This week’s edition of P.S. features a woman lawyer’s rise in the ranks of the ABA’s litigation section, details on the Texas Access to Justice Commission’s upcoming annual gala benefiting low-income veterans (including how many dollars away it is from hitting its fundraising goal), an impending leadership change at UT Law’s Center for Women in Law and the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s April legal clinic dates.
The Latest
— On April 25, the Texas Access to Justice Commission will host its 2024 Champions of Justice gala benefiting the state’s low-income veterans. The event, which will take place at the AT&T Hotel & Conference Center in Austin, has raised $464,100 so far, which is nearly $21,000 shy of the $85,900 that the Commission raised last year, and nearly $86,000 short of this year’s $550,000 goal.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Maj. Gen. Alfred A. Valenzuela, a commissioner (board member) of Access to Justice. Besides being a retired two-star Army major general, Valenzuela has worn multiple other civilian hats as a senior consultant for the Center of Terrorism at St. Mary’s University School of Law as well as a senior military advisor to the law school’s Warrior Defense Project. He’s also an author, a serial nonprofit board member and an advisor to the University of Texas Health Science Center’s Military Health Institute. Valenzuela’s military career included serving in the Cold War, Gulf War, Iraq War and Afghanistan War; serving in Peru as the U.S defense representative for counterinsurgency and counternarcotics with the American Embassy; and participating in Operation Distant Thunder in Kuwait.
More than two dozen law firms, individuals and family foundations have signed on has sponsors, but major contributors include AT&T, CenterPoint Energy, Greenberg Traurig, Halliburton, H-E-B, Kirkland & Ellis, Locke Lord, Toyota, the Moody Foundation, Vinson & Elkins and the Audrey & Carlos Zaffirini Jr. Family Foundation.
Chairing the gala is retired V&E partner Harry Reasoner, who also chaired last year’s event. The 2024 gala committee also includes Halliburton Chief Legal Officer Van Beckwith, Locke Lord Chair Emeritus Jerry Clements, Kirkland partner Erin Nealy Cox, CenterPoint GC Monica Karuturi, AT&T GC David McAtee, the Moody Foundation’s Ross R. Moody, H-E-B executive Stephen Mount, V&E Vice Chair Hilary Preston, Toyota GC Sandra Phillips Rogers, former Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright (now a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig) and Carlos Zaffrini Jr. of the Zaffrini foundation. Master of ceremonies will be SCOTX Justice Brett Busby.
For more information, visit here. To sponsor, contact Dominga Titus (dtitus@texasbar.com or 512-427-1838) to inquire what’s still available and fill out this form. To donate, visit here.
— The Center for Women in Law announced this week that its executive director, Veronica Vargas Stidvent, will step down later this year as the Center enters its 15th year and prepares for developing its next strategic plan. Headquartered on the campus of The University of Texas School of Law, The Center strives to be a national resource and champion for women lawyers that helps generate lasting change within the legal profession. Its executive committee comprises well-known women in the Texas business law community: President Cisselon Nichols Hurd, senior litigation counsel at Shell Oil Co.; President Elect Hilda Galvan, partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Dallas office; Vice President Nadira Clarke, partner at Baker Botts; former Chief Justice Marilyn Aboussie of Texas’ Third Court of Appeals; Haynes Boone partner Deborah Coldwell; Baker Botts corporate department chair Samantha Crispin; Vistra Corp. chief strategy and sustainability officer Stacey Doré; retired Winston & Strawn partner Melanie Gray; Xeris Pharmaceuticals Chief Legal Officer Beth P. Hecht; U.S. chief integration partner Yvonne Puigof Norton Rose Fulbright’s life sciences and healthcare practice; NRF U.S. chief strategy and operations partner Gina Shishima; and Amy Stewart, founding and managing partner of Stewart Law Group.
During Stidvent’s four-year tenure, the Center has developed and implemented its first-ever strategic plan, rebranded — including launching a new website and providing new opportunities for public engagement through virtual and hybrid events — significantly increased participation in its programming, set a fundraising record at its 2023 Biennial Awards Luncheon, introduced new programs that broaden and deepen the Center’s reach and reinvigorated existing Center programs.
Before Stidvent’s departure, she will guide the Center through its 2024 Women’s Power Summit and an array of spring activities and help develop the revised strategic plan.
— Speaking of Amy Stewart, the Dallas lawyer has recently been named council slate vice chair of the American Bar Association’s litigation section. Stewart is a longstanding leader of the ABA’s litigation section, previously serving as co-chair of the business torts and unfair competition section. Carrington Coleman managing partner Monica Latin of Dallas is also involved in the ABA litigation section’s leadership.
— Throughout the month of April, the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program will host nine virtual and in-person legal clinics for low-income residents in need of pro bono legal services. DVAP is the pro bono arm of the Dallas Bar Association that is a joint venture with Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas.
Virtual clinics (all run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
April 4: DVAP and DBA Entrepreneurs in Community Lawyering
April 11: DVAP, DLA Piper and SMU Dedman School of Law
April 18: DVAP, Bank of America, Citibank and SMU Dedman School of Law
April 25: DVAP, Haynes Boone and St. Mary’s School of Law
To apply to receive legal advice in a virtual clinic, fill out this online form here.
In-person clinics
Veterans clinic: April 5 at 1:30 p.m. at the VA Medical Center (4500 S. Lancaster Rd., Dallas). Sponsored by DVAP and Baylor Scott and White and Foley & Lardner.
South Dallas clinic: April 9 at 5 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center (2922 Martin Luther King Blvd., Dallas). Sponsored by DVAP and SMU Dedman School of Law: Women in Law.
East Dallas clinic: April 18 at 5 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church (4105 Junius, Dallas). Sponsored by DVAP and SMU Dedman School of Law: Women in Law.
South Dallas clinic: April 23 at 5 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center (2922 Martin Luther King Blvd., Dallas). Sponsored by DVAP
West Dallas clinic: April 25 at 5 p.m. at the West Dallas Multipurpose Center (2828 Fish Trap Rd., Dallas). Sponsored by DVAP.