Annual Awards Dinner

Acknowledging Outstanding Latinos in the Legal Profession

Each year the HNBF acknowledges the outstanding achievements and contributions of Latinos in the legal profession at our Awards Dinner & Celebration in July.

HNBF selects honorees in categories such as Judicial Leadership, Academic Leadership, Diversity Leadership, and Lifetime Leadership. When selecting candidates to be honored, we seek leaders whose contributions exemplify the values of the HNBF including the advancement of knowledge, diversity, equality, empowerment, and access.

In 2023, we recognized the outstanding achievements of our award recipients as part of our Future Latino Leaders Summer Law Institute.

The purpose of the awards is to distinguish leaders and corporations that advance our mission to help Latino students achieve their potential through access to higher education and increase diversity in the legal profession in their own unique way.

2023 Judicial Leadership Award

Judge Reyes was appointed as a United States District Judge in February of 2023, assuming the seat previously held by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

Judge Reyes served as a law clerk to Judge Amalya L. Kearse on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2001). After clerking, Judge Reyes became a litigation attorney at Williams & Connolly LLP, where she spent her legal career from 2001 to 2023. During her time at the firm, she served as the co-chair of the firm’s International Disputes practice group and on its Executive Committee. Her practice focused on international litigation, representing foreign governments, foreign government officials, and multinational companies. Judge Reyes also worked on patent, legal malpractice, and other complex civil litigation matters. For her pro bono work, she devoted substantial time to assisting refugees and organizations that assist refugees in obtaining asylum.

Judge Reyes was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School (2000), her M.I.P.P., with honors, from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (2014), and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Transylvania University (1996). Along with her admissions to bars of the United States, Judge Reyes was listed on the Roll of Solicitors in England and Wales. Judge Reyes co-taught Advocacy in International Arbitration as a Clinical Visiting Co-Lecturer at Yale Law School (2018, 2019) and co-taught Trial Practice, Experts at Georgetown University Law School (2017).

Judge Reyes is often joined in Chambers by her golden retriever, Scout, who obtained his own Juris Dogtor, summa canis laude.

2023 Academic Leadership Award

Sergio Pareja served as dean of UNM School of Law for seven years, from 2015 to 2022. From 2015 to 2018 he was one of two co-deans (with Alfred Mathewson), and he served as the sole dean of the law school from 2018 to 2022. He currently holds the Henry Weihofen Chair at the School of Law.

Pareja joined the law faculty at UNM in 2005 after nearly nine years in private practice in Colorado and Indiana. Most recently, Pareja was a partner in the tax department at a large Denver law firm. While in private practice, he specialized in federal individual and corporate income tax planning, state and local tax matters, and estate and gift tax planning.

As a UNM School of Law faculty member, Pareja primarily teaches courses in the areas of business, tax, and estate planning. Since he started teaching, he has taught Federal Income Tax, Contracts, Practicum, Estate and Gift Tax, Taxation of Business Enterprises, International Business Transactions, Wills & Trusts, and Estate & Retirement Planning. He also taught in the law school’s Business & Tax Clinic (now called the Economic Justice Clinic).

Pareja’s recent research interests include estate and gift taxation, with a focus on liquidity issues, as well as incapacity planning. In addition, Pareja currently is exploring ways to make our federal income tax system simpler and more equitable in connection with incapacity and transfers that take place at death.

Pareja has lived with family in Colombia and Venezuela, and he is very dedicated to giving students the opportunity to live in other countries while studying law. He has taught in and directed the Guanajuato Summer Law Institute in Guanajuato, Mexico. Pareja is fluent in Spanish, and he also spent a year teaching Spanish law students as a visiting professor at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain.

Pareja also is the founding director of the ABA-approved Madrid Summer Law Institute. Professor Pareja continues to direct and teach in this successful program, which offers students the opportunity to study law in Spain during the month of June.

Pareja is a highly dedicated teacher. In 2011, he was identified by The National Jurist as one of the top law teachers in the country: The Bucket List: 23 Law Profs to Take Before You Die. In 2013, Pareja was honored by the University of New Mexico with a university-wide “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” award. In addition to teaching at the University of New Mexico, Pareja has taught in the University of Alabama’s tax LL.M program.

Outside of his interests in the law, Pareja is a dedicated guitarist who has performed at Swallow Hill in Denver, as well as at numerous convalescent hospitals in the Denver area. In Albuquerque, he has performed at UNM Hospital through the innovative Arts-in-Medicine program. Pareja is even known to play his guitar in class on occasion.

