• October 10th, 2024
  • Thursday, 01:29:36 AM

Solano Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award


The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) is proud to announce its list of honorees for the HNBA National Annual Awards to be presented during its 41st Annual Convention at the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile Hotel in Chicago, Illinois from September 7-10.

The Annual Convention is the HNBA’s signature annual event with a portfolio of programs, activities, and events for professional and career development, as well as opportunities for community service.  This year’s convention promises to be the largest gathering of Latino lawyers, judges, law students, and legal professionals from throughout the United States. We thank our local affiliate, the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, for its participation in the planning of this convention.

“The theme of this year’s Annual Convention is ‘Empowering Leaders,’ and we are proud to recognize the accomplishments of an extraordinary group of Latino leaders, who work tirelessly to better our communities and profession,” said Robert T. Maldonado, HNBA National President. “We honor those who serve as exemplary role models to us all. We thank you all for your dedication and service. The world is a better place because of you. The leadership you exhibit empowers each of us to be better leaders.”

Henry Solano, Partner, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dickler LLP in Denver, CO will be honored with the HNBA “Lifetime Achievement” Award.

Henry Solano is a Partner with Wilson Elser specializing in complex commercial, employment-labor litigation, and white collar defense. During four decades, from Colorado’s sugar beet fields to our highest court and returning in 2017 to Colorado’s two poorest counties as District Attorney, Henry has advocated for justice in the Hispanic and broader communities. He has moved from poverty lawyer for migrant workers to obtaining punitive damages for undocumented immigrants against a vigilante rancher to representing 14 Latin American countries challenging Arizona’s anti-immigrant laws, where the US Supreme Court cited his amici brief in its opinion. Henry has served as an Assistant Colorado Attorney General, Colorado’s United States Attorney during the Oklahoma City Bombing trial in Denver, the U.S. Department of Labor Solicitor, MALDEF’s President & General Counsel, Executive Director of the Colorado Departments of Corrections, Institutions and Regulatory Agencies, Acting Secretary of Labor, and as a faculty member at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is Vice Chair of the Southern Poverty Law Center and former Board Member of the National Hispanic Leadership Institute and the National Latino Children’s Institute.

Other 2016 HNBA National Award Recipients include: Hon. Esther Salas, U.S. District Court Judge, District of New Jersey, will receive theHNBA “Latina Judge of the Year” Award; Hon. Rubén Castillo, Chief District Judge, Northern District of Illinois, will receive the HNBA “Latino Judge of the Year” Award;Camelia M. Valdes, Prosecutor, Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, NJ, will receive the HNBA “Latina Attorney of the Year” Award; Frank F. Martinez, Vice President, Legal Affairs, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Inc. New York, will receive the HNBA “Latino Attorney of the Year” Award; Maria C. Dantes Sanchez, Regional General Attorney at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Miami, FL, will receive the HNBA “Regional President of the Year” Award; and Osvaldo Garcia, Associate, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, New York, will receive the HNBA “Pro Bono Attorney of the Year” Award.