2016 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 2016 Whitehurst Public Interest Fellowship Honorees

The Honorable Jim Coronado Public Interest Law Fellowship

Judge Jim Coronado serves as the 427th Travis County District Court Judge. Prior to this election in 2008 he served as Travis County District Court Magistrate from 1991-2008. He served contemporaneously as Municipal Judge in the cities of Kyle and Austin from 1989-1991. He has served as a Judge for over 27 years.

Before his appointment and election to the bench Judge Coronado was in the private practice of law in Austin for over ten years concentrating primarily in Criminal and Family Law. He is a graduate of The University of Texas and Texas Law. He entered UT Austin in 1969 as a Junior Transfer from UT El Paso at age 17. He worked his way through college and law school as a childcare worker at the Austin State School and as a law clerk at the General Land Office.

Judge Coronado is a past Director of the State Bar of Texas and served on the State Bar Executive Committee. He is a past President of the Austin/Travis County Bar Association. He also served as a Trustee on the Texas Bar Foundation. He joined the Travis County Bar in 1979. During his bar service he served on the Board of the Lawyer Referral Service for six years. He also served as President of the Capital Area Mexican American Lawyers, now the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin. He chaired the District 9 Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee and served continuously on the Travis County/Austin Bar Board from 1995-2006.

Judge Coronado has been a leader in the State Bar. He served three years as Chair of the State Bar Jury Service Committee. He served as Chair of the Hispanic Issues Section of the Bar. He chaired the State Bar Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession Committee for three years. He was a founding member of the Mexican-American Bar Association of Texas and served as President in 1988-1989. In 1990 he was elected the National Vice President of the Hispanic National Bar Association.

Judge Coronado’s Community service includes serving on the Board of The Austin Project (Strengthening Families, Improving Education, Promoting Early Literacy) since its inception in 1991. He also served for six years on the KLRU Public Television Board.

Judge Coronado has been recognized for his service by his profession and his community. In 1991 he received a Distinguished Service Award from the City Of Austin for his work on juvenile crime and gang violence. In 1991 he was selected as one of thirteen Hispanic lawyers to meet with President Salinas of Mexico and senior Mexican Cabinet Officers during the preliminary NAFTA discussions at the Mexican White House. In 1995 he was recognized by his peers with the Judge Reynaldo Garza Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Issues Section of the State Bar for his dedication and effort to increase diversity in the bar and improve economic opportunity for minority lawyers. At 44 he was the youngest recipient ever of this award. In 1999 he received a Presidential Citation for his lifetime of achievement and service to the State Bar to increase diversity and opportunity in the profession.

Judge Coronado’s parents were educators, as are his brother and sister. He is an advocate for children and he has spoken at elementary, middle and high schools throughout Austin promoting the law as a career. He is married to Dawn Dittman Coronado and they have one son, 17-year-old Carson.

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

Bill and Stephanie Whitehurst, Spring 2016

The Noël Ferris Public Interest Law Fellowship

Noël Ferris is a solo practitioner in Sacramento, California with over thirty-five years of experience as a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer on both the defense and plaintiff side. She received her B.A. from Stanford, University in 1970, got married, had a child, worked as a manager of an apartment complex, got a divorce, and while sitting at a stop light with her three-year-old daughter in her VW Squareback, decided to go to law school. She received her J.D. from the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific in 1979. She married Parker White, a fellow law student, with whom she has had two more daughters.

Today, Noël is recognized as one of the outstanding attorneys in California. Named to the 2014 Sacramento Super Lawyers list. She has been voted as a Super Lawyer since 2005. She has been named in “The Best Lawyers in America” since 2006. Noël has earned the AV peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest possible rating an attorney can earn from this organization.

Noël is a compassionate and caring attorney who fights hard and gets results. She has obtained millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for injured people and has handled high-profile, headline-making cases. She truly cares about her clients, treating them as if they were her own family. She handles their cases personally, from start to finish. It is highly unusual to find an attorney of her stature who provides this level of personal service.

