2014 Whitehurst Public Interest Summer Fellowship Honorees

The Whitehurst Public Interest Summer Fellowships are supported by a generous multi-year gift from Stephanie Whitehurst and Bill Whitehurst, ‘70. Each summer, the Whitehursts name the fellowships for lawyers and others they admire in hopes that the recipients will be inspired by the honorees’ work in the public interest.

Summer 2014 Whitehurst Public Interest Fellowship Honorees

The Jamal K. Alsaffar Public Interest Law Fellowship

Jamal Alsaffar received his BA degree in Philosophy, Philosophy Honors Program, in 1996 from the University of Texas and his law degree from Baylor Law School in 2000. He is an equity member of Whitehurst, Harkness, Brees, Cheng, Alsaffar and Higginbotham, where he serves as trial and appellate counsel for a national docket of Federal Tort Claims Act and medical malpractice litigation. His most recent verdict was for $13,690,648.

Named the top undergraduate mock trial attorney in the nation, Jamal has served as a volunteer attorney coach to the University of Texas Undergraduate Mock Trial Team for 13 years. He taught trial advocacy at the University of Texas School of Law for six years and is also an interscholastic/intramural judge for mock trial and moot court teams. Throughout his career he has provided active pro bono representation through
Volunteer Legal Service (VLS). He also served on the VLS/AYLA Joint Domestic Violence Pilot Project which provided pro bono representation for victims of domestic abuse. For the last five years, Jamal has been a volunteer soccer coach for the Lake Travis Youth Association.

Jamal won numerous advocacy awards in both undergraduate and law school. He was recognized by Texas Lawyer magazine’s “Legal Leaders on the Rise,” awarded to the top 25 lawyers in the state of Texas under the age of 40, and as Texas Super Lawyer, awarded to the top 5% of all Texas Lawyers by Texas Monthly magazine. He was recently elected to the Texas State Bar Foundation.

Jamal has also authored multiple articles for legal publications. He has twice served as Chair of the American Association of Justice’s Federal Tort Liability and Military Claims Section as well as editor of their newsletter. He is married to a trial lawyer and has three children.

The Jamal K. Alsaffar Public Interest Law Fellowship is awarded in hopes that the recipient will be inspired by what successful lawyers like Jamal do in the public’s interest, and will make the same commitment.

The Lulu Flores Public Interest Law Fellowship
Lulu Flores, the youngest of nine children, was born and raised in Laredo, Texas where her father, an attorney for over forty years, was one of the founding members of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). She received her B.A. with High Honors in Government from the University of Texas and her Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Texas School of Law.

Lulu is a partner at Hendler Law, PC, a national plaintiff’s trial firm based in Austin, where she is senior legal advisor and provides strategic counsel regarding the firm’s cases and firm management. She also heads the law firm’s myriad civic, political and public interest endeavors. Lulu has dedicated her professional career to supporting causes of particular concern to women, Hispanics, the arts and animal rights.

Ms. Flores is currently a member of the Austin Arts Commission, and serves on the Advisory Committee of the University of Texas Center for Women and Gender Studies, the Metro Board of the Austin YMCA, and the Martin Middle School Campus Advisory Committee. In the past she served on the boards of Planned Parenthood of Texas Capital Region, the Women’s Advocacy Project (now the Texas Advocacy Project), the Battered Women’s Center (now SafePlace), and Mexic-Arte Museum. She is a past president and active member of the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin, where she heads the Association’s community service efforts, and she served as the State President of the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas. She continues to be involved in mentoring projects for young women and girls, particularly in the Hispanic community.

Lulu is the immediate past president of the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC), having served two consecutive terms at the helm of the 43-year old women’s grassroots political organization. As president of NWPC, Ms. Flores advocated, encouraged and actively supported women of diverse backgrounds to seek public office and increase the number of young women involved in politics.

In 2010 the Hispanic National Bar Association named Ms. Flores “National Latina Lawyer of the Year” at its national convention and that same year the Imagen Foundation bestowed on Ms. Flores its coveted “Latina Leader in Advocacy” award. In 2011, Flores received the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association and Foundation “Outstanding Achievement” award and the Austin YWCA “Lifetime Achievement” award. In 2014, she was inducted into the Austin Women’s Hall of Fame for her leadership, advocacy and mentoring. The Austin American Statesman has named Ms. Flores as one of 50 “All Star Social Superstars” of the 500 most influential Austinites for five straight years.

