Exemplar Award

Recipient: David Zapolsky

David Zapolsky Zapolsky was being honored for his extraordinary leadership in promoting access to justice and racial equity in the legal profession. Zapolsky founded the Amazon legal department’s pro bono initiative, also known as the Amazon Justice League, which encourages and enables Amazon attorneys and legal professionals around the world to donate thousands of hours of pro bono legal work each year.

Zapolsky is an active member of NLADA’s Corporate Advisory Committee, which engages the corporate legal community to expand the availability of quality representation to those who cannot otherwise afford counsel. He brings that same passion to his support of NLADA’s mission of equal access to justice and racial equity.

As Senior Vice President of Global Public Policy and General Counsel, Zapolsky manages a broad range of domestic and international legal, public policy, government relations, compliance, and regulatory affairs for the company. Before assuming his current position, he served for more than 23 years in a variety of legal and policy roles at Amazon, including as General Counsel since 2012.

Prior to joining Amazon in 1999, Zapolsky was a litigation partner in the Seattle offices of Dorsey & Whitney and Bogle & Gates. He moved to Seattle in 1994 from New York, where he served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, focusing primarily on sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence prosecutions, and an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he practiced securities litigation and white-collar defense. He is a graduate of Berkeley Law and Columbia College.

In addition to his work at Amazon, Zapolsky has taught law school seminars in Technology Law and Public Policy at Berkeley, the University of Washington, and Seattle University. He is also active in several civic, educational, and legal organizations that, among other things, seek to promote diversity and pro bono work in the legal profession. He has served as a Trustee of the King County Bar Foundation, a member of the Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) Washington State Advisory Committee, a corporate advisory member of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, a member of the Leaders Council for the Legal Services Corporation, and a Director of Seattle’s Alliance for Education, the Berkeley Law Alumni Association, and the University of Washington Foundation.

Recipients: Margaret Egan and Nadine Jones

Margaret Egan was selected as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Hyatt Hotels Corporation in January 2018. In this role, she is responsible for Hyatt’s legal and compliance services and oversees a team of legal professionals who support Hyatt’s operations in over 70 countries around the world. Margaret also is the Executive Sponsor of World of Care, which brings Hyatt’s purpose of care to life through the advancement of care across the planet, people and responsible business. Margaret served as interim General Counsel and Secretary of the Company from October 2017 to January 2018, and previously served as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Hyatt from March 2013 to January 2018 overseeing the Company’s global legal transactions teams. From October 2003 to March 2013, Margaret held a series of increasingly responsible positions at Hyatt supporting litigation, operations and transactional matters.

Prior to entering the hospitality industry, Margaret practiced law in the commercial litigation practice group of DLA Piper in Chicago, Illinois from 1996 to 2000 and again from 2002 to 2003. She also held a position as Attorney Advisor with the United States Department of Justice in London, United Kingdom from January 2001 to January 2002, in which she managed European-based litigation matters to which the United States was a party.

Margaret received her B.A from the University of Notre Dame, and her J.D. from Notre Dame Law School. Since 2014, she has served on the Board of Sarah’s Circle, an organization dedicated to ending homelessness for women in Chicago. Margaret is a recipient of the ADL Midwest’s 2021 Women of Achievement Award and is a member of the ADL Midwest Board of Directors.

Nadine Jones was selected as the Senior Vice-President & General Counsel of Kuehne + Nagel, Inc. She graduated from Howard University School of law in 2003. After graduation, she joined Arnold & Porter LLP’s Washington, D.C. office where she practiced in the area of regulatory compliance for nine years. Ms. Jones left the law firm briefly to serve as Counsel on the Antitrust Modernization Commission (“AMC”), a bipartisan commission created by Congress and the White House.  Ms. Jones left the firm to join Kuehne + Nagel Inc., New Jersey-based multibillion-dollar company as Vice President of Compliance for North America, and then after 5 years joined the General Counsel’s office as Corporate Counsel.  In June 2020, Nadine was placed on a paid sabbatical from Kuehne + Nagel to co-found along with two other Howard Law alumni an organization called The Initiative: Advancing the Blue & Black Partnership (“The Initiative”).  The Initiative was established to end systemic police violence and implement a collaborative approach to building healthy, scalable, community policing models.  Nadine partnered with members from both the Blue and Black communities to champion the organization’s mission to partners and stakeholders.

On April 1, 2022, Nadine became the first woman and person of color to serve as SVP General Counsel and Board Member of Kuehne + Nagel Inc.

Recipients: Deborah Goldstock Ringel and Tony West

Deborah Goldstock Ringel is General Counsel, Secretary, and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer at Accenture Federal Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture LLP, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Accenture Federal Services brings together mission expertise with the latest technologies and proven innovation for defense, national security, public safety, civilian, and federal health clients. In her role, she directs all legal services for the company, leads an effective ethics and compliance program for over 13,000 employees, and serves as the principal legal advisor to the company board. Additionally, Ms. Ringel is an inaugural member of the company’s Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Council where she contributes to the expansion and implementation of strategic I&D priorities across the company.

