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2023 Belva Lockwood Award Winners
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2023 Belva Lockwood Award Winners
On November 2, 2023, the Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation recognized two leaders in the community with the annual Belva Lockwood Outstanding Lawyer of the Year and Belva Lockwood Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year awards. The awards recognize the recipients’ contributions to the legal profession, and contributions to the community in the form of charitable and volunteer work. Nominees are evaluated based on experience, reputation, and standing in the legal community.
ileta! Sumner, a long-time member of the San Antonio Bar Association Publications Committee and frequent contributor to the San Antonio Lawyer, was this year’s recipient of the Belva Lockwood Outstanding Lawyer of the Year. ileta! has contributed many articles to this magazine over her tenure, including her outstanding 2019 series about the life, death, and legacy of Emmett Till. In 2022, ileta! received the San Antonio Bar Foundation’s Peacemaker Award for her many years of service to the Women’s Bar, including her election as the first Black President of that organization, as well as her service to the San Antonio Black Lawyers Association and her role as the first General Counsel of the Battered Women’s Shelter. In 2005, ileta! contracted viral cardiomyopathy, which brought her career as general counsel to an end, but she has never let her illness slow her down. She continued to advocate as a Director of Disability Rights Texas, to educate through written works, and to inspire others with her tenacious optimism.
ileta! was recognized alongside another former President of the Bexar County Women’s Bar, Danielle Rushing Behrends. Danielle is a Senior Attorney at Dykema. In addition to her service to the Women’s Bar, Danielle has been active in Junior League of San Antonio and the San Antonio Legal Services Association (SALSA).
The Publications Committee heartily congratulates ileta! and Danielle for this welldeserved recognition.
