From UNT Gulf Coast Alumni Association
HOUSTON – LAWFUEL – Gardere Wynne Sewell partner Richard O. Faulk has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Martha Turner Award of Distinction as the outstanding Gulf Coast alumnus of the University of North Texas.
The award is presented annually in recognition of the extraordinary success of an UNT alumnus from the Houston area, who has also demonstrated exceptional support to the university. Mr. Faulk will be honored at the Fifth Annual Gulf Coast Gala Scholarship Luncheon on April 15 at Piatto Ristorante in Houston. Previous winners include businesswoman and philanthropist Martha Turner; John and Lindy Rydman, owners of Spec’s Liquor, Wine and Finer Foods; sculptor Jesus Moroles.
A 1974 graduate of North Texas State University with a degree in Music Composition, Mr. Faulk and his wife, Candace, endowed a scholarship fund in 2004 for student composers to provide financial assistance and encouragement to UNT composers in the form of scholarships and professional performances of their works at the annual Candace and Richard Faulk Scholars Concert. Mr. Faulk remains active as a composer while also managing a dynamic legal practice. The 2006 premiere of his work The Passion According to King David was sung by Vernon Hartman of New York’s Metropolitan Opera during the Good Friday service at Houston’s First Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Faulk, the Litigation Department Chair at Gardere, concentrates his practice in complex tort and environmental litigation. He has routinely served as lead counsel in federal and state trial and appellate courts in Texas and other jurisdictions in his nearly 30 years in practice. He was among the first group of lawyers formally recognized as a specialist in federal and state appellate practice by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and has argued appeals at all levels in the state and federal judicial systems, including briefing and oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Additionally, Mr. Faulk was the recipient of the 2003 Burton Award for Legal Achievement in recognition of exceptional legal writing. In 2004 he was invited to address the National Academy of Sciences regarding legal standards governing scientific and medical evidence. He also has earned recognition among Law & Politics’ Texas Super Lawyers and as one of America’s Leading Lawyers For Business by Chambers USA.
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm, was founded in 1909 and is one of the Southwest’s largest full-service law firms. With offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Mexico City, Gardere provides business and litigation services to private and public companies and individuals in the areas of corporate, banking, energy, real estate, bankruptcy, legislative and regulatory affairs, tax, labor, environmental, and intellectual property.
