2022 DFW Finalists Announced for Senior Counsel of the Year, Rookie of the Year

In-house counsel at American Airlines, City Electric Supply, Forney Corporation, MB2 Dental and OpTic Gaming are finalists to be honored for the 2022 Dallas Fort Worth Corporate Counsel Awards. Each year, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter and The Texas Lawbook recognize about two-dozen corporate in-house counsel for the extraordinary legal work and leadership they demonstrated during the previous year.

December 27, 2022 Mark Curriden

Texas Lawbook, ACC-DFW to Honor GCs at McAfee, Celanese, HF Sinclair, Keurig Dr Pepper, Ocwen Financial

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Tuesday the first round of finalists and a few winners for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards. Each year, ACC DFW and The Lawbook honor leading lawyers within the corporate in-house community who scored extraordinary successes and had a substantive impact on the legal profession and the business community in North Texas.

The Lawbook announces the finalists and winners in four different categories: Business Litigation of the Year; M&A Deal of the Year; General Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department; and General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.

December 20, 2022 Mark Curriden

In-House & Outside Lawyers Talk Need, Best Practices at Pro Bono Summit

A group of high-ranking in-house counsel and private practice pro bono specialists swapped stories and methods for how they’ve been able to achieve pro bono engagement and keep their lawyers incentivized to give back through pro bono. Plus, the in-house lawyers discussed their positions on partnering with law firms on pro bono projects.

December 9, 2022 Natalie Posgate

At HPE, Pro Bono is ‘A Bedrock Principle’

For the 250-member legal team at Hewlett Packard Enterprises, pro bono is in their DNA. The corporate lawyers worked with Baker McKenzie and Texas Appleseed to update a legal handbook for homeless teenagers, helped veterans draft wills, worked with victims of domestic violence, assisted immigrant youth in obtaining DACA status and launched a Texas Virtual Legal Clinic for Youth. Citing HPE’s extraordinary successes, the Texas General Counsel Forum is honoring the Houston technology company with the 2022 Magna Stella Award for Outstanding Pro Bono.

November 3, 2022 Natalie Posgate

How Mary Kay Maintains its Roots in DEI

Sixty percent of the people in Mary Kay’s legal department are persons of color. Eighty percent are women. Forty percent speak more than one language. Nearly six decades after the Addison-based company was founded, the cosmetic giant remains a model of diversity and inclusion. The Texas General Counsel Forum is honoring Mary Kay GC Julia Simon and senior managing counsel Naisha Covarrubias with the Magna Stella Award for Outstanding Diversity.

November 3, 2022 Natalie Posgate

Jury Says Ex-GC Breached Fiduciary Duty to Client

A Harris County jury recently determined that Matthew Smith, former general counsel to Microvast, had breached his fiduciary duty to his client, and owed it the cost of a laptop computer it purchased for him. The jurors rejected Smith’s argument that he was entitled to $3.4 million based on an oral agreement for stock options.

September 16, 2022 Michelle Casady

Q&A with GI Alliance CLO Cheryl Camin Murray

Cheryl Camin Murray and her legal team at DFW-based GI Alliance helped steer the nation's largest gastroenterology practice through a physician-led buyout in August that valued the company at $2.2 billion. The deal happened a little over a year after Murray, a mother of triplets who built a thriving healthcare practice over more than two decades in private practice, joined GI Alliance as its chief legal officer.

The Texas Lawbook caught up with Murray about the Apollo-backed financing and her move in-house.

September 13, 2022 Brooks Igo

SMU Dedman Law’s Innovative Corporate Counsel Externship Program Shines, Thanks to Loyal GC Alums

During the past decade, 700 SMU Dedman law students have done externships at 100 corporate legal departments including Microsoft, Keurig Dr Pepper, Interstate Batteries, Liberty Mutual and Vistra Corp. “The program puts students in real-life situations where they have educational opportunities unobtainable in the classroom," SMU Dedman assistant dean Stephen Yeager, creator of the externship initiative. An extern with Keurig Dr Pepper witnessed how different flavored drinks were developed. Fluor Corporation let law students visit construction sites. Mary Kay allowed its Russian-born extern to work on a project involving Russian data privacy laws. The Texas Lawbook interviewed a half-dozen SMU alumni who did externships and are now in-house counsel.

August 17, 2022 Mark Curriden

Three GCs Provide a Peek into Their Companies’ Diversity Efforts

The top lawyers at Jacobs Engineering Group, Southwest Airlines and El Rancho Supermercado spent Tuesday’s lunch hour speaking about multiple aspects of diversity within the legal profession — what diversity means for them and their organizations, why it’s important in both the in-house and outside counsel context and how it could be improved. The Lawbook attended the event, which was organized by the Dallas Regional Chamber, hosted by UNT Dallas College of Law and sponsored by Munsch Hardt and Carrington Coleman.

July 14, 2022 Natalie Posgate

Alana Matthews Leaves Dallas Stars to Be Pioneering Entrepreneur

Last month, Matthews left the Dallas Stars to pursue another deeply-held passion: creating a business that focuses exclusively on custom-made luxury workwear for professional women.

June 22, 2022 Mark Curriden