Judge Edward J. Spillane III has been appointed to the State Bar of Texas Lawyers' Association Program staff of experts to reach out to jurists facing stress-related problems and other mental health issues. Spillane has been the municipal judge for College Station since 2002. He represents municipal courts on the Texas Judicial Council.

Honors

Melissa Hensley, senior counsel with McGuireWoods in Dallas, has been chosen for a Texas Diversity Council “Top 50 Women Lawyers Award” honoring women in the legal profession. Winners will be recognized Sept. 25 during a Legal Diversity Week awards banquet. Hensley focuses her practice on the defense of collective/class actions and individual claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII and state discrimination laws.

Yvette Ostolaza, managing partner of Sidley Austin's Dallas office, has been named to Benchmark Litigation's “Top 250 Women in Litigation” and is one of only four Texas attorneys selected for the honor. Ostolaza's practice often focuses on complex internal investigations and shareholder and securities class action suits.

New Positions

Stephen Edmundson has joined Greenberg Traurig's Houston office as of counsel in the firm's litigation practice. Edmundson focuses his practice on commercial defense litigation, including business, insurance, construction, personal injury and property loss disputes.

Renee Hunter and Gregory Martin have been appointed assistant U.S. attorneys by U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas. Hunter is assigned to the economic crimes and public corruption section of the office's criminal division, where she will work on health care fraud cases. Martin is assigned to the asset recovery unit within the criminal division, where he will focus on the office's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Initiative to build asset forfeiture cases from Bank Secrecy Act data.

Cindy M. Muller has joined Jones Walker as special counsel in the firm's Houston office. She is in the maritime practice group and on the energy, environmental and natural resources industry team.

Jay S. Rao has joined the Baylor Law faculty as a full-time lecturer in the school's legal writing program. His primary area of responsibility will be teaching transactional drafting and practice in the “Legal Analysis, Research and Communications” program, which emphasizes and develops skills necessary to engage in a transactional practice.

Teegan J. Hill, a trial lawyer, has joined The Bassett Firm in Dallas as an associate. The litigation practice areas are transportation, premises liability and personal injury.

Thomas J. Bonura has joined Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz as an associate in the Houston office. Bonura is in the firm's health law group and advises health care organizations and individuals in the transactional, operational and regulatory aspects of the health care industry.

Awards

The State Bar of Texas has received the Harrison Tweed Award in recognition of its efforts to improve the availability of civil legal services or indigent defense services to people living in poverty. Among other initiatives, the State Bar launched the Texas Opportunity and Justice Incubator in April 2017 to expand access to justice for low- and moderate-income Texans and to assist new lawyers in establishing practices to serve the unmet legal needs of those citizens.

The Dallas Bar Association has received a 2018 American Bar Association Partnership Award presented by the ABA's Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services. The award recognizes the DBA's programming and related work on the WE LEAD (Women Empowered to Lead in the Legal Profession) program. The program is in partnership with the Dallas Women's Foundation and the Dallas Women Lawyers Association.