After meeting a lawyer at her elementary school’s career day, Cisselon Nichols Hurd went home and informed her mother she did not want to follow in her footsteps of becoming a teacher. She wanted to become a lawyer instead.
That’d be just fine, her mother replied.
Fast forward to 2009, and Hurd’s mother accompanied her to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Hurd helped steer a groundbreaking environmental case that narrowed seller liability, endorsed apportionment principles and remains a cornerstone to the Superfund practice.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are honoring Hurd, senior counsel at Shell USA, with the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion Award.
The winners will be honored at the annual Houston Corporate Counsel Awards ceremony on May 28 at the Four Seasons Hotel.
“For more than three decades, [Hurd] has set the standard in environmental litigation and in the advancement of equity in the legal profession,” said Shell Legal Counsel Ryan Boutet, who nominated Hurd for the award.
Hurd was born in Houston at historic Riverside General Hospital, founded in 1927 as Houston Negro Hospital by Black doctors who sought to care for patients in Houston’s Third Ward who were often denied treatment elsewhere because of race or finances.
Her mother was a longtime educator at Goose Creek ISD in Baytown. Her father worked in industrial facilities.
Hurd was in fourth grade at Carver Jones Elementary School in Baytown when she had that fateful encounter with a lawyer. Her mother encouraged the ambition, and Hurd went on to earn undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas.
The lack of diversity in environmental law actually drew Hurd to the practice area in the early 1990s.
A few female energy and environmental lawyers she met as a summer associate influenced her decision to apply for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division through the Honors Program. There, she litigated complex environmental civil actions on behalf of the EPA under federal hazardous waste statutes in U.S. district courts across the country.
After about two and a half years, Hurd joined the U.S. attorney’s office in Tyler, where she prosecuted environmental crimes as well as white-collar and drug cases. That experience led her to the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice, where she advised on civil and criminal legal matters before becoming state director of the paternity and child support division.
When she felt it was time to return to Houston, she relied on her professional network.
“I am a poster child for networking,” Hurd said. “When I have needed to make job changes, my contacts have been instrumental.”
A former law school classmate pointed her to a lawyer who worked for ConocoPhillips, which was seeking an environmental litigator in Houston.
“Things just fell into place,” Hurd said.
Networking also led her to Shell. While attending a conference in Kansas City, Hurd met Carla Herron, who was running Shell’s litigation department at the time. Herron would remember Hurd when Shell needed a litigator with environmental expertise.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Cisselon Nichols Hurd highlights what makes for successful diversity efforts and describes a common challenge she observes when working with outside counsel at big firms.
Hurd wasn’t looking to leave ConocoPhillips, but she was persuaded after meeting with Herron and then-Shell GC Cathy Lamboley, a trailblazer for diversity and inclusion.
Lamboley was one of the first GCs to sign the Call to Action – “and she meant businesses,” Hurd said.
“It was quite a refreshing time for those of us committed to diversity in the legal profession,” Hurd said.
Hurd went on to etch her own name in the ranks along with Lamboley.
“Shell’s commitment to women is legendary, and Cisselon walks the walk,” said Shauna Johnson Clark, global and U.S. Chair and head of employment and labor in the U.S. for Norton Rose Fulbright.
Within Shell Legal, Hurd chaired the diversity and inclusion team from 2008 to 2012 and integrated inclusive practices into recruiting, development and outside counsel engagement years before many peer departments, Boutet said.
“She is consistently recognized as a generous and enthusiastic mentor for junior and senior colleagues alike,” Boutet said.
Hurd still looks for opportunities to bring unique perspectives into each case she manages. She said mentoring is “probably the most important work I have done in my legal career.”
Robin Wofford, a partner at Wilson Turner Kosmo, said that since they met in 2004, she has watched Hurd spearhead DEI efforts at Shell and create opportunities for women and minorities to get their foot in the door.
“She demanded excellence, and by doing so created opportunities for many lawyers and firms across the United States,” Wofford added.
Outside Shell, Hurd was a founding member of the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas. She went on to serve as its president and board leader.
She has also been a member of the American Law Institute, a longtime member of the National Association of Minority & Women Owned Law Firms Advisory Counsel and co-chair of its 2024 Driving Diversity and Leadership Conference.
For opening doors for diverse outside counsel, Hurd was named Corporate Counsel of the Year in 2016 by the State Bar of Texas’ Texas Minority Counsel Program.
Last year, the Houston Bar Association honored her with its Advancing Belonging and Cultures Diversity Award. This year, the organization presented her with its President’s Award for work supporting the Hay Center Committee, a nonprofit serving foster youth transitioning to adulthood.
