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37 Headnotes 1 (2012)

handle is hein.barjournals/hdba0037 and id is 1 raw text is: Dallas Bar Association HEA Paul K. Stafford, 2012 President of the Dallas Bar Association Dr. Walter Sutton to Receive 2012 MLK Justice Award Paul K. Stafford will be inaugurated on January 21, 2012, as the 103rd President of the Dallas Bar Association at the annual Inaugural Dinner-Dance. Mr. Stafford took the reins of our nearly- 11,000 mem- ber organization on January 1. Mr. Stafford has enjoyed practicing in a variety of environments and types of law-a variety giving him great perspec- tive in leading an organization as diverse as the Dallas Bar Association. He first prac- ticed law, after graduating from the Texas Tech School of Law in 1994, as an Assis- tant District Attorney in Denton County, and then in Dallas County. In Dallas, he served as a felony prosecutor, but later changed his practice to general civil litiga- tion. As a civil litigator, he began practic- ing at Amis & Bell in Arlington in 1998 and later joined Werstein, Smith & Wil- son. From 2004 until forming his own firm in 2008, he practiced with Hughes & Luce LLP (now K&L Gates LLP). Mr. Stafford is now the proprietor of The Stafford Law Firm, which focuses on complex com- mercial litigation, business litigation, and insurance litigation, as well as labor & employment matters. Mr. Stafford grew up in Prairie View, Texas, as the youngest of five children. He graduated from Waller High School as salutatorian, and lettered in football, tennis and band. He then attended Texas A&M University, earning a B.S. in Politi- cal Science in 1990. At A&M, Stafford received the President's Achievement Award and the Former Students Associa- tion Buck Weirus Spirit Award. He was also a Distinguished Student, was active in the Student Government, founded an annual student leadership conference, and served as Secretary of his fraternity- Alpha Phi Alpha. During law school at Texas Tech, he was a founder of the Black Law Students Association, a member of the Board of Barristers, and was Runner- Up for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Award. Paul left law school hop- ing to become a successful litigator with criminal and civil experience. Mr. Stafford is proud that, in addition to reaching several of his professional goals, he has been invited by his alma mater to teach as an Adjunct Professor. Over the years, he has taught Insurance Law, Trial Advocacy and Interviewing & Coun- seling. In 2007, the Black Law Students Association, an organization he helped establish at Tech Law in 1991, named him as an Outstanding Alumnus. Stafford's litigation experience has afforded him the chance to try over 200 jury trials over the years, and his experience, both as a pros- ecutor and in his current practice, has brought him plaudits. He was recognized as Paul K Stafford a Texas Super Lawyer in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and as a Texas Rising Star several times before that. Eclipse Magazine named him one of its Eight Most Dynamic Law- yers in Dallas in 2008. Farmers Insurance Group's Legal Department also named him its Trial Horse of the Year two years running based on the number of cases he tried. Mr. Stafford also has a record of service to the bar and the public. He has served on the Dallas Bar Association's Board of Directors since 2001, serving as its Chair in 2008, and on the Board of Trustees for the Dallas Bar Foundation since 2005. Before that, he chaired several committees, including Admissions & Membership and Minority Participation. He also headed up the Campaign for Equal Access to Justice in 2007, a year in which the Campaign earned a record-breaking amount. The Dallas Bar has, moreover, rec- ognized Mr. Stafford for his service. He received the 2004 Jo Anna Moreland Out- standing Committee Award for his service as Co-Chair of the Minority Participation Committee. He was also awarded a Dallas Bar Association Presidential Citation for his work with the Brown v. Board of Edu- cation 50th Anniversary Commemoration Committee and a Presidential Achieve- ment Award for his work as Chair of the A Bar For All bar-assessment commit- tee. And, in 2006, Stafford was the Out- standing Minority Attorney for the Dallas Bar Association. Outside the Dallas Bar Association, Mr. Stafford served as president of the J.L. Turner Legal Association, and has just completed five years of service on the Board of Directors of the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students For almost 20 years, the Dallas Bar Association has awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Justice Award to a leader who dem- onstrates the values and ideals of Dr. King. This year's recipient, Dr. Walter L. Sut- ton, Jr., graduated from law school at a time when law firms in Dallas were not hiring African-Americans because their clients were not ready for African-American law- yers. Yet, that did not deter Dr. Sutton from embarking on a successful legal career of 41 years, in many instances becoming the first African-American to hold the position. Dr. Sutton grew up in Marshall, Texas, where he attended segregated schools. He graduated high school at 16 and went to college in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Sutton majored in economics at the University of Denver and was the first African-American to become Student Body Vice President. He initially took a job with Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, where he was responsible for the logistics of shipping cars by rail all over the country. While in Michigan, he met a judge from his home- town who suggested that Dr. Sutton con- sider going to law school part time while he worked at Ford. To that end he attended Wayne State University at night and performed so well during his first year of law school that he was offered a full scholarship to the University of Michigan School of Law. After graduat- ing from law school in 1970, he returned to work at Ford as a staff attorney until 1972, when he moved back to Texas to work as the first African-American in Tenneco Oil Company's legal department. Shortly there- after, he was hired by Texas Instruments (TI) in Dallas, and was the first African- American lawyer there as well. At the time, he was one of only 12 African-American lawyers in Dallas. While working at TI, Dr. Sutton was tasked with an environmental law issue, which led to his specialization in environ- mental law. As a result, Dr. Sutton became a pioneer in the field of environmental law. He continued working on various environ- mental law issues for TI until he left the company in 1988 to complete his course- work for a Ph.D. in Management Science at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). Upon graduation in 1989, he became the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. from UTD. Dr. Sutton was then hired by Hughes & Luce to direct the firm's expansion into the field of environmental law. He was also active as a lobbyist in Austin representing 25 corporate and association clients, includ- ing Perot Systems. After leaving Hughes & Luce in 1993, Dr. Sutton went to the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency where he became the first African-American to head Dr. walter Sutton up the regional counsel's office in Dallas. In 1998, President Bill Clinton appointed him as the Associate Administrator for Pol- icy for the Federal Highway Administration. Two years later, he was appointed Deputy Federal Highway Administrator where he administered a $60 billion budget and man- aged a national staff of 3,000 employees. After leaving the Federal Highway Administration in 2001, Dr. Sutton became the Chief of Staff/Special Assistant to the President at UTD. There he served the 7 New Medical Privacy Law in Texas: What You Need to Know 9 The Benefits of a Healthy Workforce 1 3 Attorney Responsibilities Under HIPAA U U Donl uss Thing! Scan the code and stay connected with the DBA.0 A I I ES

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