Gibbs & Bruns’s Barrett Reasoner and his sister Macey Reasoner Stokes received the 2025 Anti-Defamation League’s Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award during an April 1st luncheon at the Hilton Americas with nearly 800 guests in attendance. They are the first siblings to receive this prestigious award which the ADL Southwest presents annually “to an outstanding member of the legal community who exhibits a commitment to equality, justice, fairness and community service.”
The Honorable Jane Bland of the Supreme Court of Texas and retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas Tom Phillips joined former Jurisprudence award recipient Robin Gibbs and former HBA president Travis Sales in a video tribute to the Reasoner sibilings. Pat Mizell and Connie Pfieffer co-chaired this year’s event.
The Reasoner siblings have followed in the community service footsteps of their father, former Jurisprudence Award Recipient Harry Reasoner, and their mother Macey Hodges Reasoner, both of whom received the Torch of Liberty Award from ADL.
Throughout his entire career, Barrett has been actively involved in efforts to support those in need throughout the Houston community. Barrett connected Gibbs & Bruns with a Communities in Schools initiative in the early 1990s involving a summer legal internship program for at-risk, graduating high school seniors. As President of Houston Bar Association in 2009, Barrett created a partnership between CIS and the HBA to strengthen and continue the internship program. His efforts raised awareness of the program in the Houston legal community and participation by other law firms dramatically increased, breathing new life into the program and ultimately allowing more students to experience this unique internship opportunity. The program continues to thrive today.
Barrett also serves on the Board of Directors and Finance and Administration and Nominating Committees of BakerRipley (formerly Neighborhood Centers) and is a past chair of the Houston Bar Foundation and former Chairman of the Board of Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program.