Norton Rose Fulbright, clients win ACC Houston Chapter awards

Norton Rose Fulbright and two of its clients—Chevron and Precision Drilling—have been honored with collaborative awards from The Association of Corporate Counsel's (ACC) Houston Chapter in conjunction with The Texas Lawbook.

Chevron Senior Counsel Alyssa Schindler and Norton Rose Fulbright took home the 2020 Creative Partnership Award, recognizing joint efforts to deliver pro bono services to Houston residents following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Additionally, Norton Rose Fulbright and Precision Drilling were awarded the Business Litigation of the Year for securing a dismissal in an eight-year Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) case.

The Creative Partnership Award honors both in-house corporate legal departments and the outside counsel with whom they worked, recognizing the "extraordinary legal work and leadership of lawyers in corporate legal departments in South Texas."

Norton Rose Fulbright and Chevron lawyers tackled a number of matters helping survivors of Hurricane Harvey, including issues of contractor fraud, FEMA appeals, title clearing and tax complications. The partnership allowed Chevron to expand its ability to take on direct representation clients by providing a set of cases for lawyers whose practice is primarily transactional, and for whom traditional litigation-based pro bono work might be a bit daunting.

The Business Litigation of the Year award spotlights a corporate legal department and its outside counsel for extraordinary success in a complex and high stakes litigation or trial.

In December 2019, Norton Rose Fulbright helped Precision Drilling secure a summary judgment victory in the case Tyger v. Precision Drilling Corp., in an FLSA collective action that involved more than 1,000 oil rig workers nationwide. A victory for the plaintiffs may have had implications for the drilling rig industry and possibly other blue-collar fields because companies may have become obligated to pay workers for time spent putting on and taking off personal protective gear.

All honorees will receive their awards at a ceremony in October.