Black History Month comes alive this Sunday with an extraordinary panel discussion in downtown Dallas. In two weeks, musicians from more than a half-dozen law firms will rock for charity. And nominations are officially open for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, recognizing pro bono and diversity.
Dig into Dignity
Human Rights Dallas and the city’s Office of Equity and Inclusion are hosting a Black History Month feature event this Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, called “Rights in the City: The Struggle for Human Dignity and Rights in the Dallas African American Community.”
Described as a “living history panel discussion,” the program will be moderated by Dallas County Justice Initiative leader Dr. Ed Gray and the speakers include:
- Donald Payton, president of the African American Genealogy Interest Group of Dallas and often recognized as the “unofficial historian of Black Dallas;”
- Cheryl Wattley, a law professor at the UNT Dallas College of Law, a former federal prosecutor and author of A Step Toward Brown v. Board of Education: Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher and Her Fight to End Segregation, which was published in October 2014;
- Imam Emeritus Khalid Shaheed, a founder of Faith Forward Dallas, North Texas Islamic Council Executive Board and a member of the DFW Muslim-Jewish Council.
The program is this Sunday, 1:30 to 3 p.m., at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library at 1515 Young St. in downtown Dallas. To attend the event, please RSVP at info@humanrightsdallas.org.
Law Rocks Dallas
Lawyers from eight law firms will rock out for charity at the Law Rocks Dallas fundraising event on March 6.
The battle of the bands style event featuring bands made up of attorneys is returning to Dallas for a second year. Last year, Law Rocks Dallas raised more than $47,000 for local nonprofit organizations.
Other Law Rocks events have been staged across the country since 2009. Law Rocks Houston is scheduled for April 10 at White Oak Music Hall.
The bands are judged by how much money they raise in donations, ticket sales and sponsorships and they score with a panel of judges. You can see how much each band is raising for their charity of choice and purchase tickets on the Law Rocks website.
The lawyer bands headlining the DFW event are:
- Just South of Nowhere (Baker Botts) for Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support
- Lovers&Lunatics (BakerHostetler) for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas
- No Recourse (Lynn, Pinker, Hurst, & Schwegmann) for Cannenta Foundation
- Ring The Bell Nunnally (Bell Nunnally) for Head Start of Greater Dallas
- Suburban Crime Spree (Akin; Addus HomeCare) for Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Advisory Board
- T.R.O. (Winstead; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Wray, Willet & Stoffer) for All Things Made New
General admission tickets to the concert at Trees in Deep Ellum are selling for $30. VIP tickets, which include a reception before the concert at nearby Vidorra, cost $95.
Houston Corporate Counsel Awards
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are seeking nominations for the annual awards for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service and Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.
The Houston Corporate Counsel Awards event is scheduled for May 22.
Nominations are being accepted now through March 10.
The Lawbook offers these suggestions to those nominating an in-house counsel for one of the two awards: Tell the personal and professional story of your nominee; describe the challenges that the nominee faced; and identify specific successes they achieved.
Nominations can be made here.