In this edition of P.S., Baker Botts launched a new women’s summit, which convened leading women general counsel for cross-industry dialogue and professional development. The law firm, which boasts a strong pipeline of alumni who advance to senior in-house roles, plans to make the summit a recurring flagship event. We also report on significant pro bono and public service recognitions, with the Texas Access to Justice Commission honoring South Texas College of Law Houston and standout students at the University of Texas and Texas A&M law schools and the Anti-Defamation League Texoma awarding its prestigious Larry Schoenbrun Jurisprudence Award to longtime First Amendment advocate Thomas Leatherbury. Meanwhile, Haynes Boone attorneys statewide marked Pro Bono Week through a range of volunteer legal initiatives. This issue of P.S. closes out with a call for submissions for the 2025 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards, which includes honors for excellence in pro bono, public service and diversity and inclusion among North Texas in-house lawyers.
Baker Botts Launches Women’s Summit for Senior In-House Counsel
Baker Botts corporate partners Natasha Khan and Carina Antweil often hear from in-house counsel that one thing they miss about Big Law life is the opportunity to walk down the hall and exchange ideas with a wide range of corporate lawyers across different industries and specialties.
To recreate that kind of cross-industry dialogue, Khan and Antweil launched the Baker Botts Public Company Women’s Summit, bringing together a select group of about 22 senior-level women general counsel for networking and professional development.
“When we put them in a room among their peers, then they have a venue where they’re able to do that and share ideas and talk about the challenges that they’re facing in the legal space,” said Khan, who is the firm’s deputy department chair of corporate firmwide. “We were really happy to be able to provide that.”
“It’s a small but mighty group of senior women general counsels and lawyers at these companies,” added Antweil, who is deputy department chair of corporate in Houston. “But I think everyone left feeling a little more connected, which was the ultimate goal.”
The inaugural summit, held Oct. 30 at the Manor House at the Houstonian, marked the first of what the firm plans as a recurring flagship event. The afternoon program included a CLE on current boardroom issues — such as shareholder activism, corporate reincorporation trends and artificial intelligence — as well as a fireside chat featuring these Baker Botts alumni:
- Kelly Rose, senior vice president, legal, general counsel and corporate secretary at ConocoPhillips;
- Jessica Bateman, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Atmos Energy; and
- Monica Karuturi, executive vice president and general counsel at CenterPoint Energy.
The summit also featured an executive coaching session led by Barbara Abulafia, the firm’s director of client development, coaching and lateral integration.
Antweil added that the firm is well positioned to lead such conversations. Three of the firm’s largest practice groups — corporate, litigation, and intellectual property — are led by seasoned women, and each department is further supported by an experienced female partner serving as deputy department head.
Baker Botts has a strong pipeline of alumni who advance to senior in-house roles. The firm reports that about 150 of its alumni currently serve as women general counsel of C-suite executives.
Texas Access to Justice Commission Awards South Texas College of Law Houston and Students from UT, A&M
South Texas College of Law Houston and students from Texas A&M School of Law and University of Texas School of Law were recently honored for their pro bono service by the Texas Access to Justice Commission.
“Serving the Greater Houston community through free legal services for underserved individuals and families is a key part of the mission of South Texas College of Law Houston and law students play a central role,” Michelle Morris, associate vice president for marketing and communications, wrote in a nomination letter for the Law School Commitment to Service Award.
President and Dean Reynaldo “Rey” Valencia accepted the award at the New Lawyer Induction Ceremony on Nov. 3 in Austin. The Commission also presented the Law Student Pro Bono Award to MaKenna McGraw, a student at the University of Texas School of Law, and Brandon Yim, a May 2025 graduate of Texas A&M School of Law.
According to Morris, South Texas College of Law Houston has woven public service into its legal education mission, preparing students to advocate for underserved populations through a network of legal clinics, pro bono programs and community partnerships.
For more than three decades, the law school’s Randall O. Sorrels Legal Clinics have combined community service with hands-on legal training, Morris wrote. During the past academic year, 172 law students — supervised by licensed attorneys — provided free legal assistance to real clients, closing 711 cases that affected about 2,000 people. The clinics also completed a grant-funded pro bono project that helped thousands of families avoid wrongful eviction.
The clinics give students a front-row view of law in practice, Morris wrote. Working alongside experienced attorneys across about 20 practice areas, students interview and advise clients who otherwise might not have access to counsel. Each year, their collective work typically exceeds 35,000 hours of direct client service, valued at about $2 million, while also producing more than 150 mediated resolutions and dozens of trademark filings.
In addition, student groups such as the Black Law Students Association and Hispanic Law Students Association collaborate with public offices such as the Harris County Public Defender’s Office and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
The school’s Pro Bono Honors Program recognizes students who complete at least 50 hours of service, reinforcing the culture of service modeled by faculty members like Professor Emeritus Dr. Mark E. Steiner. Morris noted that Steiner continues to volunteer hundreds of hours annually since retiring from full-time teaching last year. Faculty leaders, including Associate Dean for Experiential Education Catherine Greene Burnett, have received prestigious recognition for advancing access to justice. Burnett earned the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of American Law Schools Pro Bono and Access to Justice Section.
