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Buc-ee’s, CenterPoint, Precision Drilling, Peak Completion, LyondellBasell & Superior Energy Win Big at 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Thursday night that Buc-ee’s Deputy General Counsel Tracy Richardson is the winner of the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards’ Business Litigation of the Year.

CenterPoint Energy Associate General Counsel Monica Karuturi and her outside lawyers at Akin Gump and Baker Botts are the winners of the 2019 M&A Transaction of the Year.

More than 300 leaders of Houston corporate legal departments and the most prominent business lawyers in Texas celebrated the annual 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel awards Thursday evening at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Houston.

We have exclusive coverage of the event and a list of winners in The Texas Lawbook.

Carriage’s Mike Elliott & Shook Hardy – Creative Partnering

Legal Counsel Mike Elliott of Carriage Services, a $300 million funeral operations company, has a distinctive approach to litigation: he likes his company to avoid it. To do so he has formed a creative alliance with law firm Shook Hardy Bacon that involves a shared vision of legal needs and something close to absolute professional trust. Their relationship is the sole finalist and thus the winner of the 2019 ACC Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Creative Partnership. Mark Curriden describes that award-winning relationship.

Keane Group’s Kevin McDonald – Actively involved in Running the Company

Kevin McDonald leads a legal department with four lawyers that last year successfully led the preparation of the Keane Group’s first proxy statement and first annual stockholders meeting. He helped lead legal support for the acquisition and integration of hydraulic fracturing assets of RSI, a new senior term loan credit facility, a $100 million stock repurchase plan and two underwritten secondary offerings of company stock totaling $307 million. And now he’s a finalist for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

ConocoPhillips’ Shannon Kinney: Persuasion through Engagement

Shannon Kinney is an exceptional lawyer. But her development of creative ways to interact with stockholders has made her an expert in investor relations. As a result, she is a finalist for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Baker Hughes and Bracewell Fend Off A Patent Challenge

Eleven years ago, Baker Hughes hired an innovation firm to design for them a motor-based safety valve for use in their wells. Once the valve was developed, one of the designers claimed the patent as his own. In-house patent attorney Anthony Matheny and a team from Bracewell used a lot of law and a good deal of finesse to fend off the claim. Now Baker Hughes, Matheny and the Bracewell attorneys are finalists for Business Litigation of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Kraton’s Jay Simmons: The Success of a Failed English Major

As a young man, Jay Simmons envisioned himself teaching college students about great literature. But when he realized that academia was not for him, Simmons turned to the law. And now he’s a finalist for General Counsel of the Year for a Mid-size Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Mark Curriden has the story of his remarkable transition.

Shell Oil Exploring and Producing Diversity and Inclusion

Matthew Coward and Belinda Senneway of Shell Oil are keepers of the diversity torch first lit at the energy giant by the legendary Cathy Lamboley. Lamboley retired in 2010, but Coward and Senneway have kept strong the push for diversity at Shell, and are consensus winners of the Diversity Award in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Amber Shushan Brings Mega-Litigation Experience to PetroChina

Early in her career, Amber Shushan was a senior counsel at a law firm representing Transocean, which owned the 2010 BP-operated Macondo Prospect. As a result, she was in a position to glean great knowledge from the plethora of lawsuits and disputes that resulted from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. Now she’s advising global energy giant PetroChina on how to avoid that kind of economic and public relations disaster. She’s also a finalist for Senior Legal Counsel of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

David Houck: The Care and Curiosity of a ‘Lifetime Learner’

David Houck had no interest in the oil and gas industry when he first became a lawyer. Now, more than four decades later, he is considered the dean of the energy bar. ACC Houston and The Texas Lawbook are rewarding his work and lifetime of learning with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Plains All American’s Lawrence Dreyfuss – A Legend in Texas Oil & Gas Law

In his decades in the legal department for Plains All American Pipeline, Lawrence Dreyfuss worked through 62 completed acquisitions and divestitures with an aggregate value of over $8 billion. He oversaw the legal work for Plains’ capital projects totaling more than $7 billion. He was directly involved or supervised the handling of more than 3,000 legal claims. And during his tenure, Plains’ EBITDA grew from $89.1 million in 1999 to $2.684 billion in 2018. So, it’s no surprise that he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Corporate Counsel Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook. Mark Curriden has his story.

Fermeen Fazal of UniversalPegasus: ‘The Ferminator’

Fermeen Fazal is chief counsel and chief administrative officer for Houston-based UniversalPegasus International. She’s so nice, that colleagues say it’s easy to forget that she can be a very fierce advocate. The company president has nick-named her “The Ferminator.” But she’s approachable, team-oriented and has a history as a very fine litigator. She’s also a finalist for GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Kraton’s Jennie Howard – A Rookie with Securities Experience and a Huge Heart

Jennie Howard’s first day in the legal department at Houston-based Kraton Corp. began with her assignment to a $1.7 billion acquisition. She had to hit the ground running. Three months later, the deal was closed and she got REALLY busy overseeing a wide variety of corporate responsibilities. As a result she’s a finalist for Rookie of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Tim Johnson – A Plane Crash and a Painful Turnaround

When Tim Johnson’s friend and boss – the founder of the company he worked for – died tragically in a plane crash, it was a “punch in the gut.” But things were about to get worse. In the wake of his friend’s death, Johnson uncovered a massive fraud at his company. The skill and determination with which he approached that problem, as well as others that emerged at Peak Completion Technologies, has resulted in his nomination as GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department in Houston’s 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards.

Precision Drilling’s Veronica Foley: ‘A Superstar in All Respects’

Precision Drilling GC Veronica Foley is fluent in Spanish, fluent in French and talented in ways that her colleagues regard her as “a superstar.” From unique legal projects to everyday functions she helps keep the company out in front of issues. And now she is a finalist for GC of the Year for a Mid-sized Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Apache GC Lannie, Bracewell’s Rafte Put Together Complex M&A

When Apache Corp. and Kayne Anderson Acquisition Corp. set up a joint venture to develop West Texas assets, that turned out to be the easy part. But add Apache’s desire to contribute options for long-haul pipelines to the Texas Gulf Coast and things got complicated. Apache’s GC and outside counsel Bracewell solved a trunkful of structural difficulties, leading them to become finalists for the M&A Transaction of the Year in the 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards. Claire Poole explains why.

Richard Rosenberg: GC of U.S. Zinc and Public Service Champion

In 2015, when Richard Rosenberg became board president of the 65-year-old Center in Houston, the nonprofit was a mess. It had no cash reserves, a $6 million debt and its deteriorated campuses had been badly punished by Hurricane Harvey. Flash forward the loan is paid, the campuses are flourishing and Rosenberg, GC of Houston’s U.S. Zinc, is sole finalist and worthy winner in the Public Service category of the 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards.

Shell’s Kevin Feeney and T&K’s $200M Arbitration Win

One of Kevin Feeney’s first issues when he became Shell Oil senior counsel of upstream litigation was a $200 million arbitration. After a 250,000 document dump and a 17-day hearing, Shell walked away with a take-nothing judgment in their favor. Natalie Posgate profiles the deal, which is a finalist for the 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards Business Litigation of the Year.

Tagtow, Phillips Lead the “Small and Mighty” Legal Team on BMC Sale to KKR

When its private equity owner Bain Capital decided it was time to exit BMC, Pat Tagtow and his colleague, Robin Phillips, knew they had a lot of work ahead of them. By the time they were finished, PE giant KKR had purchased BMC for a reported $8.3 billion. Now they are finalists for the Houston Corporate Counsel Awards M&A transaction of the year. Claire Poole profiles them.

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