© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(March 20) – SMU’s Dedman School of Law on Thursday night recognized five of their alumni at its 28th Annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony for their professional achievements and contributions to the community and the law school.
The five honorees, four of whom practice in the Dallas area, accepted their awards before a full ballroom of friends, family and colleagues in the legal community at the Belo Mansion. Each was recognized for a different facet of work in the legal industry.
This year’s named distinguished alumni were: commercial litigator Mike Gruber; immigration attorney Mary Elizabeth (Liz) Cedillo-Pereira; Chevron Europe, Eurasia and Middle East Exploration & Production Limited General Counsel Siriporn Chaiyasuta; Human Rights Initiative of North Texas Executive Director Bill Holston; and SMU Dedman professor emeritus Joseph McKnight.
Gruber, a named partner at Dallas litigation boutique, Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail Shank, received the distinguished alumni award for private practice. Though a business defense litigator by nature, Gruber is also known for his achievements on the other side, including a $125 million judgment against Blockbuster in favor of its first major investors, a $30 million fraud verdict against Shell Oil and an $18 million verdict against the pharmaceutical company, Hoffman-Laroche, in one of the largest sexual harassment verdicts in the country.
This year, Gruber took Wellness v. Sherif to the U.S. Supreme Court, a seminal case that involves bankruptcy court and federal magistrate jurisdiction.
But his advocacy role began well before his work as a licensed attorney. During his law school years, Gruber led efforts to create a minority recruitment committee, implement minority scholarships and create a tutorial project at SMU Dedman. He has been involved with several charitable organizations, including the Dallas Zoo, North Texas Habitat for Humanity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and many others.
Holston was this year’s recipient for the distinguished alumni award for public service. For the past 15 years, Holston has worked at the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, an organization that serves local refugees and immigrants who have suffered human rights abuses and collaborates with lawyers in the area to represent these victims pro bono in asylum cases.
Before joining HRI, Holston practiced trial and appellate law and alternative dispute resolution, specializing in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights business transactions, church and Canon, equipment leasing, probate and surety matters.
When he accepted his award, Holston quoted a stanza of Seamus Heaney’s poem, The Cure at Troy:
“History says, don’t hope, On this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime, The longed-for tidal wave, Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme.”
“Isn’t it true? Don’t we all hope the history of our clients rhyme with the justice they deserve?” Holston said.
Cedillo-Pereira, a local immigration attorney, received the emerging leader award. In 2007, she co-founded a project called “Know Your Rights” that serves detained immigrants. Her law firm, Cedillo-Pereira & Associates, represents individuals, families, businesses and government entities. Earlier in her career, Cedillo-Pereira moved to the Texas-Mexico border and represented victims fleeing human trafficking and violence. This led her to return to Dallas and create a pro bono program with Catholic Charities-Dallas for pro se immigrants in North Texas.
While accepting her award, Cedillo-Pereira said that growing up, her mother worked three jobs – traveling by bus – to support the family, pointing out that she certainly needed legal help.
“Out of my mother’s need, I drew my sketch of the kind of lawyer I wanted to be,” Cedillo-Pereira said, which is to dedicate her practice to helping others start on their paths toward the American Dream.
The distinguished global alumni award went to Chevron’s Chaiyasuta, who bases her practice in London. For Chevron, Chaiyasuta leads a team of more than 50 lawyers and manages the company’s legal portfolio for all exploration and production businesses in Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East.
Originally from Bangkok, Chaiyasuta comes from a long line of Thai judges and is a sixth-generation lawyer in her family. Before joining Chevron, Chaiyasuta made contributions in her homeland by helping build a legal infrastructure and expanding open and fair markets in Thailand. She has also been a driving force behind key legislation aimed at reforming the Thai legal system for businesses and the community, working with both the prime minister and the Thai parliament on these reforms.
The honorary alumnus award went to Joseph McKnight, a professor emeritus and the Larry and Jane Harlan Faculty Fellow emeritus at SMU Dedman. McKnight is known for his work directing the Texas Family Code project and drafting the Texas Matrimonial Property Act, which recognizes property rights of married women. He also is an expert in American legal history and creditors’ rights.
Before joining the SMU Law faculty in 1955, McKnight practiced at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. While at SMU Dedman, McKnight has established and contributed to a collection of rare legal books; the oldest in the collection was published in 1481.
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