Attorney General Eric Holder receives an award from former Solicitor General Paul Clement (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).
Attorney General Eric Holder received the Chesterfield Smith Award at the Street Law Awards Dinner on Wednesday night.
The award, named for Chesterfield Smith, the founding partner of Holland & Knight LLP, is presented to a recipient each year for his or her contributions to the law and public service.
The 2009 recipient Paul Clement, a former Solicitor General from June 2005 through June 2008 and now a partner at King & Spalding, presented Holder with the award. Past recipients include former Attorney General Janet Reno and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Eric Holder speaks at the Street Law Awards Dinner on Wednesday (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).
Clement said Holder had one of the most important and most difficult jobs in Washington, particularly on national security issues. Clement pointed to the recently announced Access to Justice program, which seeks to provide legal representation to the poor, as one of the noteworthy initiatives of the Justice Department since Holder took over.
Holder’s commitment to the D.C. area, especially during his time at U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia was also an important factor in his selection for the award, said Clement.
“General Holder’s dedication to the District of Columbia is so extreme that at one point he even tried to buy the Nationals,” joked Clement, referring to Holder’s membership in an investment group that placed an unsuccessful bid for the Washington, D.C. baseball team.
“I’ve never heard an introduction that included my ill-fated attempt to buy the Nationals,” Holder responded. “This is why this man was Solicitor General of the United States, that’s impressive research.”
In his speech, Holder touted the Access to Justice program, which the department recruited Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe to run.
“Just as many of you have pro bono programs at your firms and corporations, I wanted to be sure that in our house, too, there was a permanent effort to provide access to justice and to work to continuously enhance the fairness and integrity of our legal system,” said Holder.
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Holder’s remarks are available on the Justice Department website.
