Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Howard Energy Partners, BioBridge Global, and Valero are repeat winners. Lawyers at Frost Bank claimed two honors. In-house counsel at Affinius Capital, Alterman, CPS Energy, and Lewis Energy also scored gold. ACC San Antonio and The Texas Lawbook Monday announced the recipients of the 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Awards.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Wednesday that Vericast Deputy General Counsel Shelayne Clemmer and Jackson Walker partner Robert Soza, Jr. are the recipients of the prestigious 2026 C. Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award, one of the most coveted honors in the San Antonio legal community.
The Texas Lawbook asked 18 corporate in-house counsel at businesses ranging from LyondellBasell, Energy Transfer and ExxonMobil to PepsiCo, Houston Methodist and Fertitta Entertainment for their experiences so far with AI.
Customers at Dave & Buster’s and Main Event in Dallas-Fort Worth were introduced to a new employee at the entertainment and restaurant operations company: New D&B CLO Rachel Morgan, who spent her first week on the job working among its rank-and-file employees of all levels.
“Everything I ate was delicious, but my favorite was the pepperoni pizza with a cauliflower crust and the key lime pie cheesecake,” Morgan told The Texas Lawbook. “As for games, the new Stranger Things and John Wick games were a blast. At Main Event, they convinced me to try to ropes course and the human crane — I looked ridiculous, but both were a blast. And the staff beat me badly in laser tag. I had hoped they would have mercy on me, but they did not.”
The multimillion-dollar lawsuits were piling up. Dozens of them, accusing LyondellBasell of “unsafe and hazardous practices” that led to a chemical leak in 2021 at its La Porte facility, causing two deaths and scores of injuries. Legal analysts predicted the Houston-based chemical company would be tagged with damage awards in the billions of dollars. The job of defending LyondellBasell fell to its 65-attorney legal department, led by its longtime general counsel Jeff Kaplan.
The result: 45 cases dismissed on summary judgment, 20 cases settled for nuisance value, three cases settled with funds from indemnitors and fatality case settlements fully reimbursed by the insurance carrier. And Kaplan and Lyondell are the recipients of the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Legal Department of the Year.
In the world of oil and gas, Richard McGee has seen it all — and he’s done most of it. As a corporate transactional lawyer for Vinson & Elkins, he represented some of the biggest players in the oil patch, including Enron. In 2001, he joined Duke Energy, first as a lawyer and then as president of its international operations. Houston-based Plains All American hired McGee in 2009 and became its general counsel in 2012. Along the way, he led or was heavily involved in more than 100 M&A transactions totaling in the tens of billions of dollars. This month, he is working to close the $3.8 billion sale of Plains’ natural gas liquids business to Canadian-based Keyera.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named McGee as the recipient of the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Steven Scheinthal has one of the most unique and challenging jobs in corporate law — the general counsel for Tilman Fertitta, whose business holdings include the NBA’s Houston Rockets, the Golden Nugget casinos and hotels, Landry’s Seafood and Morton’s and Del Frisco’s steakhouses. The Houston billionaire is also reportedly interested in acquiring Caesars casinos and hotels.
“It is tough having one boss because his frustrations become yours,” Scheinthal said. “However, we have had a tremendous number of business successes from our IPO to follow on offerings, over 50-plus acquisitions, bond offerings, the Rockets purchase." Those successes continued through 2025. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are honoring Scheinthal with the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.
Toyota Motor North America chief legal officer and corporate secretary Sandra Phillips told The Texas Lawbook Tuesday that she is retiring from the company’s top legal post July 31 to spend more time with her parents, who are in their 80s, and to focus more on serving on corporate boards.
“I’ve been living the dream job for 15 years, working with a great team,” Phillips said. “I am proud that I was able to help Toyota navigate some of its most difficult issues and to help move this great company forward. This is a good time to transition to a team that is ready to take more responsibility and lead Toyota into the future.”
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Monday the recipients of the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards for Business Litigation of the Year, M&A Transaction of the Year, Creative Partnership, Corporate Legal Department of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Rookie of the Year.
ACC Houston and The Lawbook disclosed the GCs of the Year, Senior Counsel of the Year, Harry Reasoner Pro Bono Advocacy and Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion honorees last week.
"The Houston Corporate Counsel Awards celebrate the exceptional legal talent driving business success across our city, honoring the in-house counsel who work tirelessly behind the scenes to protect and advance the companies and communities that make Houston thrive,” said ACC Houston President Emily K. Shields. “When accomplished lawyers take time to nominate a peer, it speaks volumes about the standard of excellence this recognition represents.”
Walmart Inc., the largest corporate employer in the U.S., has named former Dallas prosecutor Erin Nealy Cox as its new chief legal officer. Cox, who has been a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Dallas since 2021, will assume the job as the retail giant’s top lawyer April 13.
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