2023 Law Firm Leadership Award

Stephen N. Zack is a member of Boies Schiller Flexner’s Executive Committee, a Board Certified trial lawyer, and a widely recognized leader. He is Past President of the American Bar Association and was the first Hispanic American to assume the ABA Presidency. He was also the first Hispanic American and the youngest person to become President of the Florida Bar. He has served as President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and as the Chair of the ABA’s House of Delegates–one of the nation’s most influential positions on matters relating to the legal profession. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Lawyer.

Steve’s main practice as a civil trial lawyer is in the areas of products liability, class actions and federal multidistrict litigation, complex commercial litigation, arbitration, international law, and voting rights.

He was nominated by President Barack Obama for the position of Alternate U.S. Representative to the 68th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, and he served as Senior Advisor to the United States State Department. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Steve was nominated by President Biden to serve as a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

Past Honorees

2022 AWARDEES

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. ADALBERTO JORDÁN

HNBF Corporate Leadership Award
HORACIO GUTIERREZ

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
JENNIFER ROSATO PEREA

HNBF Law Firm Leadership Award
YVETTE OSTOLAZA

2021 AWARDEES

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. EDGARDO RAMOS

HNBF Corporate Leadership Award
RACHEL GONZALEZ

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
DONALD F. TIBBS

HNBF Law Firm Leadership Award
JORGE A. DEL CALVO

2020 AWARDEES

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. RODOLFO “RUDY” A. RUIZ II

HNBF Corporate Leadership Award
PATRICIA MENENDEZ-CAMPO

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
JENNY S. MARTINEZ

2019 AWARDEES

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
BARBARA LAGOA

HNBF Corporate Leadership Award
LISA MARTINEZ WOLMART

HNBF Latina Leadership Award
NOIANA MARIGO

2018 AWARDEES

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. MARIANO FLORENTINO CUÉLLAR

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
DEAN S. JAMES ANAYA

HNBF Latina Leadership Award
ELIZABETH ESPIN STERN

2017 AWARDEES

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. MONICA M. MÁRQUEZ

HNBF Corporate Leadership Award
CARLOS  M. HERNANDEZ

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
KEVIN R. JOHNSON

2016 AWARDEES

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. JOSE L. LINARES

HNBF Corporate Leadership Award
ALEX PONCE DE LEON

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
DEAN EDUARDO PEÑALVER

2015 AWARDEES

HNBF Diversity Leadership Award
DR. WALTER SUTTON

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. MIGNA SANCHEZ-LLORENS

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
LUZ HERRERA

2014 AWARDEES

HNBF Lifetime Leadership Award
CESAR L. ÁLVAREZ

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. HIRAM PUIG-LUGO

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
CRISTINA RODRÍGUEZ

2013 AWARDEES

HNBF Lifetime Leadership Award
MARGARET MONTOYA

HNBF Latina Leadership Award
CAROL ROBLES-ROMAN

HNBF Corporate Visionary Award
HOGAN LOVELLS

2012 AWARDEES

HNBF Lifetime Leadership Award
CLAUDIO GROSSMAN

HNBF Latina Leadership Award
CLARISSA CERDA

HNBF Corporate Visionary Award
MCKENNA LONG & ALDRIDGE

2011 AWARDEES

HNBF Lifetime Leadership Award
HON. RICARDO M. URBINA

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
R. ALEXANDER ACOSTA

HNBF Corporate Visionary Award
GENERAL MOTORS

2010 AWARDEES

HNBF Lifetime Leadership Award
CRUZ REYNOSO

HNBF Academic Leadership Award
NATALIE M. GOMEZ-VELEZ

HNBF Judicial Leadership Award
HON. VANESSA RUIZ

HNBF Corporate Visionary Award
WALMART

Awardee Selection Criteria

The HNBF acknowledges the outstanding achievements and contributions of Latinos in the legal profession at our Annual Awards Dinner & celebration. When selecting candidates to be honored, we seek leaders whose contributions exemplify the values of the HNBF including the advancement of education, diversity, equality, empowerment, and access.

The purpose of the awards are to distinguish leaders and corporations that advance our mission to help Latino students achieve their potential through access to higher education and increase diversity in the legal profession in their unique way.

Actions & Achievements that Demonstrate the Values of the HNBF

  • Contributes to the advancement of higher education for Latino/Hispanic youth
  • Assumes a leadership role in the Latino/ Hispanic community
  • Furthers the advancement of diversity in​​ the legal profession
  • Advocates for and removes barriers to equality and access for minorities
  • Serves as a champion for youth

Distinguished Career Record

  • He/she has made significant contributions to the legal profession
  • He/she has had outstanding influence within the legal profession
  • Has achieved local or national recognition for accomplishments and contributions

Character

  • Exemplifies integrity, honor and dignity; serves as a model of high ethics in legal education and the legal profession
  • Serves as a positive role-model in the legal profession
Hispanic National Bar Foundation

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