Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Kristen Cook, a 15-year lawyer with 7-Eleven who most recently served as chief of staff to the CEO, is joining the Dallas-headquartered global cash and valuables management company as chief legal officer, executive vice president, and corporate secretary. Cook discussed her 7-Eleven tenure and move to Brink’s with The Lawbook.
Dallas lawyer Ashley Yen, who was recognized for her efforts guiding Methodist through Covid-19, is taking her first general counsel role.
Marita Covarrubias is a high-ranking Dallas lawyer at Tenet Healthcare who shares a name with a secret agent on The X-Files. Derek Lipscombe was a former Houston Astros bat boy turned award-winning newspaper reporter who is managing counsel for Toyota North America. Both lawyers of color, Covarrubias and Lipscombe have represented their multibillion-dollar corporations in bet-the-company litigation matters — from class-action lawsuits involving cybersecurity and data breaches to massive antitrust challenges — in courtrooms across the country, and both have become critical advisors to the top executives and board members at Tenet and Toyota. Earlier this year, Covarrubias and Lipscombe became the first husband-wife duo to receive the 2024 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement. “Marita and Derek exemplify what it means to dedicate a lifetime of excellence, integrity and the betterment of the legal profession and the North Texas business community,” said Association of Corporate Counsel DFW Chapter President Alvin Benton, who is senior counsel for corporate compliance at Capital One in Dallas.
In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, Tenet's Marita Covarrubias and Toyota North America's Derek Lipscombe discuss the traits they seek in outside counsel, what outside counsel needs to know when working with them, how their jobs have changed over three decades and being parents to an amazing son with special needs.
Christine E. Reinhard, co-founder of San Antonio-based labor and employment law firm Schmoyer Reinhard, was honored with the ACC San Antonio Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award in the private lawyer category. Launching her firm during the Great Recession, Reinhard prioritized integrity, transparency and client service – values rooted in her upbringing and reinforced by her law partner, Shannon Schmoyer. Today, their firm is believed to be the largest women-owned law firm in San Antonio and a leader in ethical legal practice.
Vincent R. Johnson was an aspiring lawyer when the Watergate scandal was unfolding. Disciplinary proceedings were brought against more than 20 lawyers for misconduct including obstruction of justice and violation of campaign laws, and “it was embarrassing to be a lawyer at that point in time,” Johnson said. But there was no doubt in Johnson’s mind that he wanted to be an attorney. As the ethics professor retires from St. Mary’s University School of Law this year, the Association of Corporate Counsel San Antonio chapter has honored him with its prestigious Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award. Pictured: Johnson with Lauren Valkenaar at the St. Mary's Alumni Luncheon in June.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit finds that a lawsuit challenging admissions practices at the University of Texas at Austin is not moot, a fake immigration lawyer faces prison time, and the Western District of Texas announces a high-profile indictment.
After 18 years as an in-house counsel and more than four years as the chief legal officer at real estate giant Hines, Richard Heaton is returning to practice law. Greenberg Traurig announced that Heaton has joined the firm’s Houston office as a shareholder in its real estate practice.
After five years in-house with the NFL franchise, Sunil Jamal is returning to private practice to lead Munsch Hardt’s newly formed Sports + Entertainment Practice.
DFW-based Toyota Motor North America has named a new general counsel and a new corporate compliance and ethics officer — both will report to chief legal officer Sandra Phillips Rogers. The automaker has named former deputy general counsel Elizabeth Gibson to the GC position and assistant GC Dawn Pittman Collins to the corporate compliance and ethics officer post. Gibson has been a lawyer in the legal department at Toyota for more than 19 years. In her previous position, she oversaw complex litigation, government investigations and regulatory compliance.
Former Olympic and world champion gymnast Tasha (Schwikert) Moser will lead the Rice athletic department's advancement of name, image and likeness and opportunities for the university's student-athletes following the approval of the NCAA’s historic $2.8 billion House settlement. Moser previously led Munck Wilson’s NIL consulting department.
Jacque Kruppa joined the firm’s Dallas office as a partner, Bradley announced in a press release Wednesday. She had been at Texas Regional Bank for about a year and a half and spent 17 years at Hunton Andrews Kurth prior to that.
More than 225 leaders of the corporate legal profession in Houston celebrated the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognized general counsel and senior managing counsel from companies ranging from Phillips 66 and Shell to Enbridge, Baker Hughes and Transocean. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook hosted 20 corporate in-house counsel who had been nominated for awards in 14 categories, from Rookie of the Year and Lifetime Achievement to M&A Transaction and Business Litigation of the Year.