Ms. Ringel has over 25 years of legal experience in the public and private sectors. She began her career at the Manhattan District Attorney's office, serving in the Trial Division and the Official Corruption Unit. Prior to joining Accenture in 2013, she practiced at Dickstein Shapiro LLP, where her practice included business litigation, government contracts and government investigation matters and taught Legal Rhetoric at the American University Washington College of Law. Ms. Ringel received her B.A. from Cornell University and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. She is a member of the President's Council of Cornell Women, which enhances leadership opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and alumnae. Ms. Ringel has an active pro bono practice, which focuses on work on behalf of refugees and asylees.

Tony West is Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary at Uber, where he leads a global team of more than 600 in the company’s Legal, Compliance and Ethics, and Security functions. Previously, Tony was General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Executive Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs of PepsiCo, a Fortune 50 corporation with net revenues of more than $63 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands like Gatorade, Tropicana, and Frito-Lay.

Tony has more than 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Tony was twice confirmed by the Senate to serve as a senior official in the Obama administration. From 2012 to 2014, Tony was the Associate Attorney General of the United States, the US Department of Justice’s third‐ranking official, where he supervised many of the department’s divisions, including the Civil Rights, Antitrust, Tax, Environment and Natural Resources, and Civil Divisions, as well as the Office of Justice Programs, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Community Oriented Policing Services Office. As Associate Attorney General, Tony pursued several financial institutions for their roles in precipitating the 2009 financial crisis, securing nearly $37 billion in fines and restitution for Americans who were harmed. From 2009 to 2012, Tony was the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division, the largest litigating division of the Justice Department. As Assistant Attorney General, Tony led the Justice Department's review of the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), advocating strongly and successfully that the department abandon its long‐standing defense of the statute because the law was unconstitutional.

When Tony left the Obama administration in 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder presented him with the Edmund J. Randolph Award, the Department of Justice's highest honor. Earlier in his career, Tony was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California, where he prosecuted a variety of federal crimes. He also served as Special Assistant Attorney General at the California Department of Justice and was a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco. Tony graduated with honors from Harvard College, where he served as publisher of the Harvard Political Review, and received his law degree from Stanford Law School, where he was President of the Stanford Law Review.

Recipients: Jim Chosy, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel of U.S. Bancorp; Jack Salzwedel, Chair of American Family Mutual Insurance Company

Jim Chosy is Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel of U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States. Chosy is responsible for all aspects of the company’s legal affairs. Chosy is a member of the board of directors of the Guthrie Theater and the Fund for Legal Aid, the board of counselors of Equal Justice Works, the general counsel advisory committee of the Bank Policy Institute, and the corporate advisory panel of the Federal Bar Association’s special task force on diversity and inclusion. He is also a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. He has previously served as a member and chair of the board of directors of the Clearing House Association, the University of Minnesota Law School and the Children’s Theater Company.  In 2012, he received the University of Minnesota’s Alumni Service Award, in 2019 the Lead by Example Award from the National Association of Women Lawyers, and in 2020 the In-House Counsel Lifetime Achievement Award from Minnesota Lawyer.

A native of DeForest, Wis., Jack Salzwedel began his career with American Family Insurance in 1983 as a claim adjuster. In 1985, he followed in the footsteps of his father, Tom, and became an agent for the company. Jack then took sales and product line leadership roles at American Family, leading up to his election as chair and chief executive officer in November 2011. In his current role as Chair and CEO, Jack oversees the American Family enterprise of companies, which includes the American Family brand and subsidiaries, Homesite, The General, Main Street America, and CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance. Graduates of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, Jack and his wife, Sarah, have established the Slife Institute for Social Work Consultation, Research and Training at Wartburg. They also established the Salzwedel Family Foundation. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of American Family Insurance Mutual Holding Company, Jack is a board member the Insurance Information Institute, Badger Air Community Council and Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. He is on the U.S. Bank Advisory Board, UW Chancellor’s Advisory Board and numerous local nonprofits. An avid social media advocate, CEO.com named Jack as one of the most engaged Fortune 500 CEO on Twitter. You can follow him at @AmFamJack.

Recipient: Marcus Brown, Entergy Corporation

Marcus V. Brown, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Entergy Corporation, was recognized for his extraordinary leadership in promoting equal justice for all. At Entergy, Marcus sees having a positive social impact and promoting sustainability as a core business strategy, leveraging increased commitment and resources in pursuit of equal justice. As general counsel, he spearheaded an initiative designed to engage 100% of his team participating in pro bono work each year, tying pro bono service to annual performance reviews. Of particular note is Entergy’s work with the Orleans Parish Civil District Court and the Louisiana Civil Justice Center to support the Self Help Resources Center, serving New Orleans area low-income and otherwise vulnerable domestic court litigants.

Under his guidance, Entergy’s commitment to pro bono excellence included the nearly unprecedented step of hiring a fulltime corporate pro bono counsel. Marcus encourages employees to take on community leadership roles, as well as engaging in extensive and intensive partnerships with local clinics, providing direct legal services to low-income individuals, and representing community serving non-profit organizations. The Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Corporate Counsel Magazine, Corporate Pro Bono Organization, and New Orleans Pro Bono Project have all recognized Entergy legal department’s extensive community impact.

