2026 Alumni Award Recipients Announced

For more than half a century, William “Bill” Whitehurst has been a leader in the legal industry, as a litigator, an officer in professional organizations, and an advocate for legal services for the poor. As senior counsel at Whitehurst Harkness Brees Chang Alsaffer Higgenbotham & Jacob Whitehurst, he specializes in litigation involving catastrophic injuries and death from medical malpractice, defective products, aviation, and vehicular accidents, securing major multimillion-dollar verdicts on behalf of his clients.  

Whitehurst’s impact extends far beyond the courtroom. He is a former president of the State Bar of Texas, Texas Young Lawyers Association, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Foundation. A strong advocate for low-income people in need of legal services, Whitehurst co-founded the national organization Bar Leaders for the Preservation of Legal Services to the Poor. Since its inception, the fund has provided more than $220 million for legal services for low-income individuals. 

He has also supported Texas Law in many ways. Whitehurst was instrumental in establishing the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and annually funds summer law internships for Texas Law students in public interest law. He has also been the attorney advisor for the Texas Law Fellowships organization since its inception. Whitehurst was a lecturer at Texas Law for a decade in the 1980s.

Hilda C. Galvan is a nationally recognized intellectual property litigator and business leader whose career has spanned engineering, law, and civic leadership. Most recently, she served as partner-in-charge of the Dallas office of Jones Day, leading one of the firm’s largest offices while maintaining an active intellectual property and technology disputes practice, representing companies in complex technology litigation. 

Galvan is deeply involved with the Texas Law community. In addition to serving as vice chair for development of the Texas Law School Foundation, Galvan is president of the Center for Women in Law and has served on its executive committee since 2017. Galvan is also committed to serving the community, devoting her time and energy to organizations supporting education, women and children, and the Hispanic community. 

George Slover has more than three decades of antitrust and competition policy experience and is currently the senior counsel for competition policy and general counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). Previously, he served for nine years as senior counsel in the advocacy division of Consumer Reports. 

Slover started his career clerking for U.S. District Judge Robert Parker, then moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent more than two decades in public service. He served as counsel to Texas Congressman John Bryant, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee under Texas Congressman Jack Brooks, where he was lead antitrust counsel. He later spent 11 years in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and returned to the House Judiciary Committee as chief legislative counsel and parliamentarian under Chairman John Conyers. 

He is a member of the American Antitrust Institute’s Advisory Board and an elected member of the American Law Institute. 

Miguel Garza is co-founder and former CEO of his family’s business, Siete Foods. After law school, Garza remained in Austin and helped transform his family’s almond flour tortilla recipe into a nationally recognized brand. Under his leadership, Siete Foods became one of the fastest-growing natural food companies in the country, with products sold in more than 16,500 grocery stores nationwide. In 2017, Garza was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list. 

While at Texas Law, Garza was active in the Chicano/Hispanic Law Students Association, where he developed a leadership style rooted in service, collaboration, and community building. Those values have remained central throughout his career. At Siete Foods, Garza has fostered a people-centered culture focused on authenticity, shared responsibility, and creating opportunities for others, including mentorship and support for Latino entrepreneurs.