DALLAS – LawFuel.com – Dallas-based Godwin Ronquillo PC has been selected by the Texas Diversity Council as a 2009 corporate division DiversityFIRST™ Awards winner in recognition of the law firm’s diversity and inclusion advocacy.

The DiversityFIRST™ Awards program recognizes the accomplishments and sustained commitment by individuals, community organizations, businesses, corporations and/or nonprofit organizations in the area of promoting appreciation for diversity, inclusion, and cultural understanding in the workplace and community.

Godwin Ronquillo will be honored during the Best Practices and DiversityFIRST™ Awards Luncheon on June 10 at Southern Methodist University’s Hughes-Trigg Ballroom. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins will be the keynote speaker. For more information on the luncheon, visit http://www.texasdiversitycouncil.org/NTLuncheon09.html.

“We are very proud to receive this recognition, not because of the award, but what it represents,” says Donald E. Godwin, firm Chairman and CEO. “We have always sought to recruit the most talented and dedicated attorneys and staff possible. We work hard every day at creating and fostering an environment where attorneys and staff can meet and exceed their professional goals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.”

Among the DiversityFIRST™ Awards criteria for businesses are a demonstrated commitment to a diversified workforce in which all persons are afforded employment and advancement opportunities; leadership with the vision to confront inequities through decision-making, allocation of recourses and establishment of priorities; a demonstrated consistent pattern of organizational commitment to recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations; and promotion of diversity initiatives.

“The attorneys we recruit come to us because, first, they understand the quality of the work we do and, second, because they appreciate our culture,” says Marcos G. Ronquillo, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Shareholder. “We work hard to maintain an inclusionary atmosphere that is respectful to every member of our firm. In doing that it fosters an atmosphere of success.”

This is the second consecutive year the Texas Diversity Council has honored Godwin Ronquillo. In 2008, Mr. Ronquillo was one of four recipients of the Legal Diversity Award. Honorees are individuals with a demonstrated commitment to the values of diversity, inclusion and cultural understanding. Mr. Ronquillo was honored for his role in the hiring, retention and promotion of diverse attorneys, as well as his efforts to ensure equal opportunities for all persons involved in the legal profession.

Godwin Ronquillo PC is a Dallas-based trial and appellate firm that represents Fortune 500 and middle-market industry leaders in Mission Critical Litigation® throughout the United States.

DALLAS – LawFuel.com – Legal Newswire – The Dallas Business Journal has recognized Fish & Richardson principal Steven H. Stodghill as one of the top 15 business defense attorneys in North Texas. The 2009 edition of “The Defenders” is included in the newspaper’s May 22 issue.

Mr. Stodghill is the second Fish & Richardson attorney to be highlighted among “The Defenders,” following Dallas managing principal Tom Melsheimer’s selection to the listing in 2006 and 2008.

To compile its annual listing, Dallas Business Journal editors accepted nominations for the top business defense lawyers in the area. In order to narrow the list to 15 attorneys, the editors weighed the nominees’ reputations in the legal community, recent courtroom successes and other professional qualifications.

“It is no doubt an honor to be selected among so many other first-rate attorneys from the Dallas area,” says Mr. Stodghill. “I have been fortunate to work with wonderful clients, and to defend them when they’ve found themselves facing litigation. I am proud to know that others have recognized that success.”

In its profile of Mr. Stodghill, the Dallas Business Journal highlights his firm’s successful defense earlier this year for the producers of the award-winning documentary “TV Junkie.” The movie chronicles the life of Rick Kirkham, a former correspondent for “Inside Edition” who documented his drug addiction through more than 3,000 hours of videotape. Mr. Kirkham’s ex-wife filed suit in 2007 against the producers, claiming that she was wrongly denied contractual payments and that the privacy of the Kirkhams’ two sons was invaded as a result of their appearance in the documentary. A Dallas jury returned a take-nothing verdict on February 13.

The article also notes Mr. Stodghill’s work for Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and his personal acquaintances with Hollywood jet-setters like George Clooney, Eva Mendes, Matt Damon, Chris Tucker and others.

His selection to “The Defenders” list is just the latest in a long list of honors for Mr. Stodghill. He has been recognized on the Texas Super Lawyers listing each of the last six years, and was recognized among the country’s top business litigators in the 2008 issue of Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition. He also has been named by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

Fish & Richardson is a leading global law firm unlike any other law firm in the world. With 450 lawyers practicing intellectual property, litigation, and corporate law, Fish has redefined IP law for a market that values IP as a fundamental business asset. The firm offers unique expertise to help clients maximize the value of their intangible assets. Fish was recently named one of the leading IP law firms in the United States by Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) magazine, with top rankings in eleven categories, including Patent Prosecution, Patent Litigation, Life Sciences, and the International Trade Commission (ITC) (MIP, February 2009); handles more patent litigation than any other law firm, both in federal district courts (IP Law & Business, July 2008; IP Law360, January 2009) and the ITC (IP Law & Business, June 2008); and is the No. 1 patent firm for the world’s most innovative companies (IP Law & Business, November 2008).