At Entergy, a Fortune 500 utility company serving customers in the Gulf South, Marcus leads Entergy Corporation’s legal, ethics and compliance, corporate communications, federal policy, regulatory and governmental affairs, and corporate security and governance groups. He also serves as general counsel for Entergy Corporation providing counsel to the chairman and CEO, board of directors and senior management. Marcus has been with Entergy since 1995, and prior to that he was with Stone Pigman.

Having received his B.A. from Southern University A&M College and a Juris Doctor from the Southern University Law Center, where he was a member of the Law Review, Marcus also received his MBA from the Tulane University A.B. Freeman School of Business.

He also serves on the board of directors for Energy Insurance Mutual, the Advisory Board of the Tulane Center for Energy Law and the Advisory Council for the Louisiana State University Laborde Energy Law Center. He is a frequent lecturer and publisher on topics impacting the utility industry and the legal profession.

Recipients: Monica Howard Douglas, The Coca-Cola Company, and Frank R. Jimenez, Raytheon Company

Monica Howard Douglas, general counsel for Coca-Cola North America, is recognized for her impressive pro bono service and leadership. Under her leadership, Coca-Cola’s pro bono activities have grown into a dynamic, year-round program with extensive impact in local communities. Monica has always been committed to advancing the public interest. During law school, she helped charter the Stanford Chapter of Street Law where she actively promoted the rights of incarcerated juveniles. She has served on the Board of Directors of CASA (Child Appointed Special Advocates) and Cool Girls, Inc. and currently is on the Board of Junior Achievement USA. Monica was also a proud Big Sister with the Big Brother, Big Sister Program. She is passionately committed to improving the wellbeing of America’s youth. After earning her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Stanford Law School, Monica began her legal career as a judicial law clerk for Damon J. Keith on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States. She later joined the law firm of Troutman Sanders, where she was an associate in the corporate practice group, then subsequently gained inhouse experience as a generalist at the Atlanta based Equifax Corporation.

Monica joined The Coca-Cola Company in 2004 as Marketing and Supply Chain Counsel for North America. She then had the unique opportunity to play a role in supporting the largest vertical integration in North American history when The Coca-Cola Company acquired its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, in 2010. The result was the creation of an integrated operating Company, Coca-Cola Refreshments, which housed the product supply and customer care businesses that Monica supported as Vice President and Senior Managing Counsel. In 2013, Monica seized the opportunity to move to Johannesburg, South Africa where she served as the Legal Director for the Southern and East Africa Business Unit that included 24 countries in Southern, East and Central Africa. After spending four years in South Africa, Monica returned to The Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta where she currently serves as the General Counsel of North America.

Frank R. Jimenez, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Raytheon Company, is recognized for his extraordinary leadership in promoting equal justice for all. In addition to cultivating a strong pro bono culture at Raytheon, Frank also boldly advocates for equal justice. As an initial signer of a letter to Congress in 2018 and 2019 urging for continued Legal Services Corporation funding, he helped encourage more than 260 other corporate leaders to sign on in support. Frank’s leadership on the board of directors at the Pro Bono Partnership, Equal Justice Works, Atlantic Legal Foundation, and other nonprofits strengthens both regional and national equal justice efforts. At Raytheon, Frank provides leadership for the company’s legal and regulatory affairs, ethics and compliance programs, and corporate governance activities. He is also responsible for corporate staff activities in the areas of real estate, risk management, and safety and environmental quality. Before joining Raytheon, Frank worked as general counsel at Bunge Limited, Xylem Inc., and ITT Corporation.

In prior public service, Frank served as the 21st General Counsel of the Navy, one of seven Senate-confirmed Pentagon civilians of four-star equivalent rank overseeing the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. He also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense and as the principal deputy general counsel for the Department of the Navy. Before his 2004 arrival at the Pentagon, Frank served as the chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and before that in the executive office of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, holding posts as deputy chief of staff and acting general counsel. Frank has also been a Miami litigation partner at Steel Hector & Davis LLP (now Squire Patton Boggs). He began his career in California as a law clerk for Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Frank graduated from the University of Miami and Yale Law School and holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

Recipients: Bradley Gayton, Ford Motor Company; John Gleeson, Debevoise & Plimpton; Deborah Majoras, Procter & Gamble

Bradley Gayton has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to promoting the principle that the quality of representation received should not be dependent on economic status. As Group Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Ford Motor Company, Mr. Gayton leads the company’s litigation, tax, corporate and intellectual property efforts. He also champions the company’s pro bono practice. He encourages all attorneys at Ford Motor Company to commit at least 30 hours to pro bono work annually, and his goal is 100 percent participation. Under his direction, Ford Motor Company’s pro bono program has continued its impressive legacy as a nationally recognized program. Under Mr. Gayton’s direction, Ford Motor Company attorneys provide a wide variety of pro bono services across the globe. Mr. Gayton was instrumental, for example, in overcoming regulatory obstacles to Ford Motor Company’s pro bono program in Brazil.

