P.S. — From Corporate Counsel to Clemency Crusader: Brittany K. Barnett’s Journey to Criminal Justice Reform

Last week, I had the honor of interviewing Brittany K. Barnett at the Texas General Counsel Forum Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter breakfast about her impressive legal career. Barnett’s start was in accounting. From there, she went to work as a corporate finance attorney and in-house M&A counsel. By night, she dedicated herself to pro bono efforts, working on President Barack Obama’s historic Clemency Project 2014. Barnett ultimately left her job and founded The Buried Alive Project, a powerful initiative to represent individuals sentenced to life without parole for nonviolent drug offenses. Her work has led to clemency for nearly two dozen clients across three presidential administrations. She’s also the author of a best-selling memoir, A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom, and she is working on a second book. I was so inspired by her story that I wanted to share our interview with a wider audience in this week's P.S. Column. 

May 30, 2025 Krista Torralva

2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Celebration

More than 225 leaders of the corporate legal profession in Houston celebrated the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognized general counsel and senior managing counsel from companies ranging from Phillips 66 and Shell to Enbridge, Baker Hughes and Transocean. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook hosted 20 corporate in-house counsel who had been nominated for awards in 14 categories, from Rookie of the Year and Lifetime Achievement to M&A Transaction and Business Litigation of the Year.

May 27, 2025 Mark Curriden

Shell US Lawyers Adam MacLuckie and Huyen Luong Have a ‘Need to be an Ally’

Adam MacLuckie and Huyen Luong led the Shell US Legal DEI Council during a pivotal time, fostering open dialogue and community through their “Let’s Talk About It” campaign as the company returned to in-person work post-pandemic and amid a nationwide reckoning with racism. Drawing from their personal backgrounds – Luong’s journey from post-war Vietnam and MacLuckie’s lifelong path to allyship – they built inclusive, two-way engagement that increased participation and trust. Their efforts earned them the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Diversity and Inclusion. 

May 20, 2025 Krista Torralva

Baker Hughes’ ‘Fearless’ VP of Litigation: Teresa Garcia-Reyes 

Baker Hughes shifted from defendant to plaintiff in a years-long legal battle with LiquidPower Specialty Products, overcoming patent infringement claims through inter partes review while building a strong antitrust case. This strategy, spanning U.S. and Canadian courts and the Patent Office, enabled Baker Hughes to settle in December 2024 and clear the way for a new product launch. Vice President of Litigation Teresa Garcia-Reyes, who oversees about 80 attorneys, emphasized the high stakes involved. “We are an energy technology company, so we take IP cases and the effect that they have on the ability to market our products very seriously,” she said. “There was real money at stake here, and it had been going on for so long, that it was nice to drive this one to closure.” The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook congratulate Garcia-Reyes for being selected as one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year. The awards ceremony is set for May 22 at the Four Seasons downtown.

May 19, 2025 Michelle Casady

Hines’ Richard Heaton ‘Listens But Does Not Hesitate’

To build a global group of lawyers from the ground up, a leader needs to communicate clearly about the culture being created while also earning the trust of business partners and scaling the function across geographies and practice types. In a dozen years at Hines, the private, Houston-based real estate investment giant, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Richard Heaton has done just that by recruiting and training lawyers to work as one team across the 30 countries where the company operates. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook congratulate Heaton for being selected as one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston General Counsel of the Year Award. The awards ceremony is set for May 22 at the Four Seasons downtown.

May 16, 2025 Jason Philyaw

P.S. — Lawyers and Volunteers Deliver ‘Small Bit of Miracle Working’ at Pasadena Legal Clinic

In this issue of P.S., we highlight an example of pro bono collaboration as volunteers from Baker Botts, Koch and The Beacon provided wide-ranging legal assistance at a Pasadena driver’s license restoration clinic. We also report on the bestowment of The Center for American and International Law’s highest award to legal trailblazer Harriet Miers for her decades of leadership and advocacy for justice. Also, the Texas Bar Foundation renewed its support for youth-focused nonprofit One Heart Project, helping continue programming for youth who are on probation. Plus, the Texas Access to Justice Commission is now accepting nominations for its 2025 Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Award and The Texas Lawbook is seeking stories about your pro bono cases or public service projects involving veterans.  

