| NEW POSITIONS
. . . Latosha Lewis Payne has joined Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Houston as of counsel in litigation.
. . . Sean Lyons has become a partner in HendlerLaw in Austin.
. . . Cristina Portela Solomon has joined Gardere Wynne Sewell in Houston as a partner in the labor section.
. . . Michael J. Noordsy has become a partner in The Bassett Firm in Dallas. His practice focuses on personal-injury trial defense.
. . . Don Swaim has joined Rose•Walker in Dallas as a partner in the aviation practice. He also will focus on products liability, premises liability and personal-injury claims.
APPOINTMENT
. . . Ricardo Ortiz , a litigation associate with Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta in Dallas, has been appointed to the Dallas County Historical Commission.
AWARDS
. . . Charles M. Meadows Jr. , a partner in Meadows, Collier, Reed, Cousins & Blau in Dallas, has received the Jules Ritholz Memorial Merit Award from the American Bar Association Tax Section's Committee on Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties in recognition of outstanding dedication, achievements and integrity in the field of civil and criminal tax controversies.
. . . Baylor Law School associate professors Rory Ryan and Jim Underwood have received outstanding faculty awards from Baylor University. Ryan and Underwood were recognized as the University Outstanding Professor (Untenured/Research) and the Outstanding Professor (Untenured/Teaching), respectively.
ELECTION
. . . Brian Loughmiller , a partner in Loughmiller Higgins in McKinney, has been elected mayor of McKinney.
HONORS
. . . Charles W. "Rocky" Rhodes has been named the GodwinRonquillo Research Professor at South Texas College of Law.
. . . John H. Martin of Dallas, a partner in the trial practice group at Thompson & Knight, has been named president-elect of Lawyers for Civil Justice. He will become president of the organization in May 2010.