Mr. Gayton himself is heavily involved in a Ford Motor Company program that helps victims of crimes who are willing to assist law enforcement’s investigations apply for a U-Visa. Designed for victims of human trafficking, sexual assault, domestic abuse and other significant crimes, the U-Visa program protects survivors and places them on a path towards legal permanent residence. Transforming the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our nation, Mr. Gayton’s work helps women – and their families – stay in the country legally and lead confident lives. His pro bono efforts reflect his passion for making the world a better place for women and girls. Mr. Gayton’s impactful leadership extends beyond Ford Motor Company to his broader community through his work with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, Alternatives for Girls, Michigan Advocacy Program and many other organizations. He has earned a reputation for dedicated, passionate commitment to community involvement and pro bono work.

John Gleeson’s career as a federal prosecutor, district judge, and now private attorney has been marked by both a commitment to excellence and to equal justice under the law. As an Assistant United States Attorney, he tried 20 cases to verdict and argued 25 appeals. He personally tried two La Cosa Nostra bosses, and he received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his work as the lead prosecutor of Gambino Family Boss John Gotti. As a United States District Judge for 22 years in the Eastern District of New York, he authored more than 1,500 published opinions and presided over more than 200 civil and criminal jury trials and half a dozen Multi-District Litigations. Upon leaving the bench, Mr. Gleeson became a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, a firm dedicated to a wide variety of pro bono work. Mr. Gleeson has influenced generations of lawyers as an Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching Complex Federal Investigations and Sentencing at New York University School of Law. Among his many publications, he is a co-author of Federal Criminal Practice: A Second Circuit Handbook, a treatise now in its 18th edition.

He has been a strong and effective advocate for reform of mandatory sentencing provisions and excessive guidelines ranges. He created a federal drug court that steers addicted defendants away from prison and has become a model for other such courts throughout the federal system. His opinions calling for relief from the collateral consequences of convictions have stimulated efforts to assist persons with convictions to obtain and keep jobs. As a judge and now in his pro bono practice, he has urged prosecutors
to agree to vacate sentences imposed long ago that are now recognized to be particularly egregious and in many cases racially discriminatory. Today, Mr. Gleeson maintains an active litigation practice, advises Boards of Directors, provides dispute resolution and crisis management services and continues to be a voice for fairness and reform in the criminal justice system.

Deborah P. Majoras is the Chief Legal Officer and Secretary for The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), which she joined in 2008. Prior to P&G, she served as the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, as Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and as a partner at Jones Day. Ms. Majoras currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Valero Energy Corporation and The Christ Hospital Health Network, and chairs the Westminster College Board of Trustees. A widely respected advocate, counselor, and compliance champion, Ms. Majoras has served in leadership positions on the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law, the U.S Chamber of Commerce International Competition Policy Working Group, the  International Competition Network and the Association of General Counsel, among others. Ms. Majoras’ civic legal leadership extends also to consumer protection policy reform, an area on which she has focused both while serving in business and as a regulator.

Throughout her career, Ms. Majoras has passionately and consistently promoted legal excellence while supporting equal justice efforts at local, national and international levels. Under Ms. Majoras’ direction, P&G Legal & Government Relations team has become standard of pro bono excellence, inspiring other companies to engage more fully in this important work. Deeply involved as a Trustee for the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati (LAS), Ms. Majoras and her P&G Legal/Government Relations colleagues are active in the work of LAS’s Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor (VLP) Foundation and the Cincinnati Pro Bono Partnership (PBP). As a member of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), she actively supports initiatives that drive greater diversity and inclusion in the profession through mentoring, learning experiences and leadership training. Ms. Majoras is the executive sponsor of P&G’s GABLE (Gay, Ally, Bisexual, Lesbian & Transgender Employees) group, dedicated to
promoting the inclusion of P&G’s LGBT employees. She has also played a leading role in developing P&G’s global citizenship program.

Recipient: Max Laun, Vice President and General Counsel, Arconic, Pittsburgh, PA

Throughout a 29-year career at Arconic (formerly Alcoa), Max has championed pro bono work and civil legal aid programs. As a regular pro bono volunteer and advocate, Max has led by example and institutionalized pro bono engagement opportunities within his company, including sponsoring a clinic where attorneys can provide legal assistance to elderly and economically disadvantaged individuals.

Relentlessly driven to public service and advocacy, Max extended his leadership and passion to his own community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh-based Neighborhood Legal Services Association starting in 2008, as President from 2014-2016, and as Immediate Past President through 2018. He also serves on the Board of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, which coordinates the activities of legal aid programs across the state.  In appreciation of his selfless pro bono activities on behalf of underserved communities in Western Pennsylvania, Max received the prestigious Civic Recognition Award given for acts of kindness and compassion. His vocal and powerful advocacy within both his local community and the boardroom has advanced the message of equal justice and emphasized the importance of legal aid.

Max’s philanthropic legacy and national leadership within the corporate legal community reflect his conviction that equal access to justice is a national moral imperative and is essential to building strong communities.

Recipient: Louise Pentland, Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary, PayPal Holdings, Inc.

Since joining PayPal in 2015, Louise has expanded and invigorated the company’s legal pro bono program, which now promotes access to justice on a global scale in alignment with PayPal’s vision and mission of serving the needs of communities worldwide.

Committed to the principles of equality and fairness, she is raising the bar within the business world and the legal profession through consistent and vocal advocacy for increased diversity in America’s boardrooms and improved opportunities for women in law.

