2011 National Outstanding Young Lawyer Award

2011 YLD NATIONAL OUTSTANDING YOUNG LAWYER

The ABA YLD National Outstanding Young Lawyer Award is presented annually to recognize an young lawyer who exhibits professional excellence, service to the profession and the bar, service to the community, and/or a reputation for the advancement of legal ethics and professional responsibility. The winner will be recognized during an award presentation at the 2012 ABA Midyear Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

WINNER

Omar Alaniz
Nominated by the Texas Young Lawyers Association

Omar J. Alaniz is a Senior Associate in the Bankruptcy and Workout Group of Baker Botts L.L.P.  Omar represents debtors and creditors in all aspects of complex chapter 11 reorganizations and liquidations.   Omar served as a law clerk to the Honorable D. Michael Lynn of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. He is an adjunct faculty member at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where he teaches Creditors’ Rights and the advanced bankruptcy class. 

Omar was recently named the “Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas” by the Texas Young Lawyers Association, “Outstanding Young Lawyer of Dallas” by the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and “Outstanding Young Bankruptcy Lawyer of Texas” by the Bankruptcy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.  Omar has also received the John C. Akard “Community Service Award,” presented by the Bankruptcy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.  He was listed as one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas,” by D Magazine in 2011 and recognized by Law & Politics as a “Texas Rising Star” in 2010–12.  In 2005, he was named the John C. Ford American Inn of Court’s “Rookie of the Year.”

Omar currently serves as the Vice-President/Membership of the Bankruptcy Section Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and is Chair of the Diversity Sub-Committee of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association.  Omar is also the former president of the DFW Association of Young Bankruptcy Lawyers and he was the Former Vice Chair of Professional and Public Education for the Young Lawyers Committee of the Bankruptcy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.  He is currently the Secretary for the Bankruptcy Section of the Dallas Bar Association and a member of the Honorable John C. Ford American Inn of Court.  He is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy topics at continuing legal education programs, volunteers at Julius Dorsey Elementary, serves as a faculty advisor for SMU Law School’s OUTLaw group, coaches the SMU Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Team, and is highly committed to pro bono service.

Omar is a 2003 graduate of The University of Texas, School of Law and a 2000 graduate of Austin College in Sherman, Texas.  He is originally from Mission, Texas.

FINALISTS

Dolores Dorsainvil
Nominated by the Maryland State Bar Association Young Lawyers Section
To see Ms. Dorsainvil's Bio Click Here

Angela Stephens
Nominated by the Forum Committee on the Construction Industry
To see Ms. Steven's Bio Click Here