DLA Piper partner Kim Askew receives Texas Minority Counsel Program’s 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award

DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Kim J. Askew, a partner in the firm’s Employment practice, has received the Texas Minority Counsel Program’s (TMCP) 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes an attorney who has demonstrated extraordinary support and advocacy for the advancement of minorities, women and/or LGBTQ+ people in the legal profession over the course of their career.

In her practice, Askew represents clients in significant employment matters involving claims of race, disability, gender and age discrimination and sexual harassment, as well as in litigation involving business torts, trade secrets, non-compete, and non-solicitation and employment agreements. She has successfully tried cases to jury and non-jury verdicts in state and federal courts across the US and has handled appeals before federal and Texas appellate courts.

Askew uses her considerable legal and leadership skills throughout the profession and in her community. She currently chairs the Audit Committee of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She was recently named one of the first women to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in its 100-year history. Askew is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the American Inns of Court. Finally, she continues years of service to Texas lawyers through her position as Texas Delegate in the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association.

Askew has received numerous awards throughout her career as a result of her legal practice and her efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, including the inaugural Dallas Bar Association Distinguished Service Award, which was named after her and recognizes a Dallas Bar Association member who is dedicated to good work and positive relations with lawyers, the judiciary and the community, and the ABA Spirit of Excellence Award, which recognizes contributions to diversity in the legal profession nationally. She has moderated firmwide webinars focusing on racial equality, allyship and social justice, and she sits on the board of the National Women’s Law Center, a nonprofit that advocates for women’s rights through litigation and policy initiatives. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum and Charter 100 of Dallas.

TMCP aims to increase opportunities for diverse attorneys who provide legal services to corporate and governmental clients, and to expose organizations to the legal talent of diverse attorneys in Texas and bolster the amount and significance of legal work obtained by minority, women, LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented attorneys.