The Lulu Flores Public Interest Law Fellowship is awarded in hopes that the recipient will be inspired by what successful lawyers like Lulu do in the public interest as an essential part of their career, and will make the same commitment.

The Laurie M. Higginbotham Public Interest Law Fellowship

Laurie Higginbotham graduated from the University of Texas with a BA in history in 1995 and a JD in 1999. She was a recipient of a Texas Law Fellowship in 1997 to work with the Travis County D.A.’s office on child abuse cases. Laurie is an equity member of Whitehurst, Harkness, Brees, Cheng, Alsaffar & Higginbotham, where she handles a national/international docket of federal tort claims and military act litigation and appeals with a focus on medical malpractice cases.

Laurie has also served as an Austin Independent School mentor at Sanchez Elementary School mentoring 4th and 6th grade girls, in numerous positions with the Lakeway Elementary PTO, and as an Advocacy Coach for the ABA Moot Court Team and guest lecturer on litigation and appellate practice at the University of Texas School of Law. She chairs the City of Lakeway Board of Ethics, is a volunteer at the Texas Veterans Project’s free legal services clinic for veterans, chaired the Austin Young Lawyers Joint Domestic Violence Pilot Project responsible for representing domestic violence victims in emergency hearings, chaired the United Way annual law firm fundraising campaign and is a volunteer for the Travis County Center for Child Protection.

Laurie has received numerous awards including being named to Texas Lawyer Winning Women, 2011, as one of Texas’ top 20 female trial and appellate lawyers, the Austin Outstanding Young Lawyer Award for professional proficiency and service to the profession and community, named Texas Super Lawyer Rising Star and Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine, and the Presidential Award by the Travis County Women Lawyers Association. She has served as president of the Travis County Women Lawyers Association Board and Chair of its Foundation, chair of the American Association for Justice Federal Tort Liability and Military Advocacy Section, and serves on the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, Austin Division, Admissions Committee.

In addition to being an outstanding trial and appellate lawyer, Laurie is a prolific author of articles in numerous legal publications and a frequent lecturer at national and state legal conferences. She is married to a trial lawyer and has three children.

The Laurie M. Higginbotham Public Interest Law Fellowship is awarded in hopes that the recipient will be inspired by what successful lawyers like Laurie do in the public interest as an essential part of their career, and will make the same commitment.

The Elizabeth Pipkin Public Interest Law Fellowship

Elizabeth Pipkin is a graduate of Bringham Young University and Harvard Law School. A native of Spearman, Texas, Elizabeth Pipkin began her work in Public Interest law as a first-year law student who received a fellowship to work on Capitol Hill and at the Appleseed Foundation in Washington, DC. Throughout her career, she has always incorporated pro bono and public interest cases into her practice.

After law school, Elizabeth joined Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld in Dallas, which she chose because of its outstanding tradition of public service by firm leaders. Elizabeth then clerked for the Hon. Nancy Atlas, United States District Court, Southern District of Texas. After her clerkship, Elizabeth declined offers from corporate firms so that she could represent individuals who often did not have a voice in our legal system. For three years, she represented personal injury plaintiffs and victims of financial fraud at R.G. Taylor, P.C. and Associates in Houston.

In 2005, Elizabeth moved to Palo Alto, California, to support her husband who started law school there, and joined McManis Faulkner, Silicon Valley’s leading trial firm. In addition to her work for the area’s prominent technology companies, Elizabeth regularly represents people who cannot afford to pay for a lawyer.

In 2013, Elizabeth and her team prevailed against the federal government in the first trial ever to successfully challenge the constitutionality of government watchlists. The case involved a former Stanford Ph.D. student from Malaysia, Dr. Rahinah Ibrahim, who was erroneously watchlisted and barred from returning to the United States. After eight years of pro bono litigation, none of which her client was allowed to attend, including two dismissals by the District Court, two reversals by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a week-long trial, Dr. Ibrahim’s name was finally cleared. A Stanford Hospital Chaplain who watched much of the trial said the following about Elizabeth and her team: “Personally, I have never in my lifetime experienced such heroic dedication and stamina. I know that their combined efforts over a nine year period have produced a global change which is still unfolding and will continue to do so for many years to come.”