These professional accomplishments have occurred in tandem with an impressive personal dedication to making a difference in the lives of those most in need. At the Human Rights Initiative in Dallas, Louise advocates on behalf of unaccompanied children who have come to the United States in search of asylum, defending their rights and protecting them from unfair treatment within the justice system. In her local community, she works on behalf of women and children who are survivors of abuse.

Prior to joining PayPal, Louise spent almost a year away from the boardroom to focus her elite legal skills exclusively on pro bono activity. As characteristic of her leadership, she combines this commitment with her prominent role at a multibillion-dollar multinational corporation.

Recipient: John Schultz, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA

Through his leadership at Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), John has shown an extraordinary dedication to community service and contributed significantly to access to justice initiatives.

HP signed the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge in 2007 and has since developed a sophisticated program that is a model for other in-house legal departments across the country.  Members of the HP legal team have contributed tens of thousands of hours to improve the lives of countless people in critical need of legal services. Highlights of their impressive work include: providing legal assistance to ensure that veterans receive the benefits that they bravely earned; scaling a record clearance clinic to other communities through innovative public-private collaborations; teaching hundreds of high school students, each year, through legal education workshops; and regularly hosting local legal aid clinics to assist homeless individuals, natural disaster victims, and other underserved populations across the country and around the world.

John was named Chair of NLADA’s Corporate Advisory Committee (CAC) in 2014, after serving as an integral member of NLADA’s Corporate Advisory Committee for several years. Under his leadership, NLADA is relaunching the Committee to engage a broader network of corporate legal leaders. This growth will enable the CAC to play a more prominent role in advancing NLADA’s mission and initiatives through unique engagement opportunities with the organization’s civil legal aid and public defense members, as well as the client community.

John was named Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Hewlett-Packard Company in April 2012. He was previously Deputy General Counsel for Litigation, Investigations and Global Functions, where he managed all major litigation filed against HP globally, including intellectual property, government investigations, and commercial and employment disputes.

Recipient: Bruce Kulick, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ

Over the last twenty years, Merck has grown its pro bono program through the development of countless projects and partnerships. Highlights of its far-reaching activities include: representing consumer debtors filing bankruptcy; helping veterans in overcoming legal barriers to employment; providing litigation and advice for tenants in legal disputes; and assisting low-income Holocaust survivors claiming reparations from Germany. 

Bruce’s generosity and longstanding collaboration with NLADA have resulted in groundbreaking initiatives, notably a statewide veterans coalition program in North Carolina addressing civil and criminal legal needs. In 2011, in recognition of his enormous contributions to the pro bono community, he was named NLADA’s Chair of the Corporate Advisory Committee (CAC). His expertise and guidance resulted in an increase of corporate members and the creation of the Public-Private Action (PPA) initiative, expanding effective public-private partnerships which advance the cause of equal justice. 

Bruce serves as head of Merck’s Office of General Counsel and also is responsible for the company’s Global Communications, Public Policy, Corporate Responsibility and Security functions. His unwavering commitment as an active leader of our mission is an inspirational reminder of the capacity we all have to make a difference.

Recipient: Teri Plummer McClure, Chief Legal, Communications and Compliance Officer, United Parcel Service, Atlanta, GA

Teri’s extraordinary leadership at UPS has significantly expanded the legal department’s pro bono program in partnership with organizations such as the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Georgia Justice Project and Street Law, Inc. The innovative public-private partnerships have transformed the delivery, quality and capacity of many legal aid services. Through this work, UPS has greatly enhanced the provision of legal services to underserved groups, including juveniles and seniors, and contributed to programs that supplement legal support through community engagement and other types of assistance to clients. An active board member of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Teri’s leadership has resulted in the provision of UPS attorneys who work full-time with the legal aid provider for a number of months. 

Teri has graciously brought her leadership, vision, and expertise to NLADA by becoming a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Public-Private Action (PPA), which aims to expand effective public-private partnerships to advance the cause of equal justice. As a result of that effort, the first PPA pilot program, a statewide collaborative to assist veterans in North Carolina, is now ripe for replication across the country. 

Teri joined the UPS Corporate Legal Department in 1995, and was appointed General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in 2006. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and daughters, where they are active with many church-related, civic, and community organizations.

Recipient: Laura Stein, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Clorox, Oakland, CA

Laura Stein serves as senior vice president – general counsel of The Clorox Company, with responsibility for the company's worldwide legal, ethics and compliance, corporate secretary, corporate communications, crisis management, risk management and internal audit matters. Stein serves on the Clorox executive committee, chairs the Clorox women's employee resource group, and co-sponsors the company's social responsibility and enterprise risk management programs, among other responsibilities. She works closely with Clorox's board of directors on governance matters.

