Albert J. Charanza Jr. ‘92 had three big trials in 2016. In August 2016, he had a jury finding of a client incompetent to stand trial for a capital murder. He is now fighting the law related to civil commitment in the same case and challenging the civil commitment statute. This was followed by a murder trial in September 2016 that resulted in a hung jury and a retrial in December 2016 of the same case that resulted in an acquittal. Both cases were tried in Angelina County, Lufkin, Texas. In June 2016, he retired from the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a lieutenant colonel after serving 26 years. James F. Chester ‘97, managing partner of Chester Siekierski LLP in Dallas, has cofounded Attorney VENUE, the ideal office environment for independent attorneys. VENUE members have access to work and meeting space, internet, mail service, reception, kitchen/ coffee, as well as 20+ hours of CLE and management/development training annually — plus they become part of an elite network of fellow independent professionals. The initial location is in Dallas, but plans are to open in other cities — including Austin and Houston — in the near future. Therese “Terry” M. Cirone ‘93 joined the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. as vice president of safety. Gregory A. Duffey ‘97 opened his own practice on Pennsylvania Ave. in D.C., continuing to focus on IP litigation (ITC and district courts) and inter partes review trials at the USPTO after 19 years in BigLaw, most recently as partner at Winston & Strawn.
Dane K. Friend ‘98, vice president of human resources at Baylor College of Medicine, was named Executive of the Year for the 2016 C-Suite Award by the Houston Business Journal. The Honorable Kristen Brauchle Hawkins ‘99 was elected judge of the 11th District Court in Harris County. It is the oldest court in Texas, and she is the first woman elected to this bench. Chastiti N. Horne ‘98 was honored to receive the 2016 Public Service Award from the STCL Houston Alumni Association for her volunteer work with Child Advocates, Inc. She also was chosen as a Woman on the Move in 2014 by Texas Executive Women. Michael K. Hurst ‘90 was elected as president-elect of the Dallas Bar Association (DBA), becoming the first South Texas grad to lead the 11,000+ member organization. He also won the DBA’s Outstanding Committee Chair for the second time this past fall for chairing the Morris Harrell Professionalism Committee and leading the Day of Civility and Professionalism initiative. Michael has been selected as a Super Lawyer top 100 in Texas for the 11th time in the past 12 years and was once again voted Best Lawyer by D Magazine and Best Lawyers in America. Jerry D. Lambright ‘97 was re-elected and began his second term as Montgomery County Attorney in January 2017. As the chief legal advisor for the County, JD oversees a staff of approximately 30
attorneys, legal support staff, and investigators. Under JD’s leadership in his first year in office, the County Attorney’s Office was recognized as the Department of the Year for 2013. This is the first time in the history of this recognition program that the office has received this prestigious award. JD was selected as Montgomery County’s Boss of the Year in both 2014 and 2015. Prior to being elected county attorney, JD was in private law practice for 13 years. Before opening his own law firm in 1999, JD enjoyed a 25-year career as a geophysicist/electrical engineer at Shell Oil Co. and Shell E&P Technology Co. in Houston. Steven C. Levatino ‘90 obtained a million-dollar verdict for his client in Dec. 2016 for a business dispute case involving breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. Sherry Applewhite Lott ‘93 is general counsel for Ayrshire Corporation (Land Investment and Development) and has served as a municipal court judge since 1997. She recently married after 32 years of widowhood. Robert F. Loughran ‘92, Foster LLP partner, published an article in ERC’s Mobility Magazine titled “Refugees are Not a Threat… They are a Staffing Opportunity” on the potential benefits of employing Syrian refugees. The article also discusses best-practice procedures employers should follow when hiring refugees. Robert also was honored with the 2017 Meritorious Service Award by the Worldwide ERC organization. The award is given to individuals who have made
significant contributions to the global mobility community. Michael P. Lyons ‘99 was named among the Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine. The Honorable Debra Ibarra Mayfield ‘99 recently joined Enterprise Products Partners, LP as in-house senior counsel handling capital land projects and eminent domain after five years of service on the bench. Eric O. Morehead ‘97 launched Morehead Compliance Consulting in January 2016. Before starting his own firm, Eric was the head of advisory services for the Governance Services Division of the New York Stock Exchange. He is also a former assistant general counsel for the United States Sentencing Commission. Eric has over 15 years’ experience working with organizations seeking to cure compliance issues and build effective compliance and ethics programs. Morehead Compliance Consulting provides program assessment, policy and code of conduct development, live training, benchmarking services, and advice. Matthew L. Motes ‘93 was recently elected managing partner for Decker Jones, P.C. in Fort Worth, Texas. M. Scott Norman Jr. ’96 was honored by the National Association of Home Builders® (NAHB) with its inaugural State Executive Officer of the Year Award in January 2017. Norman has held the title of executive director for the Texas Association of Builders (TAB) since 2008 and has been with the association since 2003. stcl.edu
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