Leadership

Leadership Roles
Our dedication is demonstrated by our firm's actions and the leadership roles our attorneys and other professionals undertake to promote diversity in the legal profession. Firm professionals have served in positions that include:

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law - National Co-Chair, members of the Board of Directors, Counsel
Anti-Defamation League - National Commissioner, member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the DC Regional Office
Minority Corporate Counsel Association - Sponsor
American Bar Association Task Force on Women in the Profession - Member
Former Member, American Bar Association Task Force on Minorities in the Law - Past Chair
Symposium on Increasing Number of Minority Law Clerks - Chair
Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs - Board Member
State Bar of Georgia - Founding Co-Chair of the Diversity Program, Chair and former Chairs of Committee on Women and Minorities in the Profession, recipient of Commitment to Diversity Award (Bar's Lifetime Achievement Award is named for Sutherland partner Randolph Thrower)
Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association - President, Board Member
Georgia Association for Women Lawyers - Past President
Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys - Past President
Atlanta Large Law Firm Diversity Alliance - Founding Board Member
Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium, Inc. - Founding Firm and Founding Board Member

Our Leaders

Bert Adams: Bert Adams is a member of Sutherland’s Corporate Practice Group, practicing in the areas of corporate law and mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on transactions in the financial services industry. His experience includes transactions involving insurance companies (including transactions structured as acquisitions of entities and as acquisitions of blocks of business via indemnity or assumption reinsurance), retirement services businesses, investment advisers and mutual fund complexes. Bert is a member of the American Bar Association and a graduate of Leadership Atlanta.
Reginald J. Clark: Reggie is regularly recognized as one of the leading corporate tax attorneys in the country. He serves on the firm’s Executive Committee and heads the Atlanta Tax Practice. He presently serves as Chair-Elect of the Corporate Tax Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section. Reggie also served on a Georgia Bar task force that drafted legislation authorizing the formation of limited liability companies in Georgia. Reggie has recently been selected as a “2011 Georgia Super Lawyer,” by Atlanta Magazine and named to The Best Lawyers in America in the area of tax law (2011).
Rachel G. Clingman: Rachel, Partner-in-Charge of the firm’s Houston office, has tried many cases to verdict and is nationally-recognized in litigation for energy, transportation and insurance companies, known for her experience in complex litigation, crisis mitigation and related institutional issues. Rachel has counseled executives and boards on how to deal with crises with billions of dollars of exposure and potential criminal consequences and has presented executives for litigation testimony and testimony before Congress and investigative entities. Rachel also has been honored regionally and nationally for legal excellence and industry and civic contributions. She is the former Director of the Houston Downtown Alliance, served on the Board of Directors of the Houston Area Women’s Center and is a current member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Allegra J. Lawrence-Hardy: Allegra is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and co-leader of the Business and Commercial Litigation team and has extensive experience handling complex multi-party, class action, multi-jurisdictional commercial and labor and employment matters. She is past president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys and is current president of the Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium. She is consistently recognized as one of Georgia’s “Top 50 Female Super Lawyers” (Atlanta Magazine 2004-2011) and as a “Georgia Super Lawyer” (Atlanta Magazine 2003-2011). She has also been recently recognized as one of “40 Under 40 Up & Comers” (Atlanta Business Chronicle magazine 2010) and one of “Georgia’s Legal Elite” (Georgia Trend magazine 2003-2010). In addition, Allegra was recently the recipient of the State Bar of Georgia’s Commitment to Equality Award and the Gate City Bar Foundation’s A.T. Walden Outstanding Lawyer Award).
James L. Henderson III: Jim is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group and serves as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer. He has been a longtime champion of diversity across the legal field and has been a personal mentor to many of the firm’s diverse attorneys. Jim served as the firm’s Managing Partner from 1996 to 2005, during which time the firm experienced exceptional growth in both the number of clients served as well as the number of practicing lawyers. Jim is past chair of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and past chair of Equal Justice Works in Washington. He currently serves on the board of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York.
Derek C. Johnston: Derek is a member of the Outsourcing and Software Systems Acquisition/Implementation Team. He has broad experience in the insurance, retail, consumer products, electronics, utility, energy and online data/analytics industries. The geographical coverage of Derek’s engagements includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Ireland, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. He has been recognized in the area of outsourcing by both Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2009-2011) and Chambers USA: Guide to Leading Business Lawyers (2008-2011). Derek currently serves on The High Museum of Art’s Board of Directors and is a member of the National Advisory Council for a Better Chance.
Cynthia M. Krus: Cynthia, who serves as the co-practice group leader of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group, has been involved in numerous public and private securities offerings and has advised clients in connection with a variety of corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, proxy contests, exchange and rights offerings, going-private transactions and reorganizations. She counsels public companies in a broad range of corporate and securities matters, corporate governance, disclosure, executive compensation and shareholder matters.

She has taught Corporate Governance as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law School for four years. She also is the author of the Corporate Secretary Handbook (now in its Fifth Edition). Cynthia has conducted several webinars on Dodd-Frank regulations, as well as a symposium on corporate governance for a Chinese delegation associated with the International Law Institute in cooperation with Georgetown University. She was recently recognized by Chambers USA: Guide to Leading Business Lawyers in the areas of corporate mergers and acquisitions and private equity (2010, 2011).
Paul B. Turner: Paul, co-partner in charge of the firm’s Houston office, is a member of the Energy and Environmental Practice Group, where he focuses his practice on the fast-changing and evolving energy and commodity markets. Paul has been involved in the regulatory and commercial restructuring of the energy industry and the ongoing commoditization of energy in the physical, futures and derivatives markets. He is a core member of the Chambers-listed Derivatives Team and is listed by The Best Lawyers in America for derivatives law (2007-2011). Paul is vice chairman for the ABA’s Committee on Gas and Electric Marketing. Paul previously served two terms as vice chair for the Energy Bar Association's Committee on Power Generation and Marketing.