Stein is a director of Franklin Resources, Inc. (a global investment organization known as Franklin Templeton Investments), and was previously a director of Nash Finch Company. She is co-chair of the Corporate Pro Bono Advisory Board. Stein is on the board of Equal Justice Works, the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, the Harvard Law School Program on the Future of the Legal Profession, and the American Judicature Society. She is a member of the American Law Institute, the ACC Value Challenge Steering Committee and the executive committee of the Association of General Counsel. She is a member of the ABA Presidential Task Force on the Preservation of Justice. Stein participates in the Diversity and Flexibility Connection of the Project for Attorney Retention. Previously, Stein was chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel, the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence and the ABA Asia Rule of Law Initiative; vice-chair of the East Bay Community Law Center; co-chair of the General Counsel Committee of the ABA Business Law Section; and a director of Global Education Partnership, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. She previously also served on the advisory boards of ABA DirectWomen, the ABA Center for Human Rights, and the LexMundi Foundation, and on the State Bar of California Task Force on Lawyer Support for Legal Services and the ABA Section of International Law Council.

Stein has received the ABA Margaret Brent Award, the Legal Momentum Women of Achievement Award, the Sandra Day O'Connor Board Excellence Award, the Ted Craig Humanitarian Award and the Corporate Board Member America's Top General Counsel Recognition Award. The National Law Journal has named Stein as one of the 20 most influential general counsel in America. The Harvard Law Bulletin has highlighted Stein as one of 50 alumnae who "have used their law degree to take them to extraordinary places." She has been named one of the Bay Area's Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times and was previously named one of Pennsylvania's Best Women in Business by Pennsylvania's Governor. Stein speaks six languages and has lived in China and Italy.

Recipient: Brad Smith, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, Microsoft, Redmond, WA

Smith leads Microsoft’s Department of Legal and Corporate Affairs (LCA) — which has more than 1,000 employees and is responsible for the company’s legal work — its intellectual property portfolio and patent licensing business, and its government affairs and philanthropic work. He also serves as Microsoft’s chief compliance officer. 

Smith has helped advance several significant diversity and pro bono initiatives, both within Microsoft and in the broader legal profession. He currently co-chairs the board of directors of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and serves as chair of the Pipeline Committee of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. 

Smith has also played a central role in ensuring that Microsoft fulfills its corporate responsibilities. In recent years, Microsoft has consistently ranked in the top 2 percent of the S&P 500 for corporate governance scores. During Smith’s tenure, the company’s citizenship programs have reached almost 300 million people in 120 countries through technology training programs that help individuals develop skills needed to obtain jobs. 

Smith is also Microsoft’s senior executive responsible for the company’s corporate citizenship in Washington State. He has served as chair of the Washington Roundtable, a leading Washington state-based business organization. In 2010, he chaired for Washington Governor Christine Gregoire her Higher Education Funding Task Force, and in 2011 he helped advocate for the successful adoption by the legislature of the task force’s recommendations, including tuition-setting authority and increased accountability for the state’s public universities and for the nation’s first private-public funded endowment to enable more students to attend college. During the past year, Smith and his wife, Kathy Surace-Smith, co-chaired the annual campaign for the United Way King County, the country’s largest United Way Campaign. 

Before joining Microsoft in 1993, Smith was a partner at Covington & Burling, having worked in the firm’s Washington, D.C., and London offices. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and received his law degree at the Columbia University School of Law. He also studied international law and economics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Smith has written numerous articles regarding international intellectual property and Internet policy issues, and has served as a lecturer at The Hague Academy of International Law. 

There is ample evidence of Smith’s devotion to the well being of others and his commitment to strengthening that principle within every institution he touches, from his earliest days. At Princeton, he won the Harold Willis Dodds Achievement Award — the highest award given to a senior at commencement — for “clear thinking, moral courage, a patient and judicious concern for the opinions of others, and a thoroughgoing devotion to the welfare of the University.” In addition, his graduating class voted to award him the Class of 1901 Medal, for the senior “who has done the most for Princeton.” A Dewitt Clinton Poole Memorial Prize Scholarship helped to support Smith’s senior thesis on international refugee law at the headquarters of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Smith’s many other honors include the 2007 Scales of Justice Award, by Equal Justice Works for significant contributions to the advancement of pro bono legal work; the 2009 A. Leon Higginbotham Corporate Leadership Award for contributions to diversity and inclusion; the American Bar Association’s 2010 Spirit of Excellence Diversity Award for Microsoft’s commitment to diversity in the profession; and the Corporate Counsel Publication’s 2010 Best Legal Department Award for leadership, innovation and effective management by Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs department. Smith’s most recent publication, “Defending Those Who Need it Most,” appeared on the White House blog earlier this fall as part of the White House’s Champions of Change Initiative.

Recipient: Rick Cotton, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, National Broadcasting Corporation, New York, NY

Under Cotton’s leadership, the NBC Universal Legal Department embraced a goal of having 50 percent of its lawyers participate in pro bono projects, and its recent public-oriented activities focus on a wide range of organizations, including Dress for Success, Street Law and Alliance for Children’s Rights. 

In 2010 the NBCU West Coast legal team won the Los Angeles County Bar Corporate Law Department Pro Bono Award, and in December 2008 a member of the company’s West Coast team accepted the GE Pro Bono Award, which is given annually to a single lawyer in the worldwide GE legal organization in recognition of outstanding pro bono work.

In the 1970s, Cotton served as special counsel and managing attorney for the Concord office of New Hampshire Legal Assistance, where he secured representation for individuals without the means to pay for a lawyer. 

