TMCP Awards
2024 TMCP Nomination Form (coming soon)
Nomination deadline: June 28, 2024
TMCP RISING STAR AWARD
The TMCP Rising Star Award recognizes an attorney who has made strides early in their practice to promote diversity in the legal profession through involvement with bar and/or community activities.
Past Winners* – TMCP Rising Star Award
2023 – Hanna Kim, Samsung C&T America,
Dallas
2022 – KoiEles Lomas, McKesson Corporation,
Dallas
2021 – Reginald Wilson, Norton Rose Fulbright US
LLP, Houston
*Employers listed above were current the year the award was given.
Eligibility: Must be a licensed Texas attorney in practice 7 years or less. Current candidates running for public office are not eligible. Current members of the Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee are not eligible. Former Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee members are eligible only if they are at least three-years removed from serving on the Steering Committee.
TMCP TRAILBLAZER OF THE YEAR AWARD
The TMCP Trailblazer of the Year Award honors an outside counsel who has effectuated the promotion of diversity within the legal profession through hiring, retention and mentoring of minority, women, and LGBTQ+ attorneys, partnering with minority, women, and LGBTQ+ owned law firms, and involvement with Bar and/or community activities designed to promote diversity within the legal profession. This award is designed to honor an attorney in private practice, a government attorney, or a judge. If the nominee is a corporate counsel, please instead nominate in the Corporate Counsel of the Year award category.
Past Winners* – TMCP Trailblazer of the Year
Award
2023 – Sakina Rasheed Foster, Haynes and Boone,
Dallas
2022 – Jamila Mensah, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP,
Houston
2021 – Hon. Ravi K. Sandill, 127th Judicial District
Court, Harris County, Houston
2020 – Amy Stewart, Stewart Law Group, Dallas
2019 – Chevazz Brown, Jackson Walker LLP, Houston
2018 – Michael Pegues, Polsinelli PC, Dallas
2017 – Rodney Ellis, Harris County Commissioner,
Houston
2016 – Fred Gaona, Gray Reed &
McGraw, P.C., Dallas
2015 – Bruce J. Ruzinsky, Jackson Walker L.L.P.,
Houston
2014 – Benny Agosto Jr., Abraham Watkins Nichols
Sorrels Agosto Aziz & Stogner, Houston
2013 – Laura Gibson, Ogden, Gibson,
Broocks, Longoria & Hall, LLP, Houston
2012 – Thomas J. Forestier, Winstead PC, Houston
2011 – A. Marty Wickliff, Cozen O'Connor, Houston
*Employers listed above were current the year the award was given.
Eligibility: Must be a licensed Texas attorney in practice 20 years or less. Current candidates running for public office are not eligible. Current members of the Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee are not eligible. Former Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee members are eligible only if they are at least three-years removed from serving on the Steering Committee.
TMCP CORPORATE COUNSEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
The TMCP Corporate Counsel of the Year Award recognizes an in-house attorney who has opened doors for Texas minority, women, and LGBTQ+ attorneys by promoting diversity within their legal department or company, by consistently hiring diverse attorneys in private practice to perform legal work on behalf of their company, and by engaging in mentorship and volunteerism with the bar or community to foster diversity in the legal profession.
Past Winners* – TMCP Corporate Counsel of the Year
Award
2023 – Kimberly Cunningham, Exxon Mobil
Corporation, Houston
2022 – Travis Torrence, Shell USA, Inc.,
Houston
2021 – Tasha Grinnell, The Container Store,
Dallas
2020 – Vicki Blanton, AT&T, Dallas
2019 – Navin Rao, The Michaels Companies,
Inc., Irving
2018 – Chasity Henry, Kimberly-Clark
Corporation, Dallas
2017 – Lawrence Morgan, Republic Services, Inc.,
Phoenix, AZ
2016 – Cisselon Nichols, Shell Oil Company, Houston
2015 – Abel Martinez, H.E.B., San Antonio
2014 – John V. Treviño, Jr.,
Hewlett-Packard Company, Plano
2013 – Michelle Peak, American Airlines,
Fort Worth
2012 – Wayne Watts (Ret.), AT&T, Dallas
2011 – Tonya Holt, Sky Chefs, Irving
2010 – Thomas E. Evans, Wal-Mart Stores,
Bentonville, AR
2009 – Gary F. Kennedy (Ret.), American Airlines, Fort
Worth
*Employers listed above were current the year the award was given.
Eligibility: Attorney must be a Texas resident in practice 20 years or less. License with the State Bar of Texas is not required. Current candidates running for public office are not eligible. Current members of the Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee are not eligible. Former Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee members are eligible only if they are at least three-years removed from serving on the Steering Committee.
TMCP LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The TMCP Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an attorney who has demonstrated extraordinary support and advocacy for the advancement of minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ people in the legal profession over the course of their legal career. This award is based on significant contributions an individual attorney has made toward diversity in the legal profession. Because of the nature of the award, the body of work of achievements and accomplishments should span 20+ years of practice at a minimum. The Lifetime Achievement Award is intended to recognize outstanding leadership by the promotion of diversity, and such leadership should not be limited by geography or in scope.
Past Winners* – TMCP Lifetime Achievement
Award
2023 – Juanita Harris, DIRECTV,
Dallas
2022 – Kim Askew, DLA Piper, Dallas
2021 – Paula Hinton, Winston & Strawn,
Houston
2020 – Hon. Sam Lindsay, U.S. District
Court,
Dallas
2019 – Hon. Carolyn Wright, (Ret.) Chief Justice,
Fifth
Court of Appeals, Dallas
2018 – Hon. Robert Pitman, U.S. District Court,
Western
District of Texas, Austin
2017 – Abel Martinez, HEB Grocery Company, San
Antonio
2016 – Linda Bray Chanow, Center for
Women in Law, The University of Texas School of Law, Austin
2015 – Vince Ryan, Harris County Attorney, Harris
County Attorney's Office, Houston
2014 – Regina Montoya, General Counsel,
Children's Medical Center of Dallas, Dallas
2013 – Hon. Wallace B. Jefferson, Chief Justice,
Supreme Court of Texas, Austin
2012 – Wilson Chu, K&L Gates LLP,
Dallas
2011 – Catherine Lamboley, General Counsel,
Shell Oil Company, Houston
*Employers listed above were current the year the award was given.
Eligibility: Attorney must be a Texas resident in practice 20 years or more. Active license with the State Bar of Texas is not required. Current candidates running for public office are not eligible. Current members of the Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee are not eligible. Former Texas Minority Counsel Program Steering Committee members are eligible only if they are at least three-years removed from serving on the Steering Committee.
The Office of Minority Affairs will notify the nominee of their nomination to obtain additional information to be reviewed by the TMCP Steering Committee. It is the discretion of the nominee to accept or decline the nomination. The nominee will be asked to complete and return a nomination response form to be considered.
