Four McAfee & Taft attorneys have been selected as recipients of The Journal Record's 2011 Leadership in Law Award. Sam Fulkerson, Gerald Hilsher, Susan Shields and Kathy Taylor were recognized for their professional and civic contributions during a Law Day luncheon on May 2, 2011, at the Skirvin Hotel Grand Ballroom in downtown Oklahoma City.
Sam Fulkerson
is a veteran employment attorney and shareholder with McAfee & Taft, representing management in all phases of the employment relationship, including litigation before federal and state courts, regulatory and administrative agencies, and in arbitration matters. He previously served leader of the firm's Labor and Employment Group for five years.
He is a frequent speaker and writer on employment law topics both locally and nationally. He also serves co-editor of the Oklahoma Employment Law Letter, a monthly review of new court decisions, regulations and laws that affect state employers.
Fulkerson is active in numerous civic organizations, including the Oklahoma Visual Arts Council, Transition House, State Chamber of Oklahoma Legislative Committee, Oklahoma City Metro Employer Council and University of Oklahoma Board of Visitors. He is also an active member of the American Bar Association and the Oklahoma Bar Association, for which he served as chair of its Labor and Employment Law Section.
Gerald Hilsher
is a trial attorney and shareholder with McAfee & Taft. Early in his career, he was a criminal prosecutor, first as an assistant district attorney in Austin, Texas, and then as an assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force in Tulsa. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the U. S. Treasury Department.
Hilsher is active in both professional associations and civic organizations. He served several years on the board of directors of the Tulsa County Bar Association and was honored by the association with the Neil E. Bogan Professional Award in 2006. He is also an active member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas and Oklahoma Bar Association, in which he serves as chair of its Environmental Law Section. In addition to serving as a gubernatorial appointee and chair of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, he is an active member and former director of the Save the Illinois River non-profit organization.
"My philosophy can be summed up in the message, 'Leave the woodpile higher than you found it'," Hilsher told The Journal Record. "We are not put on this earth to take, but to give back, to leave it better than we found it."
Susan Shields
is a shareholder with McAfee & Taft and serves as leader of the firm's Tax and Family Wealth Practice Group. She is a frequent speaker on a variety of estate planning, probate and non-profit topics at professional and continuing legal education seminars and has served as an adjunct professor of law in estate planning at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Shields is active in both professional and civic organizations and volunteers her time with numerous charitable organizations. She is a volunteer and member of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation planned giving council and has served on the board of directors for the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. She is also a fellow and trustee of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Oklahoma Bar Association, which awards grants to such organizations as Legal Aid of Oklahoma, Tulsa Lawyers for Children and other Oklahoma charities supporting services to victims of domestic violence and child abuse, mock trial programs for high school students and many other worthy causes.
She is a member of the Oklahoma City Estate Planning Council, a fellow with the American Bar Foundation and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and is currently serving a three-year term as a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Board of Governors.
Kathy Taylor is a corporate attorney with McAfee & Taft with nearly 30 years of collective experience as a lawyer in private practice, business owner, senior executive and general counsel for an international franchising company, and public servant. She served as mayor of Tulsa from 2006 to 2009 and served twice in Governor Brad Henry's administration, both as Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce, Tourism and Workforce Development from 2003 to 2006 and Chief of Education Strategy and Innovation from 2009 to 2010.
She is very active in both civic and non-profit organizations, serving on the boards of the Oklahoma Heritage Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Tulsa Area United Way and the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice as well as serving as co-chair for Tulsa's Street School annual fundraiser and the Legal Aid of Oklahoma's annual fundraiser, chair of Philbrook Museum of Art's Phillips Society Dinner and honorary chair of the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma's Souper Sunday.
"My grandmother and my parents always taught me that regardless of your circumstances, your priority should be to help others," Taylor told The Journal Record. "My passion is making a difference in the lives of children and families who are hungry and who need opportunities for education and training to better their lives."