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GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

Chevron’s Alyssa Schindler Knows Firsthand the Difference Pro Bono Lawyers Can Make

The 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Creative Partnership goes to Chevron senior counsel Aylssa Schindler and Lauren Brogdon of Norton Rose Fulbright. The duo normally handle multimillion-dollar transactions and lawsuits, but they came together to co-engineer a major pro bono effort involving more than 20 lawyers from the energy giant and the global law firm to help 10 low-income victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Mark Curriden

Former Motiva Asst. GC Keith Calcote: Family Trial Inspires Public Service

Keith Calcote’s son was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome in the third grade. “We knew nothing about Tourette’s or what lay ahead,” said Calcote, who has served as an assistant general counsel at Shell Oil, Motiva and Waste Management. During the past three decades, Calcote has been involved in some of the biggest corporate civil lawsuits in Texas history. But his family’s experience with Tourette’s gave him an understanding and compassion that deeply affected his profession and faith.

Mark Curriden

Q&A: Christina Ibrahim

The Texas Lawbook provides unique and substantive content to our Premium subscribers. In this interview, former Weatherford International General Counsel Christina Ibrahim provides personal insight into her life, how she selects outside counsel and key things outside counsel should know about her.

Mark Curriden

Christina Ibrahim – A Transformational Chief Legal Officer

Christina Ibrahim’s accomplishments at Weatherford International include multiple large M&A deals and guiding the oil services company through a highly successful bankruptcy and restructuring that eliminated $6 billion in debt. But her achievement was much different, much deeper and much more important. The Association of Corporate Counsel Houston and The Texas Lawbook award the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel’s General Counsel of the Year Award for a Large Legal Department to Ibrahim.

Mark Curriden

TX Minority Counsel Program: ‘Living Through History is Not Easy’

Diversity and inclusion must be personal. Making history and even just experiencing it can be difficult. Words followed up by actions on mandatory diversity by corporate general counsel equals progress and success. These were the messages that came from the Texas Minority Counsel Program's two-day annual meeting.

Mark Curriden

Lauren Haller: A Leader in Diversity and Inclusion at Pattern Energy and Beyond

Lauren Haller is the the daughter of a Houston judge and the great-great-granddaughter of an emancipated slave who became a Texas legislator during Reconstruction. Now legal counsel for operations at Pattern Energy, Haller created and launched a cutting-edge effort in the recruitment, professional development and retention of professionals at one of the world’s largest renewable energy companies. She is also the recipient of the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.

Mark Curriden

Q&A with Pattern Energy Corporate Counsel Lauren Haller

The Texas Lawbook provides unique and substantive content to our Premium subscribers. In this interview, Pattern Energy Corporate Counsel Lauren Haller provides personal insight into her life, how she selects outside counsel and key things outside counsel should know about her.

Allen Pusey

2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards Nominations are Open

The Texas Lawbook and the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel are now accepting nominations for the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards. GCs and in-house counsel faced challenges like no other year and they did it with great success. Now, it is time to recognize and celebrate those achievements.

Mark Curriden

CenterPoint Energy Associate GC Judy Liu – An ‘Air Traffic Controller’ Managing a 150 Case Litigation Docket

Judy Liu was 6 when she and her mom arrived in the U.S. from Taiwan. She learned English in less than three months, mainly by watching Sesame Street, but she also discovered that kids in Texas were not always so welcoming. Even so, Liu survived and thrived and is the quintessential immigrant success story. Four decades later, Liu one of the top lawyers at CenterPoint Energy, managing about 150 active lawsuits. She is also the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department.

Mark Curriden

Q&A: CenterPoint Associate GC Judy Liu

In a bonus Q&A for Premium Subscribers, Judy Liu shares with Lawbook founder Mark Curriden her views on litigation management, how she hires special counsel and what outside counsel needs to know about her.

Mark Curriden

2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award Nominations

The COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in the oil patch have meant difficult times for many businesses. Through all of this, corporate general counsel and senior counsel at companies across North Texas have been called upon to do the best legal work of their careers. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter and The Texas Lawbook seek to identify and honor those in-house counsel for the great legal work and leadership they performed in 2020.

Mark Curriden

2020 Houston Corp. Counsel Award: How Mindy Harper Won the Mattress Wars

Mattress Firm senior counsel Mindy Harper had been on the job only a few months when the Houston bedding company became embroiled in a multi-year, bet-the-company dispute that was litigating in 14 states - all happening as Mattress Firm went through a $3 billion bankruptcy and restructuring. “Mindy was the quintessential ‘grace under fire’ since the date she started at the company,” Houston lawyer John Thomas said.

Mark Curriden

Q&A: Mindy Harper

The Texas Lawbook provides unique, substantive and exclusive content to our Premium subscribers. In the interview, Mattress Firm Senior Counsel Mindy Harper provides personal insight into her life, how she selects outside counsel and key things outside counsel should know about her.

Mark Curriden

Mattress Firm’s Daria Russell: ‘Takes a Holistic Approach to Problem-solving and Never Cuts Corners’

Daria Russell is the granddaughter of sharecroppers. She worked hard, went to Harvard Law and worked at a global law firm. Now she is senior counsel at Mattress Firm where she has handled more than a dozen M&A deals and guided the retailer through bankruptcy restructuring. She is also the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel's Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department. This is Daria Russell's story.

Includes link to special Q&A for Premium Subscribers Only, including what Russell looks for in outside counsel.

Mark Curriden

Kindel Nuno Q&A: ‘I Have No Money and No Time’

In a special feature for Premium Subscribers, Kindel Nuno discusses with Mark Curriden, founder of The Texas Lawbook, her life mentors, her best and worst days at Mattress Firm, her criteria for hiring outside counsel, important things to consider for the lawyers she hires and her biggest challenges ahead.

Mark Curriden

GC Kindel Nuno Leads Mattress Firm Through Crises and Minefields

Mattress Firm GC Kindel Nuno does not mince words about December 2017: “It was horrible – among the worst days of my professional career." Nuno had led MF through two-dozen M&A deals to make it a national bedding retailer with 3,600 stores and $3 billion in revenues. But then, Mattress Firm's parent company was accused of accounting fraud and the Houston retailer was staring at bankruptcy. Thankfully, MF had Nuno as its legal guide.

Includes link to special Q&A for Premium Subscribers Only.

Mark Curriden

Jing Bian ‘Proves that Nice People Can Finish First’

International corporate mergers often hinge on the meaning of a single term or the interpretation of a response. Enter Energy Transfer senior counsel Jing Bian, a Chinese-born, Harvard Law-educated M&A lawyer used her knowledge of Chinese culture and fluency in Mandarin to help guide the pipeline giant through a crucial joint venture. Citing Bian’s extraordinary success in less than two years in-house, Jing Bian is the 2020 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Rookie of the Year.

Mark Curriden

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