Houston Corporate Counsel Award Nominations are Now Open

Nominations Deadline: Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are accepting nominations for the fifth annual Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognizes the great legal work and leadership of corporate in-house counsel in the Houston area.

The 2024 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards recognizes the successes and achievements of general counsel and senior counsel during 2023. The awards ceremony is set for Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

There are 14 award categories, which are listed and described below. Three of the categories (Business Litigation of the Year, Transaction of the Year and Creative Partnership) are awarded jointly to in-house counsel and their outside lawyers.

This year's award categories include:

Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a current or recently retired General Counsel or AGC for their decades-long commitment to the legal profession and the corporate in-house counsel community.	Pro Bono/Public Service Award celebrates an individual corporate in-house counsel for her or his commitment and service to the community, pro bono and public service.
Transaction of the Year honors a corporate legal department and its outside counsel for successfully guiding a company through a complex merger, acquisition, project or joint venture.	Business Litigation of the Year Award honors a corporate legal department and its outside counsel for extraordinary success in a complex and high stakes litigation or trial.
Senior In-House Counsel of the Year Award (Large, Medium & Small/Solo Departments) recognizes individual in-house senior counsel (not GCs or CLOs) for successes they achieved through their individual efforts and engagements.	Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion recognizes an individual corporate in-house counsel for her or his commitment and service to diversity initiatives.
Rookie of the Year Award celebrates a young lawyer (40 years or younger) who has been in-house for three years or less and has already achieved extraordinary successes.	General Counsel of the Year (Large, Medium & Small/Solo Departments) honors individual General Counsel and Chief Legal Officers in their respective categories for successes they achieved through their individual efforts.
Legal Innovation Award honors an individual corporate counsel and their legal department for game-changing, creative approaches to legal services.	Creative Partnership Award praises corporate legal departments and one of their outside law firms for original and unique ways they work together in the delivery of complex and strategic legal services.

Here are five critical suggestions when completing your nominations:

1. Make the submission as detailed and substantive as possible. The judges want the nominations to show them why the person deserves the award. Just saying the person is the best lawyer and manager ever doesn't cut it.

2. Write the submission in the narrative. Tell a story about the person you are nominating that showcases their expertise and their personality.

3. Provide biographical background on the person you are nominating.

4. Fill out all of the category fields. If you leave blank the number of lawyers in the company's legal department, the judges will not know which category fits the submission. And the nomination must have the name of a lawyer from the firm that submits the nomination so that the comments in the nomination can be attributed to a lawyer at the firm.

5. For the three categories (Transaction of the Year, Business Litigation of the Year and Creative Partnership) that honors the in-house counsel and outside lawyers, please keep in mind that the in-house counsel is the actual nominee - not the law firms.

The rules for nomination are simple: the corporate counsel being nominated must reside or work in the Houston area and the work for which they are being honored must have occurred in 2023. Detailed descriptions of each category appear as you begin the questionnaire. Anyone can make a nomination, including outside counsel, in-house colleagues, or service providers. However, nominations by law firms must be submitted by a lawyer at the firm.

The Texas Lawbook plans to publish lengthy profiles of each of the winners. The information provided in the nomination form will be used in the article.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. My email is mark.curriden@texaslawbook.net. My cell phone is 214.232.6783.

Now, get to making those nominations. And please contact Brooks Igo (email address: brooks.igo@texaslawbook.net) for information on sponsoring the awards program.

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Corporate Counsel Awards

Houston Corporate Counsel Award Nominations are Now Open

Special thank you to our event host: