The legal department of Freddie Mac, along with Deval Patrick, the former general counsel of the Coca-Cola Co. who went on to become governor of Massachusetts, is being recognized for their efforts toward diversity and equality in the law.

The Council on Legal Education Opportunity Inc. has announced 10 winners of its CLEO EDGE awards, to be given at a Nov. 7 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Patrick, who also served as U.S. assistant attorney general over the civil rights division in the Clinton administration, will receive the Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Heritage Award. Jordan is a lawyer, business executive and civil rights activist.

Patrick told Corporate Counsel on Friday, "I am incredibly honored to be recognized in this way by CLEO, especially so in the name of my friend and hero, Vernon Jordan. Vernon exemplifies the highest aspirations of not only CLEO, but the profession itself:  integrity, empathy, deep respect for the rule of law, and servant leadership."

Patrick also served as general counsel of Texaco Inc. and is now a managing director at private investment firm Bain Capital. He was the first African American to be elected governor of Massachusetts.

He was the founding chairman of Our Generation Speaks, a fellowship program and incubator where emerging Palestinian and Israeli leaders work together to create high-impact ventures.

The other nine CLEO recipients will receive awards in three categories: education, diversity and greater equality, hence EDGE. Cassandra Sneed Ogden, CEO of CLEO, said the recipients "are dynamic examples of diversity and inclusion. These characteristics are important to CLEO, the legal profession, and our nation."

The Freddie Mac legal team was the only in-house law department honored, and it is one of three recipients in the greater equality category. General Counsel Ricardo Anzaldua did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Freddie Mac is an investor-owned, government-controlled corporation that supports affordable home ownership and rental housing, especially for lower-income neighborhoods and minorities, mainly through purchasing mortgages from lenders.

Also receiving awards in the equality category are the Tribal Law and Policy Institute of West Hollywood, California, a Native American nonprofit corporation; and Jennifer Chen, who is director of the Association of Corporate Counsel Foundation.

Individuals from three law schools will receive awards for their work in education. They are John Brittain, professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia Clarke School of Law; Leonard Baynes, dean of the University of Houston Law Center; and Thomas Miles, dean of the University of Chicago Law School.

In the diversity category, the recipients include Justin Cruz, assistant dean of admission and diversity at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law in Orange, California and Nitza Milagros Escalera, assistant dean of student affairs at Fordham University School of Law in New York.

The third recipient in the diversity group—and the only law firm to be honored—is Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Cleary's diversity and inclusion efforts include a women's working group for female lawyers, various outreach programs for student diversity groups on different campuses, and a variety of minority pipeline initiatives and internships. On Sept. 17 Women Inc. magazine named Cleary a top 100 law firm for women.