Spencer Fane was privileged to attend and sponsor The Downtown Group (DTG)’s 2024 Women’s History Month and scholarship event, Thriving During Turbulent Times, on March 21 in honor of the firm’s late Labor and Employment co-chair and DTG Founder, Ruthie White. Attorney Mariah Brandyburg attended the Houston event alongside Ruthie’s son, Evan, and daughter-in-law, Samantha, for the presentation of the Ruthie White Bar Scholarship.
In addition to bestowing the law school scholarship to a deserving 3L student, the event featured a panel discussion. The session discussed bias and discrimination faced by Black women in the legal field and also celebrated the achievements of Black women attorneys.
In 1997, Ruthie founded the DTG, a 300-plus-member networking organization based in Houston and open to African American female attorneys. The organization has helped and impacted the lives of hundreds of female attorneys in the decades since.
After joining Spencer Fane in January 2020, Ruthie was immediately named co-chair of the firm’s labor and employment team. In her legal practice, she helped employers resolve labor and employment disputes in and out of court. She established a track record of favorable outcomes in discrimination, harassment, and retaliation cases while defending educational entities, local governments, and clients in the energy, banking, technology, retail, health care, and construction industries in legal venues throughout the state. Ruthie served as a board member and an adjunct professor at South Texas College of Law and regularly contributed pro bono legal services to the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program.
Spencer Fane is deeply grateful for the indelible mark Ruthie left on both the firm and the wider legal community. The firm looks forward to finding more ways to honor her impactful and trailblazing legacy.
Learn more about the DTG here.