“Cisselon’s commitment to diversity and inclusion has never come at Shell’s expense,” Clark said. “On the contrary, she has effectively proven that well experienced diverse teams deliver the best results.”
Tracie Renfroe, managing partner of the Houston office of King & Spalding, said Hurd values all diversity.
“We once staffed a case with all women lawyers and Cisselon insisted that we bring a male to the table because she sees the value of including all viewpoints,” she said.
Deanne Miller, a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius who has worked with Hurd for more than 15 years, said she “invites input from all team members, and she values every person’s view and contributions.”
“From the outside counsel perspective, it is crystal clear that Cisselon leads by example in the areas of diversity and inclusion, as well as in the delivery of exemplary legal advice and counsel,” Miller said.
Colleagues also describe Hurd as quietly generous.
For years, she has led a small group of friends in organizing and purchasing holiday gifts for residents of a Houston HIV-AIDS hospice. Every Christmas Eve, she personally delivers the gifts, said Travis Torrence, head of legal for Shell USA.
“It is a deeply human act that reflects her compassion and the size of her heart,” Torrence said.
Her legal achievements parallel her work on inclusion, Torrence said.
Her force in advocacy, combined with preparation and judgement, consistently moves matters forward and delivers outcomes, he said.
“One of Cisselon’s most consequential contributions has been her leadership of affirmative litigation against the U.S. government to recover funds owed to Shell for environmental remediation,” Torrence said. “She has driven a comprehensive strategy under [the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act] and related contract theories to recover historical cleanup costs tied to wartime and government‑directed activities. This strategy has already resulted in significant favorable rulings and settlements, with additional recovery efforts continuing.”
He also credited Hurd with pioneering the use of “virtual law firms” — purpose-built teams combining large-firms with subject-matter strength with boutique firms rather than relying on a single outside firm.
“This model has produced demonstrably better alignment, improved accountability and substantial cost efficiencies on long‑running dockets, while maintaining high advocacy standards,” Torrence said.
She is “relentless, strategic and clear-eyed about what it takes to win,” Torrence said.
“When you are truly in the trenches — facing hard deadlines, entrenched adversaries or material business risk — you want Cisselon on your team,” Torrence said. “At the same time, her effectiveness is such that she is not someone you ever want on the other side of the table.”
Renfroe said she worked with Hurd in an environmental case that went to trial in California and resulted in a win for Shell.
“Cisselon is an excellent lawyer who is absolutely willing to take a case to trial,” Renfroe said. “She is a great steward of Shell’s resources and people. She brings leadership to the table in that she asks hard questions to find solutions. She believes in getting to the right outcome.”
Clark called Hurd “one of the most experienced environmental regulatory and toxic tort lawyers in the country.”
“What makes her an excellent lawyer is the fact that she couples her deep experience with a full understanding of the business,” Clark said. “She provides excellent pragmatic legal advice, which leads to phenomenal outcomes and jury verdicts.”
Hurd describes herself as “very hands-on” in her cases.
One highlight of her career was Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. et al v. United States et al. Hurd directed the legal strategy and attended oral arguments, where Shell was represented by Kathleen Sullivan, a noted Supreme Court practitioner who retired last year from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
In an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court held that Shell was not liable under CERCLA, commonly referred to as Superfund, for spills resulting as a peripheral consequence of selling a useful product after taking numerous steps to prevent those spills.
Now nearing 24 years at Shell, Hurd said the company’s complexity has made for a rewarding in-house career.
“The nature of Shell’s business is very complex, and this has led to a very exciting in-house career,” Hurd said. “I have never been bored — not even one day.”
Fun Facts: Cisselon Nichols Hurd
- Favorite book: To Kill a Mockingbird, which I first read in junior high remains my favorite book after all these years.
- Favorite movie: My Cousin Vinny is hands down my favorite movie.
- Favorite drink: I love a good buttery Chardonnay.
- Favorite restaurant: Currently, my favorite restaurant is Credence.
- Favorite vacation: My 50th birthday trip to Cape Town, South Africa – definitely the trip of a lifetime. When we visited Robben Island, our tour guide had been Nelson Madela’s cellmate. It was quite an experience.
- Hero in life: Actually, I have two heroes. Both of my maternal and paternal grandmothers only had eighth grade educations, and yet they both made education a central focus in our family. Both worked as domestics but were wicked smart. Neither had the same opportunities as my grandfathers in terms of education or work. This was always striking to me because they were both extremely smart and always stressed that “knowledge is power” — something I have never forgotten.