From 1974 to 1976, he was a staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Palo Alto, California and from 1977 to 1981, Mr. Cotton worked in the Department of Health Education and Welfare. He was appointed deputy executive secretary under Secretary Joseph A. Califano and was named the executive secretary in 1978. In 1980 he became the special counsel to Deputy Secretary John Sawhill of the U.S. Department of Energy. 

In the mid 1980s, while in private practice, he successfully litigated a major pro bono case in defense of funding for national support centers, which served as a resource to attorneys representing at-risk and underserved clients, including older Americans, Native Americans, immigrants and migrant workers. 

In the 1990s, Cotton spent eight years as the chair of the board of the Primary Care Development Corporation, which provides financing and expert support for health centers in underserved communities in New York. He currently serves as the chair of the Dean’s Council at the NYU School of Public Service. Rick Cotton was named to his current position in August 2004. He supervises the NBC Universal Law Department, which provides legal advice to all NBC Universal business units for their ongoing operations and for new strategic plans and acquisitions. In addition, he oversees NBC Universal’s global regulatory and legislative agenda, including the company’s worldwide anti-piracy efforts.

Rick Cotton served as law clerk to Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1969 to 1970 and to Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1971.

Recipient: Michael Holston, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA

Michael Holston has long been a leader for pro bono assistance and a champion of equal justice. Since February 2007, Holston has served as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). In that role, he is responsible for the company’s worldwide legal affairs, including patents and licenses, litigation and regulatory matters. He also oversees the company’s compliance, government affairs, and privacy and ethics operations. Prior to joining HP, Holston was a partner in the litigation practice at Morgan Lewis, where, among other clients, he supported HP as external counsel on a variety of litigation and regulatory matters for more than 10 years. Prior to private practice, Holston served as a prosecutor in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

Holston’s pro bono efforts include his work with the American Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union and Volunteers for the Indigent Program. He has represented dozens of clients through Criminal Justice Act panel court appointments over the past 15 years. Significant highlights include successful representation of a death row inmate in Alabama. Due to the efforts of Holston and his team, Bo Cochran was granted a new trial, acquitt ed and set free after 21 years in prison. Holston worked with the 2008 NLADA Exemplar Award honoree, Ken Frazier of Merck & Co., Inc., on this case. He also established the in-house pro bono program at HP. 

Holston’s pro bono work began with representation of juveniles in criminal cases in state court in Chester County, Pennsylvania as a law student. He has served as a board member for several non-profi ts in the Philadelphia area including: Philadelphia Police Athletic League, Bryn Mawr Fire Company and Echoes Around the World. Holston received his law degree from Villanova University School of Law and holds a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Recipient: Kenneth C. Frazier, President of Global Human Health, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ

Kenneth C. Frazier has long served as a champion of equal justice and as a leader for pro bono assistance, commitment to diversity and contributions to the legal aid community. As president of Global Human Health at Merck & Co., Inc., Frazier’s leadership and dedication to the legal aid and public defense community sets the standard for corporate America. His work in the equal justice arena has included representing death row inmate Bo Cochran, who spent 15 years on death row before being acquitted in 1996 and with his membership and action on the Ethics Resource Center, the Council of the American Law Institute and as a member and immediate past chair of the NLADA Corporate Advisory Committee. As chair, Frazier was instrumental in building support among the corporate community for NLADA’s programmatic initiatives.

In October 2004, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) presented Frazier with its 2004 Excellence in Corporate Practice Award, which recognizes achievements in legal advocacy and counseling, service to the legal profession, public
service and civic and community contributions. In February 2003, the Pro Bono Institute, awarded Frazier its Laurie D. Zelon Award for extraordinary achievement by an individual in pro bono and public service. In May 2003, Frazier was the
recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award by Pennsylvania State University, the highest honor the University bestows on graduates whose professional achievements, personal qualities and community involvement exemplifies the goals of Penn State. And, in 2001, Frazier received the Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association to those recognized as leaders in their professional fields who are committed to sharing their knowledge and expertise with the University community.

Frazier joined Merck & Co., Inc. in 1992 as vice president, general counsel and secretary of the Astra Merck Group. Prior to Merck, he was a partner with the Philadelphia firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. He was elected vice president
of public affairs in 1994 and, in 1997, assumed the additional responsibilities of assistant general counsel. Frazier was promoted to vice president and deputy general counsel in January 1999. In December 1999, he assumed the position of
senior vice president and general counsel overseeing Merck's legal and public affairs functions and The Merck Company Foundation. In November 2006, he was promoted to executive vice president and general counsel. He was appointed
executive vice president and president of Merck’s Global Human Health in August 2007. Frazier is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, the American Bar Association and the Council on Foreign Relations. He sits on
the Boards of Ithaka Harbors, Inc. (a non-profit information technology organization), Cornerstone Christian Academy and the Ethics Resource Center.

