Richard Mills, Jr. was confirmed to be U.S. ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 2, 2024. Mills previously was a member of the Senior Foreign Service, serving at the U.S. deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.
William Harris Connor, “Bill”, passed away on May 5, 2024. An active member of the Georgetown community, Connor served as District Attorney for the 26th Judicial District, Georgetown City Council member for three terms, and Mayor for one term.
Jesse Heber Coomer passed away on May 18, 2024. A diligent attorney, Coomer served as chief counsel for the Universities Research Associates, Inc., Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory. He also was appointed by the Secretary of State, George P. Shultz, as the contract manager for E-Systems, Inc. in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Elizabeth Brandon, a partner at Reed Smith, LLP, has earned a place on the 2024 INvolve Empower Executive Role Model List for her advocacy work in diversifying the legal and business communities.
Michael McLeaish passed away March 15, 2024. McLeaish opened his own practice in Odessa, Texas, in 1970 and celebrated 53 years of active practice last September.
Lance Currie, a partner at Carrington Coleman, has been elected to the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees. Currie’s practice centers on construction and real estate law.
Brooke Colaizzi has started a new position as co-leader of Litigation, Trials & Appeals at Sherman & Howard L.L.C in Denver. Colaizzi has extensive experience in employment litigation, labor employment and employee benefits, and workplace counseling.
Alphonso Ragland lll, “Fonse,” passed away on May 13, 2024. Ragland served as a Judge Advocate Officer, JAG, in the United States Air Force stationed in New York until June 1967. From there, Ragland moved back to Dallas to practice law before working as a stockbroker for more than 50 years.
Janet Carl passed away on May 4, 2024. Carl worked in environmental law before retiring to live near family and give back to her community through charitable giving.
Jennifer de Haro has been promoted to Managing Attorney of the Removal and Community Integration Services department (RCIS) at RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, in San Antonio, Texas. She also serves as a board member of the Multi Cultural Alliance (MCA),
Brad Estes joined the partnership at Lewis & Llewellyn, LLP, a litigation boutique based in San Francisco. Estes represents plaintiffs and defendants across a wide variety of industries at every stage of complex commercial litigation, including business tort, contract, fraud, regulatory, trade secret, trademark, employee mobility, and competition disputes. He has been recognized as a Northern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Maidie Ryan is the president and general counsel of Camp Aspen, an elevated loungewear brand founded by her brother and UT alumnus Patrick Ryan.
Manuel Escobar has been recognized as the 2024 recipient of the Joseph C. Parker Jr. Diversity Award from the Austin Bar Association. Escobar is a partner at McGinnis Lochridge.
KC Waldron has joined Empower as the new chief compliance officer where she will oversee the management and development of the company’s compliance program. Waldron spent 12 years at Charles Schwab, most recently as managing director, chief compliance officer of Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc., and head of Wealth & Advice Solutions compliance.
Paula Desel was selected to a three-year term on the Rice University Alumni Association’s board of directors. Prior to her retirement, Desel practiced law at Baker Botts in Houston and Arnold & Porter in New York, and was an in-house attorney at Altria.
Rudy Metayer had been named a recipient of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. The honorees will be celebrated on June 22, 2024 at the Community Impact Center in Austin, Texas.
Barrett Robin has been named partner at the Dallas plaintiffs’ law firm Hamilton Wingo. In addition to his trial success, Robin has secured multiple seven-figure settlements in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases.
John Varner passed away on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Varner practiced law at three different firms, and co-founded Genprex, Inc., a biotechnology company fighting cancer and diabetes. He served as Genprex’s president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors.
Timothy Tyler has joined Norton Rose Fulbright as counsel in its Houston office. Tyler practices international commercial arbitration, investor-state arbitration under treaties and state contracts, and associated U.S. litigation. He also is an adjunct professor at Texas Law, teaching courses in international arbitration.
On May 2, 2024, Richard Mills Jr. was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as incoming ambassador to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service.
Samuel G. Encarnacion, first assistant public defender in the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office, received the annual Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Civil and Equal Rights Champion Award during the PBA annual meeting. The award honors an individual who champions for civil rights for all Pennsylvanians.
Thomas “Tom” Renfro passed away on Sunday, May 5, 2024. A double Longhorn, Renfro practiced law in Ft. Worth as a litigator and medical malpractice defense attorney during his more-than-50-year career.
Mark Burroughs passed away on May 2, 2024. His legal career was based in Denton where he practiced business law, personal injury and property tax collection at his real estate law firm, Sawko & Burroughs. Burroughs also served as a city council member and mayor of Denton from 2008-2014.
Ellie Sowanick has been promoted to counsel at Haynes Boone, working with the Trademark and Advertising Practice Group in Orange County. Her practice focuses on a variety of trademark, patent, copyright, and design patent matters, as well as brand management and resolving complex and multi-jurisdictional trademark and domain disputes.
Paul Trahan has been appointed as the partner-in-charge at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s Austin office. Trahan has been with the firm since 1996.
Jaime Vasquez was named managing shareholder of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s San Antonio office. Vasquez concentrates his practice on federal, state, and international tax controversy matters.
Kari Potts has been named chief legal officer and compliance Officer at Earth Holdings, LLC, a Brigham family company. Potts was previously vice president, general counsel, secretary and compliance officer at Brigham Minerals, Inc., prior to its merger with Sitio Royalties Corp. in December 2022. She is re-joining some of the executive team members with whom she previously served.
