Benefiting the Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholarships BAR NONE 2020 // PANDEMIC EDITION MUSIC, SINGING, ZOOMING, COMEDY...ALL WITHIN CDC GUIDELINES
Dallas Bar Foundation 2101 Ross Avenue Dallas, TX 75201 214-220-7487 What an extraordinary year 2020 has been so far. For the first time in more than three decades, Bar None’s stage was dark. For the first time in 35 years, Dallas lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals did not get a chance to sing, dance, and generally make fools of themselves for your entertainment. Although we were unable to say “the show must go on” in 2020, one thing has not changed: the need to provide support for the Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholarships. Bar None’s proceeds directly support the Hughes Diversity Scholarships at Dallas area law schools - SMU’s Dedman School of Law, the UNT Dallas College of Law and Texas A&M University School of Law. These scholarships provide exceptional minority student leaders the opportunity to obtain a law school education and degree and to help them create a cycle of success in the community by encouraging them to practice law right here in Dallas. The pages that follow tell the stories of some of the amazing lawyers who have benefited from the Hughes Scholarships, and how they were able to give back to this community in return. Given recent and divisive events in this county, and despite the hard times that COVID-19 has caused, we argue that the need for diversity initiatives has never been greater – and that those who wonder how best to react to evidence and allegations of inequality and injustice could find no better place to direct their dollars than in support of scholarships which seek to make the Dallas legal community look more like the community itself. We understand, given today’s economy, that your charitable giving budget may be smaller than usual and that you may be unable to give at your usual level. But please, consider giving something to the Hughes Scholarships this year: current and future Hughes Scholars desperately need your support. Every dollar counts and will be much appreciated. In appreciation of your anticipated gift, the Bar None cast and crew would like you to know that “We’re Still Standing” – just click the link at the end of this brochure to find out how. We’re determined to be back onstage next summer, but wanted to give you a peek at how, even in the Time of Quarantine, we continue to support the Hughes Scholarships with our time and our talents. Please review the sponsor levels on Page 12 and donate by Friday, December 4, 2020. Your support of Bar None and the Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholarships is greatly appreciated. Sincerely,
Tom Mighell Producer, Bar None
Martha Hardwick Hofmeister Director, Bar None
BAR NONE 2020
In Loving Memory
Liza Farrow-Gillespie April 7, 1953 - July 3, 2020
On July 3, 2020, we lost our friend and colleague Liza Farrow-Gillespie to the ovarian cancer she had battled for several years. Liza was many wonderful things to many people all over this city, state, nation, and world (a six year long sailing trip around the world will do that), but to Bar None she was the epitome of talent, kindness, and generosity. No Bar None performer could out-sing Liza, who was a professional singer (among other feats) in one of her pre-lawyer lives. But she was no diva, she shared the stage willingly, and she loved to add her harmonies to enhance the songs that featured others. She wrote funny songs and helped massage other writers’ efforts. She was a knowledgeable, dedicated, and persuasive assistant director. She was game to wear any costume, deliver any line, and work any dance routine. She sold tickets and sponsorships, helped strike the set and clean up the dressing room, and heartily enjoyed the performances of others. She laughed loudly and often. Liza was golden, and we are heartbroken that she is gone. She will always be missed by the cast, crew, and audience of Bar None.
Hughes Scholars A Corey Admire Member Shupe Ventura, PLLC
Corey Admire is the perfect example of a Hughes Scholar giving back to her community in a meaningful way. Many people in Dallas know of Corey through her recent volunteer work serving for 5 years as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Café Momentum. It is an innovative program centered around the concept of restorative justice. The program provides a oneyear internship to young people who have spent time in the Dallas County Juvenile Justice System teaching them culinary skills and life-skills training while providing post-internship support. Corey’s leadership has helped this successful non-profit program generate interest on a national scale for reducing the recidivism rate of juvenile offenders. In an October 1, 2020 article appearing in The Dallas Morning News, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot remarked that each life Café Momentum is able to transform represents one less case for the community to deal with at the courthouse. Corey graduated cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law. In 2017, she was named to the inaugural SMU Dedman School of Law Emerging Leader Board. Prior to attending law school Corey had a career as an Emergency Room/Trauma nurse at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Corey began her legal career in the public finance section of Fulbright & Jaworski where she worked with governmental entities and corporate entities, including 501(c)(3) nonprofits, and industrial development corporations to finance large capital projects. Corey joined Shupe Ventura, PLLC in Dallas, where her practice focuses on large development projects involving economic development incentives between the private sector and municipalities and counties. She is a member of the Dallas Bar Association, Dallas Asian American Bar Association and Texas Women in Public Finance.