Recipient: Roderick A. Palmore, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Sara Lee Corporation, Downers Grove, IL

Roderick A. Palmore is leading the way toward equality and justice in our communities and our places of business. As executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Sara Lee Corporation, Palmore recognizes the critical importance of pro bono service for corporate counsel and understands that the legal and business interests of Sara Lee's clients are furthered when access to the legal system is available to everyone, regardless of economic status. Palmore’s distinguished service to the community and his commitment to equality and justice have been recognized by a number of organizations. He is the recipient of the 2006 ABA Spirit of Excellence Award, 2005 ACC Diversity Award, 2005 Equal Justice Works Scales of Justice Award, 2003 ACC Excellence in Corporate Practice Award and the 2002 MCCA Employers of Choice Award –Midwest region.

Named one of the fifty most influential general counsel in February 2006 by Inside Counsel, a premier business magazine for general counsel and corporate legal executives, Palmore is well known for his leadership in furthering diversity within the corporate legal world. In the spring of 2004, he initiated the “Call to Action,” a program focused on addressing the retention, promotion and direction of business to minority communities within the legal profession. Signatories to his Call to Action must not only promise to look at a firm's commitment to diversity when choosing outside counsel, but to "end or limit" their relationship with firms that do not demonstrate a meaningful commitment to being diverse. In just one month
after issuing the call, general counsel from 60 companies signed on. Today, 110 companies have signed onto the Call to Action. 

Palmore is also a leader in his community. He is a member of the board of directors of Nuveen Investments and the Chicago Board Options Exchange and formerly served on the board of directors of the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, and the Centers for New Horizons. His demonstrated commitment to access to justice includes service on the board of directors of the Chicago Bar Foundation, the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago and the Public Interest Law Initiative. Palmore also generously donates his time to other volunteer activities including serving on the Chicago Bar Association’s Board of Managers, membership on the board of directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the board of trustees of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and as a former chairman of the Public Arts Advisory Commission of Oak Park, IL.

Recipient: William B. Lytton, Tyco International, and Mark J. MacDougall, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLC

As Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Tyco International Ltd., Bill Lytton is leading the charge for more active involvement on the part of corporate general counsel on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged. Beyond his personal commitment to making a difference for those in need he also understands the needs of the corporate sector. Through his position on the Board of Directors for The Pro Bono Partnership, Lytton actively advocated for the general
counsel community to commit resources by using the skills that in-house bar members use every day. He encourages corporations to get involved because “it is the right thing to do” and because it exemplifies good corporate citizenship. Additionally, it provides personal and professional enrichment for individual attorneys and allows for volunteer opportunities in assisting executives of non-profits with achieving their visions for helping devastated or challenged communities
more directly.

Lytton has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Tyco International Ltd. since 2002 and continues to provide exceptional leadership and personal conviction in challenging others to also make a difference in their communities.

Prior to Tyco International, Lytton served for six years as General Counsel at International Paper Company. While at the International Paper Company, Lytton served on the American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA) and was introduced to The Pro Bono Partnership in the 1990s by its founder, Bob Healing, former Corporate Counsel of General Electric and Rick Hobish, the Partnership’s Executive Director. Lytton also served as a federal prosecutor for eight and a half years in Chicago and Philadelphia and as Deputy Special Counselor to President Ronald Reagan in 1987. From 1978 – 1983, Lytton served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, serving as Chief of the criminal division and later as First Assistant U.S. Attorney.

In addition to his work with the Pro Bono Partnership, Lytton is also a member of the Board of the Atlantic Legal Foundation and previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA) from 2001 – 2002, and as Chair of the Board of Supervisors of his Township.

Mark MacDougall is a lawyer who is making a difference in how the American criminal justice system treats indigent clients facing the death penalty. A former Department of Justice prosecutor and a long-time partner with the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, MacDougall has brought the resources, experience and talent of one of the nation’s leading law firms to the defense table in capital cases and federal civil rights litigation.

In 1999, MacDougall began a professional collaboration with the renowned South Carolina defense lawyer, Bill Nettles, that has changed the face of trial practice in death penalty cases in that state and across the nation. Over the past seven years MacDougall has led teams of Akin Gump lawyers in collaboration with Nettles, John Mauldin, John Del Gado, James Morton and other South Carolina defense lawyers in capital cases and in federal civil rights litigation. These cases have exposed and challenged critical legal and evidentiary practices, including undercover police surveillance of civil rights organizations, the exclusion of prospective jurors based on previous political activities, the use of post-arrest psychiatric examinations by prosecutors when seeking the death penalty, and the exclusion of evidence of third party guilt by courts in capital cases. One case resulted in the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in May of this year - Bobby Holmes v. South Carolina - that reversed the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision affirming Holmes’ death sentence, and set a new standard for the admissibility of third-party guilt evidence in the United States. To date, no client represented by MacDougall or Nettles has ever been executed.

MacDougall’s work has been previously recognized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the “NAACP”), with that organization’s 2004 national Foot Soldier Award, as well as by the York County, South Carolina Branch of the NAACP with its 2005 Outstanding Legal Service Award. MacDougall and his colleagues at Akin Gump continue to fight for due process and equal justice for low-income clients facing the death penalty in courtrooms across South Carolina and set an example for major law firms throughout the United States. MacDougall is a native of Boston, Massachusetts and lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife of 25 years – Anne Johannessen –and their three sons, Ian, Colin and Gordon MacDougall.