McGraw, who is projected to graduate from UT Law in May, was nominated by Andrea Marsh, director of the Mithoff Pro Bono Program at UT Law.
McGraw’s dedication to serving vulnerable clients began before law school, when she interned with the Capital Punishment Clinic and the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, Marsh wrote.
Since enrolling in law school in 2023, McGraw immersed herself in the Mithoff Pro Bono Program, volunteering on a wide range of legal areas including asylum, driver license recovery, wills, juvenile life sentences and parole. She became the first first-year student to receive the Rising Star of Public Interest Award from Texas Law Fellowships, Marsh noted. By the end of her second year, McGraw had completed more than 275 hours of pro bono service on top of her 100-hour commitment as a Pro Bono Scholar.
Yim’s nomination by A&M Law Dean Robert Ahdieh included letters of recommendation from Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Terence L. Cook, Texas Legal Services Center Manager of Training and Recruitment Mary Rios and Innocence Project of Texas Executive Director Mike Ware.
The graduate contributed nearly 1,000 hours to public interest work through clinics, unpaid internships, externships and nonprofit service, Cook wrote.
Raised by a single mother and shaped by early experiences with housing insecurity, Yim “developed a deep empathy for individuals navigating the legal systems without support,” Cook said.
His service includes work with the Texas Legal Services Center, the Federal Public Defenders for the Northern District of Texas, and Texas A&M’s Innocence Project and Family & Veteran Advocacy Clinics. He also completed internships with the Los Angeles County Public Defender and the Legal Aid Society of San Diego. As a leader in A&M’s Public Interest Law Fellowship, Yim helped expand summer fellowships and mentorship opportunities for students pursuing service careers — at one point declining his own stipend so another student could benefit. His research has also influenced the school’s exploration of using federal work-study funds to support unpaid internships.
“The commitment he has made to pro bono is clearly more than just a desire to gain valuable experience, though I am sure he has done that, too,” Rios wrote. “Instead, his level of his commitment shows that he truly cares about meeting some of the huge access to justice issues that Texas faces.”
ADL Texoma Honors First Amendment Lawyer Tom Leatherbury
Dallas lawyer Thomas Leatherbury, a longtime First Amendment and human rights champion, was honored Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League Texoma as the 36th recipient of the organization’s Larry Schoenbrun Jurisprudence Award.
The award recognizes Leatherbury, director of the First Amendment Clinic at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, for his “legacy of legal integrity, civic leadership, and commitment to building a more just and inclusive community.” Past recipients include Texas legal luminaries Sid Stahl, Robert L. Blumenthal, Harold F. Kleinman, Tom Luce, Tom Unis, Harriet E. Miers, Alan D. Feld, Ray Hutchison, Ron Kirk, Mike McKool, Steve Stodghill and David R. McAtee II.
Leatherbury’s award was presented at a luncheon at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel.
Nina Cortell, senior counsel at Haynes Boone and the 2024 recipient of the Schoenbrun Award, likened Leatherbury’s reputation for “wisdom, integrity, and credibility” to that of Atticus Finch, the mythical hero of Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
“If you know who Atticus Finch is, you also know Tom Leatherbury,” she said, adding, “Tom makes the world a better place every day.”
Leatherbury, a former longtime partner with Vinson & Elkins, thanked the ADL for “a great honor, one I’ll try to live up to every day.” He added, “I’ll keep showing up every day and doing the work.”
Schoenbrun, a retired partner with Foley & Lardner and the award’s namesake, paid Leatherbury what may be the highest compliment of all.
“I think they need to change the name of this award to the Tom Leatherbury award,” he said.
Bruce Tomaso contributed to this report.
Haynes Boone Attorneys Mark Pro Bono Week
Haynes Boone attorneys across Texas recently participated in a series of volunteer projects and educational programs in honor of Pro Bono Week.
In Houston, firm attorneys assisted veterans at the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Veterans Clinic and received training on helping low-income homeowners secure property rights through HVL’s Heirship Title Project.
In Austin, attorneys joined PayPal, Friday Milner Lambert Turner and Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas to conduct a low-income intake clinic. The clinic served a record-breaking number of clients for a single clinic hosted by the volunteer nonprofit group this year.
In San Antonio, five lawyers and four professional staff members joined the San Antonio Legal Services Association’s Wills Clinic on Nov. 3. Attorneys, paired with law students, took the lead in preparing essential estate-planning documents — including wills, powers of attorney, guardianship declarations, HIPAA authorizations and living wills. One staff member provided translation services, while three others assisted with notarizing documents for execution.
Has your firm done pro bono work lately? We’d love to shine a spotlight on your efforts. Share your story by emailing krista.torralva@texaslawbook.net.
Nominate a DFW In-House Lawyer for Achievement in Pro Bono, Public Service and Diversity, Inclusion
The Texas Lawbook and the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel are now accepting nominations for the 2025 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards, which honors the extraordinary work of corporate in-house counsel in North Texas.
Among the award categories are Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service and Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.
The finalists for each category will be profiled by The Lawbook in December and January. The awards ceremony will take place Thursday, Jan. 29 at the George W. Bush Institute at Southern Methodist University.
The nomination process is open until Nov. 21. This website is where you can submit nominees and find more information.