Each year, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (AJMLS) presents the Distinguished Alumni Award to honor alumni for their remarkable contributions to the legal field and their communities. These individuals have set exemplary standards through their dedication, leadership, and professional achievements.
This year during our inaugural Alumni Award Reception, we will introduce three new awards: the Trailblazer Award, honoring alumni who excel in non-traditional legal careers; the Emerging Leader Award, recognizing alumni who graduated within the last decade and have demonstrated exceptional commitment; and the Friend of AJMLS Award, celebrating individuals or organizations that have significantly supported the mission of AJMLS. We are excited to announce the following recipients of each award.
Trailblazer Award
Keith Hancock (Class of 2013)
Attorney & Counselor at Law | Former Chief Executive Officer (Retired) of Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation. Inaugural recipient of the 2024 AJMLS Trailblazer Award.
Keith Hancock is an executive leader with over four decades of global experience in the private sector, encompassing both private and public company business relationships. His non-traditional legal career culminated in his appointment to senior executive positions by combining his business and legal acumen to drive the expansion of company market share and enterprise value. Mr. Hancock began his early career (1979-1995) with increasingly responsible financial (BSBA, MBA degrees) management roles that led to expanded corporate responsibilities, including multi-year expatriate international assignments. In 1995, he founded Castle Pines Associates, LLC, a boutique venture capital firm specializing in mergers, acquisitions and commercial business investment and advisory services.
Mr. Hancock embarked on his non-traditional legal career in 2009/10 with his return to legal study at AJMLS, while also continuing to serve in various executive responsibilities for Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation (“Odyssey”). Odyssey is a global logistics provider with a freight network exceeding $3 billion annually, consisting of 85 global locations and ~2,500 employees worldwide.
After receiving his Juris Doctor degree in 2013 and joining the Georgia Bar, Keith assumed additional responsibility for Odyssey’s corporate strategy, utilizing his legal expertise in combination with his proven track record of financial and operational business leadership. Capping his career with Odyssey, Mr. Hancock most recently served as Chief Executive Officer, and Executive Advisor until his retirement in 2023. In his senior executive assignment(s), he oversaw the strategic management of complex logistics operations, including multiple business acquisitions across various logistics sectors. His leadership was pivotal in navigating the company through modern logistics challenges and ensuring a robust service portfolio for its global clientele.
Prior to his CEO assignment, Keith was President of Odyssey’s Multimodal Global Solutions Division (2018-2021) and earlier, President and CEO of Capital Transportation Solutions LLC (2009-2018), an Odyssey subsidiary.
Since his retirement from Odyssey, Keith formed Hancock Law Firm, LLC specializing in advisory services for mergers/acquisitions, private equity and venture capital transactions, as well as pro-bono assistance to first responders and military personnel. Keith is also a court-certified mediator and neutral, with affiliations to various non-profit and corporate boards.
Emerging Leader Award
Antonette “Toni” Igbenoba (Class of 2017)
Associate Attorney | BakerHostetler’s Privacy Governance & Technology Transactions Practice. Inaugural recipient of the 2024 AJMLS Emerging Leader.
Toni Igbenoba is an Associate in BakerHostetler’s Privacy Governance & Technology Transactions Practice with a concentration in advertising and tracking technologies, domestic and international privacy governance, and biometric compliance.
Toni is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), and a Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She advises a variety of organizations in the Technology, Retail, Communications, Finance, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, and Consumer Services industries regarding complex privacy compliance initiatives.
Prior to her role at BakerHostetler, Toni was the Privacy and Ethics Associate Counsel at Upwork where she enhanced the public company’s privacy program; and a Data Privacy Consultant at Ernst & Young supporting Fortune 500 organizations.
She has served as co-chair for Atlanta’s Knowledgenet Chapter of the IAPP and the executive committee for the Georgia Bar Privacy & Technology Law Section, overseeing the development and execution of over fifteen Continuing Learning Education programs for Georgia lawyers.
Toni currently serves as the Vice Chair for the state bar’s Privacy & Technology Law Section and an executive committee member of the Atlanta Bar Privacy and Cybersecurity Section. In her spare time, she enjoys eating in the city of Atlanta and walking or running on the Belt Line.
Friend of AJMLS Award
Charles Huddleston
Of Counsel (retired) | Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP Inaugural recipient of the 2024 Friend of AJMLS Award.
Charles T. Huddleston is a lawyer who is best known for mentoring and coaching young women and helping them secure a college education for free. He has served this cause for twenty years through the Georgia Metros Girls Basketball Team, formed 30 years ago by South DeKalb County African American families. This Club has helped over 400 young women gain a free college education, and 90% were African American. For this work, Atlanta Magazine named Huddleston one of five Atlantans of the Year in 2010 and the Atlanta Tip Off Club honored him with its Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Basketball Award in 2008.
There are volumes more of service in Huddleston’s history. He has contributed to his neighborhood, the advancement of women, and the City of Atlanta, as a trusted advisor to three Atlanta mayors. Huddleston was President of the Morningside-Lenox Park Neighborhood Association for two years and Chair of the Neighborhood Planning Unit F (NPU-F) to get a comprehensive 911 number system for police, fire and ambulance services. To support advancing women, he works with OnBoard, advocating for more women on for-profit boards and co-chaired the Organizing and Host Committee for the “Freedom Sisters” Exhibition at the Carter Center, a Smithsonian traveling exhibit honoring twenty women of the Civil Rights Movement. To promote excellent public policy and community advancement, Huddleston was a member of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s Transition Team (2009-2010), Legal Counsel to Former Mayor Shirley Franklin and member of her Transition Team (2001-2002) and served on the Charter Study Committee and first Civilian Review Board for the administration of Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young.
Huddleston has spent his entire legal career supporting efforts to increase diversity in the legal profession and courts. For his contributions for increasing diversity in the legal profession, Huddleston was inducted into the Gate City Bar Association Hall of Fame and received the 2011 Randolph Thrower Lifetime Achievement Award for Commitment to Equality from the State Bar of Georgia. He is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta (1986), Leadership DeKalb (2011) and the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute (2011). He is co-Chair of Men with Vision Committee of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation and a Charter Member of the Advisory Council for Atlanta Mayor’s Women’s Agenda. Huddleston has served on the Board of Directors of, OnBoard, the Board of Directors for Leadership Dekalb, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil & Human Rights. Huddleston is now retired and formerly served as Of Counsel with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He chaired the State Bar’s Diversity Program from 2006-2016.
This outstanding attorney, Georgia Super Lawyer© and one of Georgia’s Legal Elite. He is formerly a shareholder with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C. in Atlanta, a partner with Arnall, Golden, Gregory LLP in Atlanta, and Trotter, Bondurant, Hishon & Miller. He started his career as an Associate with Alston, Miller & Gaines after serving a clerkship with U.S. District Judge Robert L. Taylor in Tennessee. Huddleston received his J.D. in 1976 from the University of Tennessee Law School, where he served on the Law Review and received its top scholarship. He received his B.S. with Honors from the University of Tennessee and was President of the student body.
Champion of opportunity, diversity, advocate for women, public servant to three Atlanta mayors, neighborhood leader and young women’s basketball coach, Charles Huddleston has made an indelible impact on those he has encountered and the community at-large has been well-served by his many good deeds.
For many years, Charles has been a dedicated supporter of AJMLS, consistently participating in the school’s Professionalism Series and offering mentorship to our students.