Alumni Spotlight Byron Bailey Associate SettlePou
Byron Bailey graduated as the first Hughes Scholar from Texas A&M University School of Law in 2018. He described his road to law school in an essay titled, Onward and Upward. Byron was a graduate of the public-school system in Dallas where he was ranked #5 in his high school class. However, the environment was not conducive to learning. He witnessed more of his fellow students being killed or incarcerated than attending college. It was consequential that Byron was introduced to the practice of law as a high school student through the Dallas Bar Association Summer Law Intern Program. He knew that the legal field was his passion, his calling. On getting accepted to Texas Christian University as an undergraduate Byron says, “Fortunately, I was and still am a dreamer, a person who does not complacently accept a situation for what it is, but vividly imagines what could be. I have always believed that no matter what disadvantages were impeding my dreams of a better life, I am more than adequate to achieve beyond my wildest dreams.” He applied, on his own, for dozens of scholarships and worked full-time while a student so he would not graduate with “mounds of debt”. Byron currently works at SettlePou in Dallas where he is a member of their Insurance Defense, Commercial Litigation and Financial Services practices. Outside of work, Byron continues his many years of coaching youth lacrosse for the nonprofit, Bridge Lacrosse, which bridges the non-traditional sport of lacrosse with underserved communities. He also serves as a board manager for Park South YMCA. The Dallas Bar Foundation is so proud that Byron is willing to participate and speak to the high school students participating in the Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP). He always gets high scores from the students on his remarks. They love hearing from him as a former participant in SLIP and now an attorney.
Hughes Scholars A Victoria Nguyen
Associate Stutzman, Bromberg, Esserman & Plifka, P.C. Victoria Nguyen is a 2019 Hughes Scholar honor graduate from SMU Dedman School of Law. She achieved her success as result of perseverance, discipline, and emotional fortitude having lost her father to cancer when she was just 14 years old. Today, Victoria is an attorney with the Dallas firm, Stutzman, Bromberg, Esserman & Plifka, P.C. about which she says “I could not be happier with my job and life right now.” The Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholarship helps to create cycles of success in our community from which we all benefit. Victoria is proof of the profound impact of being a Hughes Scholar can have on an outstanding young woman’s life. Victoria is a first-generation college graduate. She experienced the challenges of moving 13 times as child but she worked hard to excel in school, often being the top student in her class. Her parents, who immigrated from Vietnam, always spoke of the importance of having an education which they were denied as a consequence of war. At 14, upon the death of her father, Victoria accepted responsibilities beyond what is normally expected for her age and became a caretaker to her six-year old brother. She would often take him wherever she went so that he would have good influences. At 16, Victoria made plans seven years in advance coordinating her college graduation with her brother’s future academic calendar. This required her to graduate from high school a year early and to give up being the valedictorian. Her goal was always to attend law school after graduating, magna cum laude, from UT Austin with a B.A. in Rhetorical Writing. Upon graduating cum laude, from SMU Dedman School of Law, Victoria said, “The scholarship has had a ripple effect on my life and my family’s lives. My family is everything to me and because of the Dallas Bar Foundation’s support, I have the means to provide for them for the rest of their lives. I can financially support my mom, and my little brother can now afford to go to whatever college he wants to next year without worrying if we can afford it. I will spend my career giving back all that I’ve received and I will always be grateful.”
