Lawyers, corporate general counsel and leaders of the Texas legal profession — 467 of them to be exact — received an email letter Thursday from AT&T General Counsel David McAtee and Halliburton Chief Legal Officer Van Beckwith announcing the annual Champions of Justice Gala that raises funds for Texas Access to Justice and military veterans. The 2025 Gala — to be held on April 30 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin — will feature Equal Justice Initiative Executive Director Bryan Stevenson, author of New York Times bestseller Just Mercy, which was made into a major motion picture of the same name. “To me, the Champions of Justice Gala has always been special,” McAtee said. “Working with Van to extend its reach and legacy is a real thrill. The funds we raise are dedicated to the many legal needs of our veterans. Last year, we set a fundraising record. We hope to shatter that record this year.”
Representation Matters: The History, the Journey, the Impact
According to the American Bar Association, there are more than 1.3 million lawyers in the United States. From 2014 to 2024, the legal profession grew by over 41,000 lawyers. However, while the number of lawyers steadily increased, the representation of Black lawyers has remained stagnant, holding firm at just 5 percent of the legal population, the same as it was a decade ago. This disparity becomes even more glaring when we focus on Black women.
Trouble & Justice: How Trouble in Texas Led to the Court Martial Trial of America’s Beloved Jackie Robinson
Decades before Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos), a Texas U.S. Army base, made national civilian news over the ever-present dangers and sexual misconduct-related injustices that too often await military service women — like Vanessa Guillen who was sexually harassed and murdered there in 2020 — it was the site of another type of injustice: racial discrimination against its Black servicemembers. Too often in the 1940s, racial discrimination, both on and off U.S. military bases, was so heinous it ended in tragedy. In one notable instance, it would lead to the court martial trial of Major League Baseball’s future pioneer and legend: Jackie Robinson.
P.S. — Living Black History Panel, DFW Lawyers Rock for Charity, Houston Corp. Counsel Diversity and Pro Bono Nominations Open
Black History Month comes alive Feb. 23 with an extraordinary panel discussion in downtown Dallas. In two weeks, musicians from more than a half-dozen law firms will rock for charity. And nominations are officially open for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, recognizing pro bono and diversity.
Antonio Milton: Black History Month is about ‘Generations Past that Struggled to Ensure the Basic Freedoms and Privileges’
Antonio X. Milton got the bug to be a lawyer when he visited his father’s southern Louisiana law office after school. “I was in first grade, and I’d go to his office to do homework,” Milton told Tulane University, his alma mater, in a 2022 interview. “I would see him working with clients, representing real people and arguing before the courts. Just seeing him in action had such an impact on me.”
Milton was the first African American editor-in-chief of the Tulane Law Review, clerked for former Chief Judge Carl Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and is now a lawyer at the Houston litigation firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing. For Black History Month, The Texas Lawbook asked Milton five questions about race, diversity and inclusion and whether he worries about Black history being “cancelled.”
V&E’s Quentin Smith: Black History Month Helps ‘All Better Understand Our Nation’
The spring, summer and fall of 2020 was a time of turbulence and uncertainty. The Covid-19 shutdowns meant law firm offices were closed, courts put all trials on hold and clients were struggling to survive. The media was filled with stories on the killings of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. There was a feeling of isolation. But it was later that year that Vinson & Elkins promoted Quentin Smith to partner.
Smith has scored a handful of multimillion-dollar trial victories for clients and is currently one of the lead lawyers representing Oncor Electric Delivery and other transmission and distribution utilities in the Winter Storm Uri litigation in which 15,000 plaintiffs seek several billions of dollars in damages in wrongful death, personal injury and property damage cases. Despite his busy schedule, Smith agreed to discuss Black History Month and diversity efforts with The Texas Lawbook.
Kirkland & Ellis Partner Launches Irisi, Empowering North Texas Teens Through Leadership Camps
Daniel Hernandez Alvarenga’s mother noticed a change in her 17-year-old son when she picked him up from the Dallas airport following a two-week stay at a rural camp nearly 2,000 miles away in Maine. Indeed, Hernandez had changed. The Dallas high school student gained energy, ideas and hope, he said in a testimonial video published by Irisi, a non-profit organization founded by Kirkland & Ellis Dallas partner Michael Considine and his wife, Megan Considine, that raises scholarships to send teenagers to camp. Irisi, which since 2023 has sent about a dozen North Texas students to the Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield, Maine, officially launched this year.
P.S. — Meet The Lawbook’s New Pro Bono & Diversity Reporter
Throughout the world of corporate law, there have been attacks on diversity and inclusion, as the biggest companies and law firms in America have bowed to pressure to back off their public commitment to DEI. At the same time, some political leaders and media commentators openly shame lawyers for tackling unpopular defendants or policies. The Texas Lawbook is actually doubling down on our commitment to pro bono, public service and diversity in the legal profession. Today, we officially announce the hiring of Krista Torralva as a new pro bono and diversity beat reporter for The Texas Lawbook. Krista is a former Dallas Morning News courts reporter who has covered litigation for The Lawbook for more than a year.
Conservative Group Targets American Airlines’ Diversity Contracting Program in New Lawsuit
The American Alliance for Equal Rights, headed by political conservative Edward Blum, has filed a lawsuit against Fort Worth-based American Airlines and its supplier, alleging the airline’s diversity policy for awarding certain contracts violates civil rights law. Blum, who took down affirmative action in college admissions, has recently been targeting diversity programs in law firms and corporations, including Southwest Airlines in a lawsuit last year alleging a charitable program that provided free tickets to low-income Hispanic students flying home to visit their parents is illegally discriminatory.
O’Melveny & Myers and First Liberty Institute File Lawsuit Over Denied Church Permit, Alleging Religious Liberty Violations
O’Melveny & Myers lawyers have joined Plano-based First Liberty Institute on a federal lawsuit accusing the city of Santa Ana, California, of violating a Chinese- and Taiwanese-American Christian church’s religious liberty rights. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Central District of California, accuses the city of violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, as well as the First Amendment. O’Melveny is working on the case pro bono.