Next month, the Texas Diversity Council will recognize Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Lynne Liberato as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Houston in 2019. The award recognizes women attorneys who have made a difference through their achievements and excelled in the legal industry.
The Texas Diversity Council is a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports diversity in the legal community. It also serves as a resource for diversity best practices and leadership development in Texas and recognizes women lawyers for their experience, leadership, and commitment to diversity.
Liberato, a partner in Haynes and Boone’s Appellate Section, will receive the award at an awards breakfast on Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Houston. The 2019 recipient of the Texas Bar Foundation’s Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer, Lynne leads teams in appeals and at trial in some of the largest and most complex cases in Texas. She also is being recognized for her mentoring younger lawyers and her contributions to the community, especially through the United Way of Greater Houston. In April, the United Way of Greater Houston appointed Liberato as Board Trustee Emeritus in recognition of her longtime support of the organization’s most significant initiatives. She is only the second person in the history of the UW to receive the title. Liberato was the first practicing lawyer to serve as the UW’s community campaign chair and was chair of its Hurricane Harvey Recovery Task Force. In 2008, the organization named her "Volunteer of the Year."
“We are thrilled to see Lynne consistently recognized for her great work at Haynes and Boone, the legal community and the community at large,” said the firm’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion Jennifer Reddien. “Lynne also is known for being a strong advocate for diversity. The Texas Diversity Council recognizes this and sees how she is impacting the community as an appellate lawyer, leader and role model.”
The honor is the latest in a string of accolades that Liberato has received this year. Earlier this month, she was listed among the Top 50 Women in the 2019 edition of Texas Super Lawyers, published by Thomson Reuters. She also was included in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America directory, published by Woodward/White, Inc.
Among her proudest achievements are winning the ADL Jurisprudence Award and being elected president of both the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Bar, for which she was the first woman president.
Among the cases she has handled, Liberato won reversal of a closely watched public information act case before the Texas Supreme Court, won a summary judgment for $21 million in an insurance coverage case, and upheld in the 5th Circuit a take-nothing judgment in a multi-billion-dollar False Claims Act appeal. She was the lead lawyer representing the NFL during the Houston Super Bowl and lead pro bono the appellate team fighting a challenge to restroom access authorized by Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance.
A prolific speaker and writer, Liberato co-authors "Summary Judgments in Texas," often called the "bible" of summary judgments. Versions of this article, which again was published in 2019, have appeared in seven law reviews since 1989, and it has been recognized as one of the 10 most-cited articles by appellate courts nationwide.