Alumni Spotlight Rey Rodriguez Partner Carter Arnett PLLC
The Dallas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees proudly elected Hughes Scholar Rey Rodriguez to serve as the 2016 Foundation Chair. Rey is the first Hughes Scholar to serve as a Foundation Trustee and Chair. He generously devotes his time and financial resources to give back to the Foundation. Rey also extends his professional guidance and support to the many Hughes Scholars who have followed him and have benefited from the beneficence of Bar None’s donors, cast and crew. For his work in law student professional development as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives, he was awarded SMU APALSA’s “Outstanding Faculty Member Award.” Rey graduated as valedictorian from SMU’s Dedman School of Law, earned the highest score on the July 1994 Texas Bar Exam and served as a Judicial Clerk to now Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht of the Supreme Court of Texas. Rey has served as Chair of the DBA Appellate Section and as a Council Member and Pro Bono Chair of the State Bar Appellate Section. He is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and heads Carter Arnett PLLC’s Appellate Group.
Hughes Scholars A Gabe Vazquez
Vice President & Associate General Counsel Vistra Corp. Gabe Vazquez began his tenure as a Dallas Bar Foundation (DBF) Hughes Scholar at SMU Dedman School of Law after having graduated, magna cum laude, from SMU with a liberal arts degree. Gabe’s decision to stay in Dallas after previously declining offers from Harvard and Stanford for his undergraduate studies and his subsequent decision to stay in Dallas for law school as the DBF’s Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholar speaks to the importance of keeping diverse and underrepresented law students here in Dallas to join the Dallas legal community upon graduation. Gabe’s philosophy is simple. He remarked that he once heard it said … “As you climb ... lift!” That phrase resonated with Gabe. He remarked, “So much of my own life is the direct reflection of the help of others including, profoundly, the DBF.” We are fortunate to have Gabe serving as a DBF Trustee and a mentor for current Hughes Scholars so they too can experience success in their legal career in Dallas. As a law student, he interned at the Supreme Court of Texas as the recipient of the William E. Collins Clerkship awarded by the DBF and was also inducted into the Order of The Barristers, a service organization dedicated to service and leadership. Upon graduation from law school, he worked as a corporate attorney in private practice at Foley Gardere in Dallas before being recruited to work in-house as a corporate attorney for Michaels, the largest arts and crafts specialty retailer in North America based in Irving, Texas. He subsequently took an in-house counsel position with TXU Energy where he was eventually promoted to Vice President and General Counsel. Today, Gabe works for TXU Energy’s parent company, Vistra Corp. (Vistra) as Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Operations. Vistra is an integrated power company and one of the largest competitive residential electricity providers in the country. In addition to his responsibilities at Vistra and as a trustee of the DBF, Gabe is a Community Law Fellow at SMU Dedman School of Law and serves on the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas Alumni Association Board. He is a graduate of the General Counsel Forum’s Institute for Leadership in the Law and Deloitte’s Next Gen CLO Academy. He was also recently honored as the Outstanding Deputy/Associate General Counsel, Small Legal Department by D CEO Magazine as part of their 2020 Corporate Counsel Awards.
Alumni Spotlight Ashley Jones Wright
Federal Judicial Clerk United States District Court – Northern District of Texas
Ashley Jones Wright is the first Hughes Scholar selected from the inaugural class at UNT Dallas College of Law. Her immediate reaction upon being named a Hughes Scholar was, “I will carry the title of Hughes Scholar with humility and I will work to ensure the legacy carries on for many more decades.” The Dallas Bar Foundation also awarded Ashley a Collins Clerkship at the Supreme Court of Texas with Justice Eva Guzman in 2016. After graduating from UNT Denton and receiving a B.B.A. in Marketing with Honors, Ashley joined Teach for America for a two-year commitment. She then joined the DeSoto ISD Freshman Campus as an English teacher. She is most proud of having launched an intervention program for low-performing students resulting in a twenty-point gain in benchmark scores. In 2014, Ashley received the honor of being named Campus Teacher of the Year. Ashley attended UNT Dallas College of Law on a part-time basis while working full-time as a teacher and mother. Ashley distinguished herself through her involvement in activities at UNT and the Dallas Bar Association. She held several officer positions in active student organizations, including Advocacy Chair for the Black Law Students Association and Secretary for the Women in Law Student Association. She was also a Staff Reporter for Accessible Law, published by UNT Dallas Law Review. In 2018, Ashley served as the moderator for the Morris Harris Professionalism Panel at the Dallas Bar Association’s Day of Civility program which was live-streamed to lawyers throughout Texas. Upon graduating, magna cum laude, from UNT Dallas College of Law in 2018, Ashley joined Winston & Strawn LLP in Dallas and is now completing a one-year federal clerkship at the U.S. District Court – Northern District of Texas this month.
