Deborah Williamson Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

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6.15.11

Cox Smith Matthews Incorporated (Cox Smith) today announced that renowned bankruptcy attorney Deborah Williamson has been awarded the American Bankruptcy Institute's (ABI) Lifetime Achievement Award. This marks only the second time the award has ever been presented in the ABI's nearly 30-year history.

The ABI's highest award recognizes the recipient's sustained and deep commitment to the leadership and governance of the organization. During her many years of involvement in the ABI, Williamson has served as the organization's president, chair of the board of directors, vice president of publications, as author of the recent developments column and editor of the ABI Journal, as well as a regular speaker at its conferences.

"Few people have done more for the ABI, few people have done it more often, and few have participated at a higher level. Cumulatively, no one has done those things better than Deborah Williamson," said Robert Fishman, co-chair of the bankruptcy, reorganization and creditors rights practice at Shaw Gussis Fishman Glantz Wolfson & Towbin, LLC, and also a past president of the ABI. "It was my honor to award the ABI's Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of the ABI executive committee to not only one of the best attorneys I've ever known, but one of the most impressive individuals I've had the fortune to call my friend."

As the senior member of Cox Smith's bankruptcy department, Williamson is widely recognized for her knowledge of bankruptcy and creditor's rights issues. She travels frequently around Texas, as well as the nation and the world to address colleagues and to counsel clients on bankruptcy issues and trends. She is frequently called on by a variety of industries and clients, including commercial banks, institutional lenders, energy players, commercial landlords, and governmental units, for her bankruptcy experience and advice regarding counter-party risk.

In addition to this latest honor from her bankruptcy industry peers, Williamson has been featured in Texas Lawyer's Go-To Guide as one of the five lawyers in the bankruptcy category (published only every five years), named a leader in her field by Chambers USA since 2003, selected for inclusion by Law and Politics magazine as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Texas (regardless of practice) since 2007 and as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas and one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Central Texas since the honor's inception, and named one of The Best Lawyers in America© consecutively for over a decade.

"On behalf of Cox Smith, I congratulate Deborah on this prestigious and well-deserved recognition," said Jamie Smith, managing director of Cox Smith. "She has dedicated considerable time and energy to her profession and the ABI, and she richly deserves this honor recognizing her commitment."

Founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues, today the ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, non-partisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. The ABI membership includes more than 13,000 attorneys, auctioneers, bankers, judges, lenders, professors, turnaround specialists, accountants and other bankruptcy professionals providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information.

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