ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has been selected to receive the prestigious American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the DC Circuit. The award will be presented June 25, 2015 by Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland at the DC Circuit’s Annual Judicial Conference in Philadelphia.
Sullivan, a U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, is the only person in the District of Columbia to have been appointed by three U.S. presidents to three judicial positions. He has served on the District of Columbia Judicial Disabilities and Tenure Commission and is the current chair of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission. He is a member of the Washington Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar, Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and Federal Bar Association.
A native of Washington, DC, Sullivan received a bachelor of arts in political science in 1968 from Howard University and, in 1971, a juris doctor from Howard University School of Law. After first working in the Neighborhood Legal Services Program in the District, Sullivan served as a law clerk to Superior Court of the District of Columbia Judge James A. Washington, Jr. He entered private practice with Houston & Gardner, eventually becoming a partner in the firm.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan appointed Sullivan to serve as an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. President George H. W. Bush appointed Sullivan to serve as an associate judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 1991 and in 1994, President William J. Clinton appointed Sullivan to his current role.
Sullivan has taught as an adjunct professor at Howard University School of Law, at the American University Washington College of Law, and has served as a member of the visiting faculty at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop. He has received the Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence from the Howard University Alumni Association and the Ollie May Cooper Award from the Washington Bar Association. Sullivan is also director of the Abramson Scholarship Foundation.
From 1998 to 2005, Sullivan served on the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Criminal Law, having been appointed to that position by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. In 2012, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., appointed Sullivan to the Judicial Conference Committee on Space and Facilities.
The American Inns of Court Professionalism Awards are awarded to a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character, unquestioned integrity, and dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession and the rule of law. The awards are underwritten in part by Thomson Reuters.
The American Inns of Court, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, fosters excellence in professionalism, ethics, civility, and legal skills. More information is available at www.innsofcourt.org.