Noël was the first attorney in Sacramento selected into the prestigious International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL). This organization is limited to 500 members in the United States. She is also a fellow of the International Society of Barristers (ISOB). Both of these organizations extensively screen potential members, seeking lawyers who demonstrate the highest levels of ethics and ability. Noël is also a member of The American College of Trial Lawyers, a prestigious invitation-only fellowship of attorneys who have exhibited the highest standards of ethical conduct and professionalism. Noël has been a member of ABOTA (The American Board of Trial Advocates) since 1999. She has served on the National Board of Directors for three years. ABOTA is an invitation-only organization, which requires both outstanding trial skills as well as the highest ethical conduct.

Through the International Academy she heads their Coalition Against Human Trafficking in the U.S. and is engaged with the CEASE network seeking to combat trafficking from the demand side. The Coalition is involved in representing trafficking victims in immigration settings and assisting volunteer attorneys to handle expungement actions for women with convictions for prostitution. Noël has long been involved with the Sacramento Legal Aid Society raising funds and support, and representing many clients pro bono. Along with her husband she volunteers at their law school coaching trial advocacy teams and has established a $10,000 per year prize to the most outstanding advocate. Through ABOTA Noël also goes to middle schools in the area to discuss and teach on the 7th Amendment. Another interest of Noël’s is the education of girls worldwide. In that regard she provides financial support to the Berber School in Morocco and the Agahozo Shalom School in Rwanda.

In 2017, Noël will be inducted as the second woman president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Two of her daughters are lawyers and, as she says you might expect in a family with four lawyers, the third daughter is a psychotherapist.

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

Bill and Stephanie Whitehurst, Spring 2016

The Honorable Wallace B. Jefferson Public Interest Law Fellowship

Wallace B. Jefferson is a partner at Alexander Dubose Jefferson & Townsend. Prior to joining the firm, he served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas until October 2013. Appointed to the Supreme Court in 2001 and named chief justice in 2004, Jefferson made Texas judicial history as the Court’s first African-American justice and chief justice.

During his time on the bench, Jefferson served as president of the Conference of Chief Justices, an association of chief justices from the 50 states and U.S. territories. He and the Court worked with the other branches of government to fund access to justice programs with general appropriations from the Legislature; successfully urged the Legislature to reform juvenile justice; and persuaded the Legislature to support a statewide electronic filing system for the courts.

Under his leadership, cameras came to the Court in 2007, allowing the public to view oral arguments live to bolster their understanding of the Court’s work. The Court implemented a new case-management system and required all lawyers to submit appellate briefs electronically for posting on the Court’s website so that the arguments framing the great issues of the day are accessible to Texas citizens.

The Court mandated electronic filing of court documents in 2012, which decreases the cost of litigation and increases courts’ productivity. The Court fought for increased funding for basic civil legal services and established the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families. Jefferson led efforts to preserve historic court documents throughout the state and helped to reform antiquated juvenile-justice practices.

A graduate of the James Madison College at Michigan State University and Texas Law, Jefferson is the namesake for Wallace B. Jefferson Middle School in San Antonio. He has recently been honored with the 2014 Texas Center for Legal Ethics Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award, honoring a judge or attorney who personifies the highest standards of legal professional and integrity, the 2014 Texas Appleseed J. Chrys Dougherty Good Apple Award because of his leadership in seeking equality for all Texans, especially the less fortunate, and the 2015 Anti-Defamation League Austin Jurisprudence Award, honoring an outstanding member of the legal community who exhibits a commitment to equality, justice, fairness, and community service. He is Treasurer of the American Law Institute, Chair of the Texas Commission to Expand Civil Legal Services, and is certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, and Texas Super Lawyers.