Waste Management’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Stericycle was highly complex, merging WM’s $20 billion solid waste business with Stericycle’s $2.6 billion medical waste operation. The deal faced hurdles including class action litigation, a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation, and major integration challenges. Over several years, WM’s Chief Legal Officer, Charles Boettcher, played a key role in strategy, evaluation, and execution — culminating in one of 2024’s most significant transactions, with outside counsel Vinson & Elkins. As a result, Waste Management's acquisition of Stericycle is one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for M&A Transaction of the Year. The award will be presented by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook today at the Four Seasons in Houston.
McDermott, a key contractor on the multibillion-dollar Freeport LNG facility, faced lawsuits seeking nearly $2 billion in damages. Freeport’s insurers sought over $1.3 billion in subrogation claims, while Freeport LNG itself alleged design defects. Both lawsuits were filed as adversary proceedings in the bankruptcy of McDermott’s joint venture partner, Zachry Construction. The cases involved complex engineering and contract issues among multiple partners. The cases involved complex engineering and contract issues among multiple partners. Ultimately, the insurers’ claims were dismissed as well as the consequential damages portion of the defect suit, though the insurers have appealed the dismissal. For navigating the complexities, McDermott's in-house legal team is one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year. The award will be presented by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook on Thursday at the Four Seasons in Houston.
Adam MacLuckie and Huyen Luong led the Shell US Legal DEI Council during a pivotal time, fostering open dialogue and community through their “Let’s Talk About It” campaign as the company returned to in-person work post-pandemic and amid a nationwide reckoning with racism. Drawing from their personal backgrounds – Luong’s journey from post-war Vietnam and MacLuckie’s lifelong path to allyship – they built inclusive, two-way engagement that increased participation and trust. Their efforts earned them the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Diversity and Inclusion.
Baker Hughes shifted from defendant to plaintiff in a years-long legal battle with LiquidPower Specialty Products, overcoming patent infringement claims through inter partes review while building a strong antitrust case. This strategy, spanning U.S. and Canadian courts and the Patent Office, enabled Baker Hughes to settle in December 2024 and clear the way for a new product launch. Vice President of Litigation Teresa Garcia-Reyes, who oversees about 80 attorneys, emphasized the high stakes involved. “We are an energy technology company, so we take IP cases and the effect that they have on the ability to market our products very seriously,” she said. “There was real money at stake here, and it had been going on for so long, that it was nice to drive this one to closure.” The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook congratulate Garcia-Reyes for being selected as one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year. The awards ceremony is set for May 22 at the Four Seasons downtown.
To build a global group of lawyers from the ground up, a leader needs to communicate clearly about the culture being created while also earning the trust of business partners and scaling the function across geographies and practice types. In a dozen years at Hines, the private, Houston-based real estate investment giant, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Richard Heaton has done just that by recruiting and training lawyers to work as one team across the 30 countries where the company operates. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook congratulate Heaton for being selected as one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston General Counsel of the Year Award. The awards ceremony is set for May 22 at the Four Seasons downtown.
Kathleen Bertolatus had a “pivotal family conversation” with her dad three decades ago when she was looking at colleges. “His advice to me was that, since the most important role in my life was going to be as wife and mother, I should go to the least expensive school,” Bertolatus told The Texas Lawbook. “While my mother didn’t work outside the home, I already knew at that young age that I wanted to make a broader impact in the world.” Today, Bertolatus is a wife, a mother and one of the most respected environmental and regulatory lawyers in the energy industry, where she serves as managing counsel for Phillips 66. "I’m proud of 18-year-old me, and all those versions in between, for holding fast to a vision that has made my family and career successful,” she said. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Lawbook have selected Bertolatus as one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Senior Counsel of the Year Award for a large legal department. The awards ceremony is set for May 22 at the Four Seasons downtown.
In the first quarter of 2024, Baker Hughes launched a global legal and compliance diversity, inclusion and belonging counsel with the mission of infusing those values into the legal department through internal and external engagement. Led by Ivett Hughes in Houston, a regional team of lawyers and staff partnered with Houston Volunteer Lawyers to represent four clients — roughly one pro bono case per five lawyers. They blew past their goal by 500 percent. The Houston Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook have selected Hughes and Baker Hughes as its 2025 Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service award recipient.
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