Haynes Boone is proud to announce that Sakina Rasheed Foster, the firm’s Dallas office managing partner and a member of the Finance Practice Group, has been named the 2023 Trailblazer of the Year by the Texas Minority Counsel Program (TMCP).
This is the 13th year TMCP has awarded the honor, which goes to a Texas attorney who champions diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the legal profession and who offers extraordinary support and advocacy for the advancement of lawyers from historically underrepresented populations in Texas.
Sakina is leading Haynes Boone’s initiative with a major corporate client to launch an innovative job-placement and career-readiness program for women law students of color, and she regularly mentors underrepresented young lawyers at the firm. She’s also held leadership positions in many organizations that focus on DEI, including the Texas Women’s Foundation, Women’s Leadership Council, Equal Access to Justice Campaign for the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, Dallas Women Lawyers Association, Dallas Asian American Bar Association, and the Orchid Giving Circle.
“I’m honored and humbled to receive this award,” she said. “I have directly benefitted from the trailblazers who came before me in the legal profession, and I consider it a personal responsibility to continue to forge a path for minority, women, and LGBTQ+ attorneys, and attorneys from other historically underrepresented groups. I’m grateful to TMCP for this recognition.”
Sakina was nominated for the Trailblazer award by The Podium, a non-profit organization in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that amplifies the voices of Asian American women lawyers and supports their goals within the legal profession. The Podium was co-founded by Haynes Boone alum Punam Kaji, who is now senior legal counsel - labor & employment at Fidelity Investments.
Sakina will receive the award at the TMCP Keynote Awards Luncheon in Houston next month at the 31st Annual Texas Minority Counsel Program.