To donate online visit: http://dallasbarfoundation.org/BarNone2020.aspx visit: http://dallasbarfoundation.org/BarNone2020.aspx If you are not readyTo to donate donate,online make an online commitment at: http://form.jotform.com/TMighell/BarNone2020 If you are not ready to donate, make an online commitment at: http://form.jotform.com/TMighell/BarNone2020
__________________________________________ __________________________________________ SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION Name (Individual/Company) Name (Individual/Company) _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Contact __________________________________________________ Contact Address __________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Address Telephone_________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Telephone ________________________________________________ Email ____________________________________________________ Email ____________________________________________________
SPONSORSHIP LEVELS (check the appropriate one) SPONSORSHIP LEVELS (check the appropriate one)
Special Sponsors - In addition to receiving recognition on Bar None website, Special Sponsors will to also be recognized in Headnotes, and Special Sponsors - In addition receiving recognition on Bar None logos will be featured on the next Bar None t-shirt website, Special Sponsors will also be recognized in Headnotes, and logos will be featured on the next Bar None t-shirt _____ $500 Understudy _____ $500____________________________________________ Understudy Indicate name: Indicate name: ____________________________________________ ______ $1,250 Star $1,250 Star ______ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ ______ $2,500 Director $2,500 Director ______ name: Indicate ____________________________________________ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ ______ $3,500 Producer $3,500 Producer ______ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ ______ $5,000 Mogul $5,000 Mogul ______ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ ______ $10,000 Investor $10,000 Investor ______ Indicate name: ____________________________________________ Indicate name: ____________________________________________
__________________________________________ __________________________________________ FRIEND LEVELS FRIEND LEVELS ______ $130 Friend of Bar None $250 BFF / Best Friend of Bar None ______ $130 Friend of Bar None ______ $250_________________________________________ BFF / Best Friend of Bar None Indicate name: Indicate name: _________________________________________
“TICKETS” _______ $30 “TICKETS” _______
$30
PAYMENT INFORMATION PAYMENT INFORMATION
Enclosed is my check for $____________ for the sponsorships and/or “Tickets”. Enclosed is my check for $____________ for the sponsorships and/or “Tickets”. I want to pay for the sponsorship with a credit card: I_______ want to pay for the sponsorship with_____ a credit card: _______ _______
_______
_____
Acct #:__________________________________ Exp. _____/______ Acct #:__________________________________ Exp. _____/______ Name as It Appears Name as_________________________________________________ It Appears on Card on Card _________________________________________________ Signature ________________________________________________ Signature ________________________________________________ Billing Address/Zip ________________________________________ Billing____________________________________________________ Address/Zip ________________________________________ Date Date ____________________________________________________ You may also make your donation on-line by visiting: www.dallasbarfoundation.org andon-line clickingby onvisiting: “Bar None 2020” link. You may also make your donation www.dallasbarfoundation.org and clicking on “Bar None 2020” link. Send your check, payable to the “Dallas Bar Foundation”, to Send yourPhilipp check, payable to the “Dallas Bar Foundation”, to Elizabeth Executive Director, Dallas Bar Foundation Elizabeth Philipp 2101 Ross Avenue Dallas Bar Foundation Executive Director, Dallas, TX 75201 2101 Ross Avenue Dallas, TX 75201 Click HERE to download this form. Click HERE to download this form.
Contact Elizabeth at (214) 220-7487 or ephilipp@dallasbar.org with questions or for more information. The Dallas Bar Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. Contact Elizabeth at (214) 220-7487 or ephilipp@dallasbar.org with questions or for more information. The Dallas Bar Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Thank You!