Program - State Bar of New Mexico

David Smoak
Mary T. Torres
Keya Koul
Distinguished Bar Service Award, Non-Lawyer
David. Smoak started his career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse & Company in Atlanta. He left
to hold various financial positions in private industry and government. He has been a controller,
chief financial officer of public companies, vice president of the Export-Import Bank of the
United States, and executive director of the White House Conference on Small Business. He
also worked in the office of the secretary of commerce in Washington and as chief executive
officer of Wilson foods when it was #258 on the Fortune 500. In New Mexico, he has served as
president or chair of a number of real estate development and investment companies with
holdings in New Mexico, California, Texas and North Carolina. He has served as a volunteer
and on boards of a number of civic, governmental and charitable organizations. He served as
chair of the Judicial Standards Commission from August 2004–March 2011.
Distinguished Bar Service Award, Lawyer
Mary Torres is active in bar activities on the state and national levels. She was New Mexico’s
Outstanding Young Lawyer in 1995 and a past recipient of the UNM Zia Award. Torres was
State Bar president in 2002, the first Latina to serve as president of any state bar association.
She is currently the chair of the State Bar Committee on Diversity and is serving as secretary
of the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association. On a national level, Torres has been the state
delegate to the American Bar Association since 2003 and serves on various House of Delegates
committees. She is currently secretary of the ABA’s Minority Caucus to the House of
Delegates. She served on the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents
from 2002–05 and as the first Latina president of that organization in 2010.
Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award
Keya Koul attended Smith College (B.A., Spanish, minor in biology), UCLA (M.A., medieval
Spanish literature) and Southwestern Law School (J.D.). She is the associate managing attorney
with Castle Stawiarski LLC and practices real estate and bankruptcy law. Koul is the
vice chair of the State Bar Young Lawyers Division. In her capacity as a YLD board member,
she chairs the Albuquerque Law Day Call-in and the YLD/UNM School of Law Mentorship
Program. She also volunteers for Wills for Heroes and the YLD/UNM School of Law Mock Interview
Program. Koul most recently received her second appointment with the American
Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Affiliate Newsletter Team. She also serves on the
board of the New Mexico Women’s Bar Association. Her family is from India, and she speaks
Hindi, Kashmiri, and Spanish.
Outstanding Legal Organization
Since its founding in 1978, the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association has flourished
into the leading minority bar association in New Mexico. The board of directors is
comprised of 24 voting members and a student member from the Mexican American
Law Student Association at the UNM School of Law. Well over 200 attorneys and students are members of the NMHBA,
representing diverse backgrounds and areas of practice. The NMHBA has developed educational programs that are second
to none. Committed to ensuring students and young attorneys flourish into contributing members of the State Bar,
the NMHBA has implemented mentorship programs at the middle school, high school, college, law school, and young
practitioner levels. Among these are the partnerships with the Atrisco Heritage Academy High School located in Albuquerque’s
South Valley, and Law Camp, a week-long immersion program benefiting middle school students statewide.
The NMHBA prides itself on community involvement, providing scholarships to deserving students through the generous
support of the legal community, and hosting CLEs, mixers, and town hall meetings. The NMHBA hosted the 2009
Hispanic National Bar Association’s 34 th Annual Convention, themed “Opening Doors…Abriendo Puertas.”
2011 Annual Meeting Bench and Bar Conference 21