The Honorable Wallace B. Jefferson Public Interest Law Fellowship is awarded in hopes that the recipient will be inspired by what successful lawyers like Wallace Jefferson do in the public interest as an essential part of their career, and will make a similar commitment.

Bill and Stephanie Whitehurst, Spring 2016

The Alice and Jack London Public Interest Law Fellowship

Both graduates of Texas Law, Alice and Jack London’s dedication to the legal practice, community service and public interest law is unparalleled. They are wonderful examples of what lawyers who choose to go into private practice can do in all these arenas.

When their son was killed by a drunk driver crossing the center stripe and hitting him head on, it could have easily remained as one more senseless tragedy statistic. Instead, Jack and Alice drafted legislation that reduced blood alcohol levels from .10 to .08 for drunk drivers, instated zero alcohol tolerance for teens to drive with automatic license revocation if caught with alcohol, and changed the law of parental responsibility for social hosts who have minors in their homes who become drunk there and then go out and have a accident. They then lobbied the legislature to ensure its passage. They also repeatedly testified on a variety of other alcohol and driving related-bills. In 1997 and 1999 they broadened their legislative efforts by joining with the Texas Freedom Foundation to successfully lobby for bills that prohibited sexual discrimination in the workplace and in awarding contracts by state agencies. They never charged nor were paid for their work.

Alice served first as a director, then as the chair, of the Austin Rape Crisis Center, and its successor, Safeplace. During her leadership it went from being a phone bank for women to report sexual assaults to a self-contained facility with on-staff clinical counselors, places for women and their children to stay during the immediate aftermath of assaults, and ultimately a primary school for their children to stay in school while SafePlace sorted out their cases and helped with living arrangements. She graduated from there to Annie’s List, an organization that trains women to run for and serve as prochoice progressive legislative candidates. She received both the Travis County Outstanding Young Lawyer and the Outstanding Women Lawyer in Litigation Awards.

For three years Jack served on the board of The Austin Project. This group concentrated on identifying families with children between ages two and twelve who, usually because of migrant status, not only were under-privileged but also at high risk. Their children usually were those destined for school failure, drop out, and delinquency. By identifying them by kindergarten age they could provide to them or their schools people who could help the children learn English and read, a skill most of their parents lacked. They also found sources of slightly outdated equipment, such as UT McCombs School of Business, and succeeding in getting donations of computers, printers, and software so that by the time the children of these groups reached third grade they were as tech-literate as their white counterparts. In the families they were able to reach and the programs they put on, the risk rate dropped dramatically and few of the children dropped out of school or became gang members by the time they finished junior high school. He is also a highly acclaimed award winner author and historian.

As a plaintiff’s lawyer specializing in product liability litigation, Jack handled a case that resulted in a patented modification to prevent guns from locking up found on virtually all police officers’ revolvers in the United States today. Others include a case that resulted in the reduction of failures of the tail boom to tail rotor attachment assembled in military helicopters manufactured by Bell, and a case provoking a change which provided more accurate glide slope signals for pilots.

Alice and Jack set out to use their law degrees to make the world a better place, and did it. The Alice and Jack London 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 a similar commitment.

Bill and Stephanie Whitehurst, Spring 2016

The Margaret Moore Public Interest Law Fellowship

Margaret Moore is a Waco native, who earned her BBA in accounting in 1970 and her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1972, both from UT Austin. After practicing law back home, she returned to Austin in 1974 and served as research counsel to the Constitutional Convention of Texas and then as counsel for committees in the Texas House of Representatives.

In 1976, Margaret was appointed the Travis County Juvenile Defender and represented indigent youths. A year later, she became an Assistant District Attorney. Over the next three years, she prosecuted a wide range of major felony cases.

In 1980, Margaret was elected Travis County Attorney, the first woman to hold that office. In that position, she strengthened DWI enforcement, collaborated with the Tax Assessor/Collector to improve the tax collection system for Travis County, and instituted innovative sentencing alternatives, including the first deferred prosecution program in Travis County.

