In this edition of P.S., Natalie Posgate highlights several lawyers in the Houston legal community receiving awards by the Houston Bar Association, a grant awarded to a Central Texas nonprofit supporting low-income domestic violence survivors and a special thanks to a recent string of contributors to the Texas Lawbook Foundation.
More Stories
Texas Justices OK State’s Emissions Scandal Suit Against VW, Audi
The case went through two rounds of oral arguments at the state’s high court, saw the voluntary recusal of two justices and the appointment by the governor of two intermediate appellate justices to the case. The ruling will allow Texas to bring its lawsuit against the German automakers alleging they violated state environmental laws via the emissions-cheating software scandal perpetrated by the companies.
Baker Hughes’ Amy Blumrosen Fights For ‘Equity, Equality and Inclusion for All’
Amy Blumrosen is a jack of all trades, both in her litigation work in Baker Hughes’ legal department and in her work to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the legal industry. She chairs the legal and compliance department’s DEI council at the company and outside of work has advocated for the LGBTQ community through her work with Lambda Legal, the Texas Minority Council Forum and more. She also fights inequities through volunteer work at the Houston Food Bank, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and more. All her efforts have landed her recognition by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook as a finalist for the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion award.
“When she can’t get in through the door, she’s coming in through the window,” said Travis Torrence, a previous ACC winner and friend of Blumrosen. “If the window is closed, she’s going to break through the ceiling. Amy gets things done and achieves meaningful change.”
Blumrosen’s steadfast commitment to fight inequities comes from deep personal experience. This is her story.
Q&A: Amy Blumrosen, GLC of Baker Hughes
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston chapter and The Texas Lawbook recently named Baker Hughes global litigation counsel Amy Blumrosen a finalist for the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion award.
In this Q&A, Blumrosen discusses with The Lawbook’s pro bono, public service and diversity writer Natalie Posgate how she approaches female attorney mentorship, why community and pro bono work is important in addition to DEI work and her views on where DEI is headed in the Texas corporate world.
Mark Chavez, GC of Ocean Point Terminals, Creates Success from an Environmental Mess in a Caribbean Paradise
When Mark Chavez was brought on board as general counsel at Ocean Point Terminals in June 2021, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Its major client, a refinery on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, had been shut down by the EPA after a series of environmental incidents and was barreling towards bankruptcy. With the two companies bound together in service agreements that threatened both, all he had to do was negotiate a divorce with the other company, fend off four class-action lawsuits, defend dozens of other lawsuits, arrange more than $100 million in bridge financing and new capital, help re-permit the refinery and salvage the company’s relationship with its island neighbors.
He did it; pretty much all of it. And as a result, Mark Chavez is a finalist for GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department (five or less lawyers) in the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Texas Employment Lawyers Talk FTC’s Proposed Noncompete Ban
The Texas Lawbook recently spoke to labor and employment lawyers in Texas about the proposal and what it would mean for both their employer clients and the litigation landscape statewide should the rule go into effect. The comment period, which was extended for an additional month because of the number of comments received, closed April 19 and garnered 26,814 responses.
Q&A: Mark Chavez, GC Ocean Point Terminals
When Mark Chavez was brought on board as general counsel at Ocean Point Terminals in June 2021, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Its major client, a refinery on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, had been shut down by the EPA after a series of environmental incidents and was barreling towards bankruptcy. As a result of his work during a critical time in Ocean Point’s history, Chavez has been named a finalist in the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards as GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department (five or less lawyers).
Mark Curriden, founder of The Texas Lawbook, had a chance to discuss with Chavez some of his remarkable life experiences, the challenges of 2022 and what he expects from outside counsel when he seeks their help.
Q&A: Marilyn Moore Basso of TPC Group
For Premium Subscribers Executives at petrochemical processor TPC Group woke the morning of Nov. 27, 2019, to tragic news. Its refinery in Port Neches, Texas, had experienced a major explosion
Marilyn Moore Basso’s ‘Drive and Intelligence Put Her in the Top Tier of GCs’
TPC General Counsel Marilyn Moore Basso has faced some challenges the past couple of years. The petrochemical processor experienced a major explosion at its refinery in Port Neches. Next came the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by an unforeseen economic recession and a plunge in commodity prices. In February 2021, there was Winter Storm Uri, which brought subzero temperatures to Texas.
In June 2022, TPC Group filed for Chapter 11. Marilyn and her small legal team at TPC steered the company through a full restructuring in just six months. Her leadership and efforts on these matters have earned her the recognition of being named a finalist for the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.
CDT Roundup: 23 Deals, 18 Firms, 135 Lawyers, $3.7B
If oil and gas producers (and their lenders, and their investors) seem ill-at-ease these days, it’s not imaginary. Haynes Boone’s Spring 2023 survey of the O&G deal community suggests they are pessimistic about the near-term availability of capital and are looking at a variety of sources to maintain growth and profitability — sources that increasingly include their own cash flow. This week’s CDT Roundup has the specifics of the survey, which included 96 top executives from the industry and the banks that lend to them. And, as usual, there are the names of the Texas firms and lawyers behind the 23 deals reported last week.