James G. Ulmer passed away on April 16, 2024. He practiced law for 40 years with the firm of Baker Botts LLP in the field of general litigation with emphasis on intellectual property, bankruptcy, and oil and gas law. Ulmer, who also was an Air Force veteran, retired as a senior partner in 1990.
Diana Saldana was recognized as a United ISD (Laredo) Community Hero for launching the Kazen Fellowship Program, which aims to offer paid summer internships for eligible high school students at the federal and state courthouses.
Roy Laughton Whitehead Jr. passed away on April 24, 2024. Based in Longview, his legal career grew from a start in the Gregg County District Attorney’s Office to joining his father’s practice. Eventually, Whitehead built a boutique firm that focused on family law until retiring in 2020.
Samuel Sipes passed away on April 14, 2024. A U.S. Army veteran, Sipes was a practicing attorney in El Paso, focusing on bankruptcy, business law and commercial law.
Elisabeth Kincaid has been named director of the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University. She also will serve as associate professor of ethics, faith and culture in Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary and as an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Management in the Hankamer School of Business.
Hon. John G. Browning, former justice on Texas’ Fifth Court of Appeals and now Distinguished Jurist in Residence at Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, will receive the Texas Bar College’s Franklin B. Jones Outstanding CLE Article Award for 2023. Browning’s article, “ Let’s Chat About Chat GPT,” examined the ethics of using generative AI. The award will be presented at the College’s annual Summer School in July 2024.
Rachael M. Rolon is one of the co-founders of Lawgical Workspace, a co-working space for legal professionals, located in The Woodlands, Texas. An experienced attorney at Rolon Law Firm, she specializes in representing corporations, small businesses, and individuals.
Kayvon Rashidi is now a partner at Powers Kerr & Rashidi, PLLC. Rashidi joined the team at Powers and Kerr, PLLC in August 2020, and represents clients in all manner of family law cases, including complex property division, high conflict custody litigation, marital property agreements, and protective orders. While at Texas Law he was an executive editor of the Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law.
Jason Boatright has been appointed to the Texas Racing Commission, which oversees pari-mutuel wagering on horse and greyhound racing. Boatright is special counsel at Duane Morris LLP and is a former justice of the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals.
Henry Lee Caldwell passed away on April 18, 2024. Caldwell was an attorney, rancher and a founding director of Hospice of Abilene.
Parth Gejji has been elected as Fourth Year Representative to the Houston Bar Association (HBA) Appellate Practice Section. Gejji is an associate at Beck Redden LLP and focuses his practice on civil appeals and complex commercial litigation. He also was recognized as a 2024 Texas Rising Star by Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers.
Nicholas Bruno was elected as Chair-Elect to the Houston Bar Association (HBA) Appellate Practice Section. Bruno is an associate at the Houston office of Beck Redden LLP and is board-certified in Civil Appellate Law. He also was recognized as a 2024 Texas Rising Star by Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers.
Chris Hamilton has earned selection on the 2024 D Magazine “Best Lawyers in Dallas” list based on his work in high-stakes personal injury litigation and plaintiffs’ civil litigation. Hamilton is owner and partner at Hamilton Wingo, LLP.
Julia A. Simon has joined trial litigation firm Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann as partner. Previously, Simon served as the chief legal officer for Mary Kay Inc. for almost 25 years.
James R. Mundy has been hired at Curtis Thaxter, a Portland (Maine) law firm. Prior to joining the firm, Mundy had a practice in York County focused on real estate, probate and estate planning.
Jaime Vasquez has been named the managing shareholder of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s San Antonio office. Vasquez, who is board certified in tax law, has counseled clients in tax litigation matters, handling cases before the United States Tax Court, United States District Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Jack Woodville London will speak on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Omaha and Utah beaches in Normandy, France. Jack will speak at the Brittany American Military Cemetery at Montjoie-Saint-Martin, France, on June 6, 2024, and at the Normandy American Military Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer the following day.
Lisa Blatt is the first woman to argue 50 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, and she has a 41-5 win-loss record with four pending cases this term. Bloomberg Law points out her casual candor, direct argument style, and high energy as characteristics contributing to her success.
Harry Lee Hudspeth passed away April 7, 2024. After working for the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Hudspeth was appointed to the federal judiciary by President Jimmy Carter and served as a federal judge in Texas until 2016.
Anya Bidwell argued a case before the Supreme Court regarding retaliatory arrests, probable cause, and First Amendment rights. She also hosted the Short Circuit podcast with three other Supreme Court lawyers at the National Press Club in April. Bidwell is an attorney at the Institute for Justice and leads the firm’s Project on Immunity and Accountability.
Rep. Tommy Gregory, a lawyer and Air Force veteran who is chairperson of the state House Judiciary Committee, has been named as the next president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. Gregory was first elected to the House in 2018, representing Manatee County’s District 72.
Kelly E. Wise has been promoted to shareholder at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. in Dallas, working as a member of the firm’s Litigation and Transportation practices. Wise, who was included in the 2024 Best Lawyers “Ones to Watch” directory, has background in a range of litigation matters, including construction liability and defects, premises liability and transportation and trucking liability.
Adrienne N. Wall has been named to the 2024 Texas Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” List for her excellence in banking law. As a shareholder at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. in Dallas, Wall focuses on commercial finance transactions secured by real estate, business assets or other personal property, notes receivable and other property or assets.