In 1994, Margaret returned to public service as the District Director for newly-elected Congressman Lloyd Doggett. She continued her public service by accepting appointment twice (1998 and 2001) to serve out interim terms for departing Precinct 3 County Commissioners. While on the Commissioners Court, Moore made substantial contributions to expanding emergency services to Travis County residents and to establishing a strategy to complete the acquisition of Travis County acreage for the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan.

In 2005, Margaret was appointed Assistant Attorney General in what is now the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division. In that capacity, she handled complex lawsuits against corporations that had diverted hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars intended to fund health care for our most vulnerable citizens. She was the lead counsel in a highly significant jury trial that resulted in $180-million judgment against a pharmaceutical company. She was promoted first to Litigation-Team Leader and then Deputy Chief. She retired in October 2014.

In December 2015, Margaret declared her candidacy for Travis County District Attorney. She won the Democratic primary on March 1, 2016. She faces a Republican opponent in November 2016.

Moore is married to Robert L. Oliver, a retired attorney, and is the mother of three and grandmother of two children.

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

Bill and Stephanie Whitehurst, Spring 2016

The Jan Soifer Public Interest Law Fellowship

Jan Soifer is a partner in O’Connell & Soifer LLP, an Austin-based boutique law firm that represents whistleblowers in qui tam litigation and whistleblower claims, and other clients in high impact public interest litigation. She won the March 1, 2016 Democratic Primary to be a District Judge in Travis County, and is not opposed in the November 2016 General Election; she will take office in January 2017.

Jan graduated from Texas Law with a J.D. in 1982, after receiving a B.A. in 1979 from Yale University. She formerly served as Chief of the Texas Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts Section and Deputy Chief of the Consumer Protection Division, and has been a partner in a large national law firm. Jan was an adjunct faculty member of the University of Texas School of Law from 1992 – 2008, teaching trial advocacy, while practicing law full-time.

A former President of the Austin Bar Association and the Austin Young Lawyers Association, and a former Director of the State Bar of Texas, Jan has received a number of professional honors: she was honored by the Austin Young Lawyers Association with its 2012 Outstanding Alumnus Award; received the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association’s 1995 Outstanding Achievement Award; was named the YWCA of Austin’s 1993 Outstanding Achievement Award winner in Business/Professions; and was selected as the Texas Young Lawyers Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer in Texas in 1991. She has been named a Texas Super Lawyer for multiple years, and is AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5.0 Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. She is also Board Certified in Consumer and Commercial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Jan is active in the community, until recently serving as Chair of the Travis County Democratic Party (May 2013 – September 2015). She is an Associate National Commissioner of the Anti-Defamation League (a civil rights group), and a National Advisory Council Member of J Street (a pro-Israel, propeace group.) She has also served as President of Interfaith Action of Central Texas, President of Congregation Beth Israel of Austin, Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Austin, a Trustee of the Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas, a board member of Austin Groups for the Elderly, a Democratic precinct chair and Obama delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and was one of the initial Commissioners of the Texas Access to Justice Commission. She is a graduate of Leadership Austin (1993) and Leadership Texas (1998).

For her service to the community, Jan received the 2007 Belief in Action Award from the National Council of Jewish Women, Texas State Public Affairs; and was selected to receive the 2000 Austin Jewish Community Leadership Award for her dedication, support and service to the Jewish Community Association of Austin. The 1991-1993 President of Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas, the local bar-sponsored pro bono services provider, Jan served on the Board of Directors for seven years, and was selected to receive the 1995 J. Chrys Dougherty Award for exemplary dedication and commitment to the principle of access to justice for all people regardless of income.

Jan and her law partner, Patrick J. O’Connell, have been married for 32 years, and have two grown children, Ally and Brad. They founded O’Connell & Soifer in 2010, and the firm currently includes three lawyers.

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

Bill and Stephanie Whitehurst, Spring 2016