May 16, 2025 Krista Torralva

Phillips 66’s Kathleen Bertolatus is ‘the Full Package’

Kathleen Bertolatus had a “pivotal family conversation” with her dad three decades ago when she was looking at colleges. “His advice to me was that, since the most important role in my life was going to be as wife and mother, I should go to the least expensive school,” Bertolatus told The Texas Lawbook. “While my mother didn’t work outside the home, I already knew at that young age that I wanted to make a broader impact in the world.” Today, Bertolatus is a wife, a mother and one of the most respected environmental and regulatory lawyers in the energy industry, where she serves as managing counsel for Phillips 66. "I’m proud of 18-year-old me, and all those versions in between, for holding fast to a vision that has made my family and career successful,” she said. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Lawbook have selected Bertolatus as one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Senior Counsel of the Year Award for a large legal department. The awards ceremony is set for May 22 at the Four Seasons downtown.

May 15, 2025 Mark Curriden & Jason Philyaw

Maverick Natural Resources’ Sarah Payne is ‘Like Having a Cheat Code Against the Other Side’

Sarah Payne went to college and graduate school to be a journalist covering the music industry with the dream of writing for Rolling Stone. Her father, then a Houston trial lawyer, had other ideas. “I was worn down by my tenacious father over the course of two decades,” Payne told The Texas Lawbook. “My entering the profession was likely inescapable. It’s in my veins for better or worse." Payne recently led her employer, Maverick Natural Resources, to a huge courtroom victory after a four-year contract dispute with XTO Energy regarding revenue sharing as part of a joint venture. Citing the jury trial success, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Lawbook named Payne the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award recipient for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

May 5, 2025 Mark Curriden & Jason Philyaw

P.S. — Champions of Justice Gala Shatters Record, Remembering Fallen Heroes and Dallas to Kyiv: One Lawyer’s Solidarity with Ukraine  

In this week's edition of P.S., the 2025 Champions of Justice Gala shattered previous fundraising records by collecting over $1 million to support legal aid for veterans, with AT&T’s David McAtee and Halliburton’s Van Beckwith co-chairing the event and receiving widespread support from the legal community. Keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson highlighted the importance of access to justice, while Texas lawyers Rebecca Flanigan and Fred Krasny were honored for their dedication to legal aid. Meanwhile, Dallas attorney Rogge Dunn raised over $100,000 at a dinner with Gen. David Petraeus to support Ukrainian mental health efforts and plans to attend the Kyiv Security Forum. In a separate initiative, Carry the Load launched its annual Memorial May campaign to honor fallen heroes, with longtime legal support from Sidley Austin’s Aaron Rigby, a U.S. Navy veteran and founding supporter of the nonprofit.

May 2, 2025 Krista Torralva

P.S. — Prison Conditions, Death Penalty Cases Are ‘Projects of Compassion’ to These Pro Brono AT&T Lawyers

Jamal Wilson, an inmate at Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility, survived a brutal stabbing in 2019 that left him with a fractured skull. Fearing for his life, Wilson, represented pro bono by in-house lawyers from AT&T and Foley Lardner, filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging the prison’s failure to protect inmates from rampant violence, poor security, and mismanagement — violations of the Eighth Amendment. The Department of Justice investigated, and a settlement was reached in 2024, with Wilson set for transfer to a safer facility. Tragically, before the agreement was implemented and just months before being eligible for parole, Wilson was beaten to death. His case was among 10 prison condition cases and two death penalty appeals handled pro bono by AT&T's lawyers, who worked with officials at Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative and its executive director, Bryan Stevenson.

April 25, 2025 Krista Torralva & Mark Curriden