Locke Lord LLP issued the following announcement on Feb. 18.
Art Anthony, Partner in Locke Lord’s Dallas office and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Board of Directors, has been selected by the National Bar Association (NBA) as a 2019 recipient of the prestigious Heman M. Sweatt Award. Sweatt was the first African American admitted to the University of Texas School of Law following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark case Sweatt v. Painter. The award honors the civil rights activist’s legacy by recognizing legal professionals who exemplify his spirit and are engaged in barrier-breaking work.
Anthony has a long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion and to the Dallas community. He has held positions as President of the J.L. Turner Legal Association (JLTLA), Chair of the JLTLA Foundation and a Board Member of the Dallas Bar Association. Anthony is a Fellow of both the Texas and Dallas Bar Foundations and an alumnus of Leadership Dallas - Class of 2014. In 2017, he was named to the National Diversity Council’s Top 50 Multicultural Lawyers in Dallas and was recognized in 2015 as a finalist for the Texas Minority Counsel Program’s Trailblazer Outside Counsel of the Year award. He is also a 2015 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
“The Heman M. Sweatt Award is a well-deserved honor for Art as he is an exemplary leader not only within Locke Lord but throughout the community,” said Paulette Brown, Locke Lord’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and a Past President of the NBA. “Art has poured himself into the legal profession and into creating and advancing opportunities for others. It is also fitting that Art has personal ties to Heman Sweatt as a fellow alumnus of the University of Texas School of Law, and benefited from his perseverance for equality.”
Anthony, who is also a member of Locke Lord’s Diversity and Inclusion and Pro Bono Committees, has over 20 years of substantive state and federal court business litigation experience, with a focus on banking and financial services, construction, government investigations and insurance disputes. He has represented commercial institutions, investment banks and mortgage servicers in complex mortgage securitization, secured transactions, commercial loan and consumer litigation, including claims arising under the Fair Housing Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and a host of other state and federal laws. Anthony has also represented owners and contractors in state and federal court lawsuits involving construction negligence, insurance coverage, acceleration and/or delay claims, and mechanics' and materialmans' lien disputes.
Anthony will accept the Heman M. Sweatt Award at the NBA’s Mid-Year Conference in Dallas in March.