Four outstanding alumni were chosen by the Texas Tech Law School Foundation Board of Trustees.
The Texas Tech University School of Law has announced the 2020 Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Service Award recipients.
The Texas Tech Law School Foundation recognizes and honors alumni who have distinguished themselves professionally and through service to the law school at the Annual Scholarship Gala each March. Due to ongoing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 recipients will be honored at the 2022 gala.
The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to the bench, bar or community, and whose accomplishments and careers have brought credit to the law school and to the legal profession as a whole. The Distinguished Service Award recognizes alumni who have devoted extraordinary service to Texas Tech School of Law.
The 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are:
Douglas C. Atnipp, Class of '85
Doug Atnipp has more than 30 years experience representing clients engaged in all
facets of the energy business. He is the managing partner of Winston & Strawn LLP's
Houston office where he regularly handles a wide range of energy-related transactions,
including energy finance, joint ventures and strategic alliances and acquisitions
and dispositions of energy-related assets.
Prior to joining Winston & Strawn, Atnipp was a co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig LLP's Houston office and co-chair of the firm's global Energy and Infrastructure Practice. He is listed in the 2003-2021 editions of The Best Lawyers in America©, where he was recognized as the 2021 Lawyer of the Year for Oil and Gas Law, among The Natural Resources Law section, and he has been consistently selected by Texas Super Lawyers magazine every year since 2003.
Atnipp also has been very active in his service to the Texas Tech School of Law. He joined the Board of Trustees of the Texas Tech Law School Foundation in 2005 and has chaired the Development Committee of the Foundation since its formation in 2015. Atnipp and his wife also have been incredibly generous, establishing the Douglas C. and Veronica O. Atnipp Scholarship Endowment benefiting Texas Tech law students.
Julie Caruthers Parsley, Class of '90
Julie Parsley serves as the CEO of Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), the nation's
largest distribution electric cooperative. She is the first female CEO in the cooperative's
history.
Prior to joining PEC, Parsley's distinguished career includes serving as a founding partner of Parsley Coffin Renner LLP, commissioner of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and first female Solicitor General for the state of Texas. Parsley served as a member of the Texas Energy Planning Council, is a founding board member of the Association of Women in Energy, serves as an advisory trustee on the board of Southwest Research Institute, and is board certified in civil appellate law.
In December 2020, Texas CEO Magazine recognized Parsley for her exceptional leadership during PEC's ongoing response to COVID-19. In 2019, the Austin Business Journal named Parsley the Best CEO of a Nonprofit in Central Texas, and she was named the 2019 Powerful Woman in Energy and Water.
Philip R. Weems, Class of '82
Philip Weems specialized in global energy transactions with a concentration on liquefied
natural gas (LNG) matters, upstream transactions and energy maritime issues.
Since receiving a master of law degree from the University of Sydney, Australia, he has spent his entire professional career in the international arena. For many years, Weems served from Houston as co-head of the Global Energy Practice of King & Spalding (K&S). He also resided and managed the firm's offices in the Middle East (based in Dubai) and in Singapore. He was twice elected by the K&S partnership to serve on its policy committee, the firm's managing body.
He held senior in-house legal positions with global liquified natural gas and oil and gas companies in Jakarta, Indonesia prior to joining K&S in 2000. Weems also served as president of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN); in 2020, AIPN named him one of three distinguished negotiators at its 10th annual awards event.
A prolific author in his field, Weems' publications have been featured in numerous energy publications. In 2013, he received the prestigious Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing.
The 2020 Distinguished Service Award recipient is:
Art Hall, Class of '96
Art Hall is an attorney and investor who is passionate about service. He has served
as the district director of research and development for the Alamo Colleges Workforce
Training Network and as dean of workforce development and continuing education at
St. Philip's College. Hall also has served on San Antonio's City Council, the San
Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund and Health Fund Boards, and the Texas Tech Alumni Association (TTAA) National Board of Directors.
Hall has served on the Board of Trustees of the Texas Tech Law School Foundation since 2005. He is a valued member of the foundation's investment committee, assessing the strength of the foundation as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit and assisting with the selection of an investment firm in 2014. Hall also is an important voice on the law school's alumni Special Committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice, helping administration identify resources to increase awareness of issues related to diversity and to promote a more welcoming campus environment.
