Two years ago, The Texas Lawbook created the full-time pro bono, public service and diversity writer position with a carrot-and-stick approach: Highlight the successes of Texas lawyers in these three critical areas to hopefully encourage others to do the same and to provide data and analysis about where lawyers and firms are falling short.
To be sure, the sticks are being sharpened to address failures.
But today, we have three successes to highlight:
- The American Inns of Court is honoring Gray Reed partner Amber Carson with its 2024 Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service;
- The Anti-Defamation League announced that Houston lawyers and siblings Macey Reasoner Stokes of Baker Botts and Barrett Reasoner of Gibbs & Bruns will receive the Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award; and
- The Dallas Hispanic Bar Association held its 2024 “Noche de Luz” Gala to raise funds for its Latina Leadership Program, its judicial externship program and its law student scholarship program.
Noche de Luz Gala
Last Saturday, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association hosted its 19th annual Noche de Luz Gala and gave out its annual awards for community service, volunteerism and leadership.
The gala is a primary source of money for the DHBA uses to support three of its flagship efforts, including the Latina Leadership Program now known as the Irma C. Ramirez Leadership Program; a Judicial Externship Program; and the group’s law student scholarship program.
The awards and recipients were:
- Corporate Counsel Diversity Award went to Rich Rosalez, chief diversity officer and vice president over litigation at Samsung Electronics America. Rosalez “leverages his leadership and experience within DEI to further Samsung Electronics’ push for equity and belonging by providing thought leadership and championing the company’s DEI planning, strategy, and execution. Rosalez serves on the board of the Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation.
- La Luz Award was presented to Akin practice attorney Nina Melanie Orendain. Born in Culver City, California, Orendain’s Mexican immigrant father and Mexican American mother “emphasized the value of education to achieve the American dream and to earn a living in an easier way than by picking cotton and grapes.” Her father, Antonio Orendain, became a farmworker organizer and was one of four founding members of the United Farm Workers Union. DHLA points out that as a lawyer, Ms. Orendain supported the growth and development of Dallas’ Hispanic and women lawyer community, including serving several years on the Dallas Bar Association’s Minority Participation Committee, volunteering at DVAP clinics, and outreach to Hispanic law students.
- Estrella Award was given to Sheppard Mullin corporate finance and bankruptcy associate Jake Torres. His pro bono efforts focus on representing immigrants and tenants facing eviction. In 2022, the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program named him the eviction attorney of the year. Prior to attending law school, Jake taught at W. W. Samuell High School in DISD and coached the football and soccer teams. He serves on the board of directors of Child Care Group and the DISD Bond Oversight Committee.
- Volunteer of the Year went to Martin, Disiere, Jefferson & Wisdom associate Elizabeth Margolis. Margolis serves as a mentor for the summer bar prep mentorship program and 1L mentorship program at her alma mater, Texas A&M University School of Law. As an attorney, Elizabeth serves the Dallas community as Co-Chair for the Dallas Bar Association’s Pipeline Committee, as a member of the DHBA’s Latina Leadership Committee, through her pro-bono work as an educational attorney ad litem with Texas Lawyers for Children, and through her work on the Dallas Jewish-Latino Advocacy Steering Committee for the American Jewish Congress.
- Law Firm Excellence Award was given to Haynes Boone, which DHLA leaders recognized for its emphasis on DEI.
The top law firm sponsors of the DHBA gala included Epstein Becker Green, Haynes Boone, Akin, Bell Nunnally, Locke Lord and Greenberg Traurig. Corporate sponsors included Toyota, Vistra and AT&T.
“When I joined the DHBA Board, we had roughly 150-200 active members,” DHBA President Edward J. Loya Jr. wrote on his LinkedIn page. “We have grown the DHBA to over 650 active attorney and law student members. We now have close to 100 law student members who are thriving at their law schools, including the UNT Dallas College of Law, which the Hispanic National Bar Association just named the Law Student Organization of the Year.”
“In my time as president-elect and president, it has been a personal joy of mine to see three of our law student members (including two DHBA judicial externs) earn post-graduation judicial clerkships with federal judges in Texas,” Loya wrote.
ADL Recognizes Reasoner and Reasoner
Harry Reasoner of Vinson & Elkins is widely recognized as one of the greatest lawyers in Texas history. But an even bigger honor for him and his wife, Macey, is that they are role models as parents.
For the first time in the history of the Anti-Defamation League, the organization is giving an award to siblings — Macey Reasoner Stokes of Baker Botts and Barrett H. Reasoner of Gibbs & Bruns. The ADL announced this week that it will present the Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award to the Houston lawyers at a luncheon program in April.
In case you are wondering, the ADL honored Harry Reasoner with the Jurisprudence Award in 2016. In addition, ADL recognized Macey Hodges Reasoner with its Torch of Liberty Award.
For younger lawyers who recently moved to Texas, Karen Susman was a highly respected family lawyer in Houston and the wife of trial lawyer Steve Susman.
The Southwest Chapter of ADL gives the Karen Susman Award annually to “an outstanding member of the legal community who exhibits a commitment to equality, justice, fairness and community service.”
In announcing the Karen Susman Award winners, ADL highlighted several public service accomplishments for both recipients.
Barrett Reasoner connected Gibbs & Bruns with a Communities in Schools initiative in the early 1990s involving a summer legal internship program for at-risk, graduating high school seniors. As President of the Houston Bar Association in 2009, Barrett created a partnership between CIS and the HBA to strengthen and continue the internship program. His efforts raised awareness of the program in the Houston legal community and participation by other law firms dramatically increased, breathing new life into the program and ultimately allowing more students to experience this unique internship opportunity. The program continues to thrive today. Reasoner is a past chair of the Houston Bar Foundation and former chairman of the Board of Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program.
Macey Reasoner Stokes has served on the boards of the Society for the Performing Arts, Phi Beta Kappa of Greater Houston, and the Houston Zoo. She is also a Guardian Member of the Champions of Justice Society of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, and she has represented the Foundation pro bono in litigation. She and her husband are chairing the annual gala of the Galveston Bay Foundation this year.
“We are thrilled to be able to present our 2025 Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award to Macey Reasoner Stokes and Barrett Reasoner, the first siblings ever to receive the award,” said Mark B. Toubin, ADL Southwest Regional Director. “Their stellar contributions to the legal profession and the community exemplify the values instilled in them by their parents. It’s an honor to recognize both of these outstanding attorneys.”
American Inns Honors Amber Carson
Gray Reed corporate restructuring partner Amber Carson has an “unparalleled dedication to living with purpose and intention by helping and supporting others and working towards a more diverse and inclusive legal community,” according to Omar J. Alaniz, president of the Hon. John C. Ford American Inn of Court.
Later this month, the American Inn will recognize the Dallas lawyer with the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service at a ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Carson’s passion for assisting others is unmatched,” Alaniz said.
The chair-elect for the Bankruptcy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, Carson serves on the board of trustees for the Red River Region of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Carson established a scholarship for underrepresented law students interested in practicing bankruptcy law and co-founded and serves as director of the Southern Methodist University School of Law’s Pro Bono Project, pairing students with low-income clients. Carson also provides pro bono services through Texas Free Legal Answers and helps U-Visa applicants with the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas.