By Mark Curriden, JD
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(October 9) – “You know you are nearing the end of your career,” Charles Hardy said Tuesday evening, “when they start giving you awards.”
Last night, Hardy received the General Counsel Forum’s 13th Annual Robert H. Dedman Award for Ethics and Law, recognizing the Austin Industries’ general counsel for his nearly four decades of law practice in Texas.
Next year, Hardy plans to retire as general counsel of Austin Industries after 33 years at the Dallas-based construction management and contracting firm – the past 13 years as GC. During his time at the company, Austin Industries has built a significant portion of the Dallas skyline, including the Bank of America Tower, the Chase Bank Tower, Museum Tower, the Hunt Oil headquarters and the American Airlines Center.
A 1975 graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law, Hardy is recognized nationally as a leader and expert in arbitration and mediation of complex construction disputes.
“This award recognizes my company and the people I work with more than it does me,” Hardy told an audience of a 300 general counsels and lawyers. “Ethics and values are the core of our company.”
Hardy is a sixth generation Texan. His great, great, great grandfather (William Clark) was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He was born and raised in Hondo, Texas.
A journalism major at the University of Texas, Hardy took a career path different from many corporate general counsels. He initially worked as a briefing attorney for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Brown. Then, he became a felony prosecutor in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
“Our friends in law school referred to Charles as Dr. Death, because he won just about every murder trial he handled,” said Peter Vogel, a partner at Gardere. “But he is uniformly respected around the country as a great lawyer and arbitrator.”
More than 300 lawyers attended the event, including former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, prominent Dallas lawyers Darrell Jordan, Mike Lynn, David Coale, James Ho, Monica Latin, Bruce Collins, Ron White, AT&T Deputy General Counsel David McAtee and Interstate Battery GC Chris Willis.