Andrews Kurth Partner Robin Russell Receives Louise B. Raggio Award from State Bar of Texas Women and the Law Section

(Houston, Texas)—Andrews Kurth partner Robin Russell received the Louise B. Raggio Award from the State Bar of Texas Women and the Law Section in recognition of her work on behalf of women in the legal profession and the community as a whole.

Ms. Russell received the award on June 27, 2014 during the Women and the Law Section’s annual meeting, which is part of the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in Austin.

In addition to co-chairing Andrews Kurth’s national bankruptcy practice, Ms. Russell serves as the managing partner of the firm’s Houston office and serves on the firm-wide Policy Committee. Ms. Russell was also a founding member of Andrews Kurth’s Women’s Initiative Team, which promotes the recruitment, advancement and retention of women at the firm.

“Robin has been an important part of Andrews Kurth for more than 25 years,” says Bob Jewell, the firm’s Managing Partner. “Not only is she one of the most highly regarded bankruptcy attorneys in the country, but she also is a crucial member of the Andrews Kurth family. She provides exceptional legal services to her clients and still finds ample time to devote to our attorneys’ professional development, the community, and her family. I can think of no lawyer more deserving of this honor than Robin.”

Ms. Russell’s career highlights include:

• Graduating at the top of the Baylor Law School class of 1986
• Serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Baylor Law Review
• Clerking for the Hon. William Kilgarlin, Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas
• Receiving her LLM in Banking Law Studies from Boston University School of Law
• Frequently speaking nationwide on a wide range of bankruptcy-related legal issues
• Selected to Masters of the Bench in the Arthur L. Moeller/David B. Foltz Jr. Chapter of the American Inns of Court
• Elected Fellow in American College of Bankruptcy, one of the highest honors a bankruptcy attorney can receive
• Appointed to the U.S. 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals Merit Selection Panel to issue recommendations for a new U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Texas
• A Founder of the Center for Women in the Law at The University of Texas School of Law
• Selected to attend DirectWomen Board Institute, 2011

“I am beyond honored and humbled to receive an award named after Louise Raggio,” Ms. Russell said. “Because of her courage, her tenacity and her refusal to even acknowledge the conventional wisdom of her time that women couldn’t be extraordinary lawyers, she was an inspiration to me and every woman I know who entered the legal profession. I hope to uphold her legacy with honor.”

Nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” Ms. Raggio had a lengthy legal career that included serving as the first woman assistant district attorney in Dallas County. She was instrumental in lobbying for and writing the Marital Property Act of 1967, which gave married women in Texas property rights independent of their husbands, and spearheaded the creation of the Texas Family Code. She died in 2011 at the age of 91.

As released by the former Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP