Haynes Boone Partner Kent Rutter and Senior Counsel Lynne Liberato have received the 2024 Outstanding Law Review Article Award from the Texas Bar Foundation for their article entitled “Summary Judgments in Texas: State and Federal Practice.” They co-authored the article with U.S. District Judge David Hittner and Jeremy W. Dunbar in the South Texas Law Review.
The Outstanding Law Review Article Award honors a law review published by one of the Texas law schools. Judge Hittner and Liberato have co-authored earlier versions of the article since 1989, with Rutter and Dunbar joining them for this edition. The series of articles is known as the “Bible” of summary judgments.
“Receiving this award is a testament to the enduring value of this article as a practical and comprehensive resource for trial and appellate lawyers,” Rutter said. “It is an honor to be recognized by our peers and the Texas Bar Foundation.”
Rutter is an appellate lawyer who has practiced at Haynes Boone for more than 25 years. He has chaired the three largest bar organizations for appellate lawyers in Texas—the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section, the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists (TACTAS), and the Houston Bar Association Appellate Practice Section. Rutter also is the co-author with Liberato of another article that received this award previously, titled “Reasons for Reversal in the Texas Courts of Appeals,” an empirical study of the factors that most frequently result in reversal in the Texas appellate courts.
Liberato is an appellate lawyer who has argued before the United States Supreme Court and is the former president of the State Bar of Texas. She also received the 2022 Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award, the 2020 Lifetime of Excellence in Advocacy Award from the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists and the 2019 Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Texas Appellate Lawyer Award.
Rutter, Liberato, Judge Hittner and Dunbar were recognized at the Texas Bar Foundation Annual Dinner held on June 21, 2024, at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. South Texas College of Law Houston received a $1,000 scholarship donation in honor of their acceptance of the Outstanding Law Review Article Award.