Elizabeth is now a partner at McManis Faulkner in San Jose, California, where she heads the civil litigation group. She serves on the board of trustees of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, the region’s largest provider of free legal services to the disadvantaged.

The Elizabeth Pipkin Public Interest Law Fellowship is awarded in hopes that the recipient will be inspired by what successful lawyers do in the public interest as an essential part of their career, and will make the same commitment.

The Beverly G. Reeves Public Interest Law Fellowship

Beverly Reeves attended the University of Texas obtaining a BA in History with high honors, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and a JD degree with selection to the National Order of the Barristers. She is one of the Founders of Texas Law Fellowships.

Before co-founding Reeves & Brightwell, Beverly was a partner at Vinson & Elkins where she represented numerous high tech companies in significant commercial disputes. Beverly is a seasoned litigator whose experience includes a wide range of complex commercial and product liability litigation. She has prosecuted breach of contract actions for multiple national and international technology companies and represented Texas public officials in defamation litigation.

Beverly also served as President of the Travis County Bar Association and on the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas, the Austin Bar Foundation and Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas. Beverly recently served as an executive producer for the documentary film An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story, about a man who was wrongly convicted of murdering his wife because of prosecutorial misconduct. After serving twentyfive years in prison, he was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2011. The film won the SXSW 2013 Audience Appreciation Award and was an Official Selection of the 2013 Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Beverly has been named a Texas Monthly Texas Super Lawyer, and has received numerous additional prestigious awards including the Austin Business Journal’s “Profiles in Power” award, the “Austin Under 40” award and the Travis County Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Beverly serves on the Board of Directors for KLRU, Austin’s public television station, and for the Austin Children’s Shelter.

The Beverly Reeves Public Interest Law Fellowship is awarded in hopes that the recipient will be inspired by what successful lawyers like Beverly do in the public’s interest as an essential part of their career, and will make the same commitment.

Rev. Emilee Dawn Whitehurst Public Interest Law Fellowship

Emilee Whitehurst grew up in Austin, Texas, graduating with honors from Stanford, where she received a William Kennedy Public Service Fellowship, and a masters from Harvard. As an undergraduate she co-directed the San Francisco/Oakland chapter of a nation-wide student-run anti-poverty organization, Empty the Shelters (ETS), working primarily on homelessness issues. After graduation, Emilee received an Echoing Green “Social Entrepreneur” Fellowship with which she founded and directed the Justice Education and Action Project (JEAP) in Oakland, California, a multi-racial grass-roots organization to respond to police violence, develop alternatives to youth incarceration, and work with families with children in the juvenile justice system.

When urged to pursue a law degree Emilee responded: “I have worked all these years at the grassroots level of poverty, homelessness, police abuse and juvenile justice, and I am not convinced that the answers to these people’s problems lie in either law or politics.” Instead, Emilee entered Harvard Divinity School concentrating on Comparative Religion and Human Rights. After being ordained, Emilee served for two years as Associate Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence, Kansas. Returning to Texas, she served as executive director of Austin Area Interreligious Ministries (AAIM), central Texas’ oldest and most comprehensive interfaith organization comprised of over 30 distinct faith traditions. Her biggest challenge in that position came after 9/11 when she became Austin’s calming voice to counter threats on the Mosques and the Muslim population.

Emilee currently serves as Executive Director of the internationally recognized human rights and interfaith center Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. Home to 14 monumental canvasses by painter Mark Rothko and the majestic Broken Obelisk by Barnett Newman, the Rothko Chapel inspires people to action through art and contemplation, nurtures reverence for the highest aspirations of humanity, and provides a forum for global concerns. Emilee also serves on the board of The Texas American Civil Liberties Union. She is the mother of two young girls who keep her humble every day and joyful most days.

Emilee has dedicated her life’s work to seeking justice for all she has touched, from the homeless person in San Francisco to the larger global community. The Emilee Dawn Whitehurst Public Interest Law Fellowship is awarded in hopes that the recipient will be inspired by what one individual can do in the public’s interest as an essential part of their career, and will make the same commitment.