoy: ‘A Visionary in the Ranks of Corporate Counsel’

Lawyers in the world of natural gas know Williams Companies Senior Counsel Kathryn McCoy, a former FERC lawyer who has led groundbreaking legal work developing a partnership involving LNG bunkering for ships in the U.S. She played a leading role in Southern Company’s sale of subsidiary Pivotal LNG to Dominion Energy, tackled legislation involving efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and handled major force majeure issues related to Winter Storm Uri. McCoy's knowledge of the energy industry is unparalleled and her value to her new employer, the Williams Companies, is immeasurable. She is the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

Mark Curriden

Two Final DFW Corporate Counsel Awards Finalists/Winners

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announce the finalists for the last two 2021 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards categories: GC of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department and Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department. In-house counsel at Pizza Hut and City Electric Supply are the winners.

Mark Curriden

Siva Barnwell Adams Led Chevron Through Covid Gauntlet to Close Noble Deal

Chevron senior counsel Siva Barnwell Adams worked mornings, nights and weekends in 2020 as the top lawyer representing the energy giant in its $13 billion acquisition of Noble Energy, which was the largest oil and gas transaction during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her inspiration to give it her all came 37 years earlier, when she was working part-time at Arby's and faced an angry Clear Lake High School track coach. "Today, when I think of giving 100%, I think of her.”

Mark Curriden

Q&A: Siva Barnwell Adams

Premium-Only Content:She likes a good story, as long as it's a short one. She plays Texas "Hold 'Em" on a regular basis. There's a lot to know about Siva Barnwell Adams and her work, so The Lawbook's Mark Curriden asked.

Mark Curriden

CenterPoint’s Dynamic Duo Karuturi & Ryan: Pro Bono is in their Bones

Monica Karuturi and Jason Ryan remember their first pro bono cases. Karuturi, now the GC at CenterPoint Energy, represented a middle-aged woman who had been violently assaulted by her long-time boyfriend. Ryan, now CenterPoint's top regulatory and governmental affairs leader, handled a family law case involving a child-custody dispute. These were cases that deeply impacted them as lawyers. Both said their parents instilled in them a passion for community service and that they have not lost their commitment for helping those who are less fortunate and in need of legal services.

Last week, CenterPoint promoted both lawyers to executive VP of the $17.5 billion energy giant. Karuturi and Ryan are the recipients of the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service.

Mark Curriden

Southwest Airlines’ Chief Legal Officer Mark Shaw – A Lifetime of Achievements

Since Mark Shaw joined Southwest Airlines 22 years ago, he has faced some monumental challenges, including the repercussions from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; the 2008 financial crisis; the $1.4 billion acquisition of AirTran Airlines in 2010; litigation with the grounding of Boeing 737 Max planes in 2019; and the Covid pandemic, which led SWA to raise an extraordinary $18.5 billion in capital from multiple securities offerings of debt, equity and convertible notes, as well as loans and grants from the federal government. To be sure, Shaw is not close to being finished.

Even so, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce that Shaw is the recipient of the 2021 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Mark Curriden

Q&A: Carolyn Benton Aiman

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.

Mark Curriden

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.

Mark Curriden

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

Mark Curriden

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.

Mark Curriden

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.

Mark Curriden

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.

Mark Curriden

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.

Mark Curriden

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.

Mark Curriden

LyondellBasell’s Andrew Gratz is a ‘Force of Nature’ in $2B M&A Deal

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, LyondellBasell Associate GC Andrew Gratz learned that South Africa-based Sasol wanted to sell 50% of an ethane and polyethylene operation in Louisiana for $2 billion, but there was a time crunch. Gratz, his in-house legal team and lawyers at Kirkland worked 16-hour days to accommodate the time differences between Houston and South Africa. Due diligence and negotiations over the JV's management and marketing took place virtually. Plus, it was difficult to build trust when negotiating teams are not face-to-face. But lawyers say Gratz was a force of nature that kept dealmakers moving forward and getting the transaction done. Thus, Gratz and Kirkland are finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year.

Mark Curriden

Q&A: Andrew Gratz

Premium-Only Content Andy Gratz oversees the vast legal work required at LyondellBasell, the petrochemical giant. The Lawbook's Mark Curriden interviewed him about his approach to the job, how his work in government relations helped shape that approach and his expectations of those who work with and for him.

Mark Curriden

Premium Subscriber Q&A with METRO GC Cydonii Fairfax

Premium-Only Content: Cydonii Fairfax is a finalist for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion. The Lawbook’s Mark Curriden had a chance to ask her about what outside counsel need to know if they want her business and her efforts at the University of Houston to increase diversity in the legal industry pipeline.

Mark Curriden

METRO GC Cydonii Fairfax is ‘Building a More Equitable Foundation’

Cydonii Fairfax has emerged as a leader of the Houston corporate legal community and one of the most influential role models on diversity and public service in Texas. As general counsel of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), Fairfax is playing a critical role in the implementation of a $7.5 billion transformation of one of the largest public transportation systems in the U.S. She also has implemented internal policies and practices that have led to substantive results. Nearly two-thirds of the lawyers in METRO’s legal department are women or ethnic minorities, including the top two posts. And she aggressively sends work to minority-owned law firms.

Mark Curriden

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