Siblings Macey Reasoner Stokes of Baker Botts L.L.P., and her brother Barrett H. Reasoner of Gibbs & Bruns LLP, received ADL’s Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award at the Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award Luncheon earlier this month. More than 700 people attended the luncheon, which raised more than $600,000 for ADL (Anti-Defamation League.)
ADL Southwest presents this award annually to an outstanding member of the legal community who exhibits a commitment to equality, justice, fairness and community service. The Reasoner siblings have followed in the community service footsteps of their father, former Jurisprudence Award Recipient Harry Reasoner, and their mother Macey Hodges Reasoner, both of whom received the Torch of Liberty Award from ADL.
Both Macey Reasoner Stokes and Barrett Reasoner thanked the ADL for the award, and said it had great meaning for them because of the important work ADL does, and because of their parents’ longstanding connection to ADL and support of the agency’s mission: “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and secure justice and fair treatment for all.” They also mentioned it was an honor to be recognized with an award named after the late ADL Board Chair Karen Susman.
In addition, Reasoner and Stokes thanked the Event Host Committee, Event Co-Chairs Pat Mizell and Connie Pfeiffer, and sponsors of the event for making the luncheon a success.
A quick glance at some of the siblings’ accomplishments highlights how deserving they are of the award:
Barrett Reasoner connected Gibbs & Bruns with a Communities in Schools initiative in the early 1990s involving a summer legal internship program for at-risk, graduating high school seniors. As President of Houston Bar Association in 2009, Barrett created a partnership between CIS and the HBA to strengthen and continue the internship program. His efforts raised awareness of the program in the Houston legal community and participation by other law firms dramatically increased, breathing new life into the program and ultimately allowing more students to experience this unique internship opportunity. The program continues to thrive today.
Barrett serves on the Board of Directors and Finance and Administration and Nominating Committees of BakerRipley (formerly Neighborhood Centers) and is a past chair of the Houston Bar Foundation and former Chairman of the Board of Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program.
Barrett is recognized a “Leading Trial Lawyer” by top legal directories Chambers USA, Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, and Lawdragon. He was awarded the 2024 Houston “Antitrust Litigation Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America and is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers.
Macey Reasoner Stokes has served on the boards of the Society for the Performing Arts, Phi Beta Kappa of Greater Houston, and the Houston Zoo. She also is a Guardian Member of the Champions of Justice Society of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, and she has represented the Foundation pro bono in litigation. She and her husband are chairing the annual gala of the Galveston Bay Foundation this year.
Clients call Macey “an outstanding appellate lawyer,” and “one of the best appellate lawyers in the state.” She received the Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award from the Texas Bar Foundation, was named one of the Top Ten Most Influential Texas Appellate Litigators by Business Today, and was selected by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Litigators in America.