Locke Lord’s David Harrell and Ann Ryan Robertson Honored at 2023 Houston Bar Association Annual Dinner

Houston Partner David Harrell, FCIArb, Co-Chair of Locke Lord’s Litigation Department and Chair of the Firm's International Arbitration Practice Group, was recognized with the 2023 President’s Award for Outstanding Service, and Ann Ryan Robertson, C.Arb FCIArb, International Partner in Locke Lord’s Houston office, was the recipient of the 2023 Justice Ruby Kless Sondock Award at the Houston Bar Association (HBA) Annual Dinner held on May 11. The President’s Award is selected by the HBA President to recognize outstanding committee and section leadership, and the Justice Ruby Kless Sondock Award is presented to a woman lawyer or judge for having demonstrated, by conduct and character, a record of exceptional service as a role model, mentor and advocate in the legal profession and a lifelong commitment to professionalism. 

Harrell serves as Board Chair of Houston Volunteer Lawyers, the largest provider of pro bono legal services in Harris County and the surrounding areas. He is also the immediate Past Chair of the SBOT ADR Section, President-Elect of the Houston Bar Association, member of the Houston International Arbitration Club Incorporated and Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston Law Center. He has extensive first and second-chair trial and arbitration experience in the areas of energy litigation, commercial litigation and land use/permitting litigation. Harrell’s energy litigation experience includes representations of operators, producers, transporters, marketers and royalty owners.

Robertson acts as both arbitrator and advocate in international and domestic arbitrations across a wide variety of complex business disputes.

Robertson served as the 2021 global President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), the world’s leading qualifications and professional body for dispute avoidance and dispute management. She is also a member of the Council of the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution, a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, a member of the London Court of International Arbitration and a past member of the International Chamber of Commerce Commission on Arbitration. In addition, she is listed on the arbitrator rosters of a number of leading arbitral institutions and was selected by the U.S. Department of Trade as one of 10 arbitrators appointed by the United States to serve as a dispute resolution panelist pursuant to Chapter 31 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.