Request for Nominations

FOR THE

Twenty-Fifth Annual American Inns of Court Professionalism Award

In the Second Circuit

 

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the American Inns of Court announce the solicitation of nominations for the Twenty-Fifth Annual American Inns of Court Professionalism Award in the Second Circuit. Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston of the Second Circuit hopes to be able to present the Award in New York at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse, Courtroom 1703, 40 Foley Square, in Fall 2026.

The person chosen for this honor is a quintessential mentor who embodies the fundamental values of the profession to which the American Inns of Court is dedicated. The honoree is a senior lawyer who for a generation or more has guided younger practitioners in government, private practice, or public service, by word and by example. He or she is a “lawyer’s lawyer”—a master of the craft—whose life and work reflect civility, competence, and ethical behavior. In short, we seek nominations of first-rate attorneys who have taught, supervised, and nurtured developing lawyers; and who, in doing so, have assured that the finest traditions of the Bar will be sustained.

Nominees should (1) have engaged in the practice of law for at least twenty years, (2) be serving now as a lawyer in Connecticut, New York, or Vermont, and (3) occupy a senior position in the office of a prosecutor, defender, government agency, private law firm, or other private entity. Judges and full-time professors are not eligible.

Nominations should be in letter form and include sufficient information about the nominee to allow the committee to make a reasoned judgment. Additional letters of recommendation should be included in the package, such as by younger lawyers describing their associations with the nominee and the benefits conferred by the nominee’s teaching, mentorship, and example.

Nominations must be submitted no later than April 10, 2026, through the American Inns of Court Foundation online portal at www.innsofcourt.org/ProfessionalismAwards; copies of the nominations must also be e-mailed as a single PDF to Michael D. Jordan, Circuit Executive, at AIC_Award@ca2.uscourts.gov. Nominations should be addressed to the attention of Hon. Carl E. Stewart, Chair of the American Inns of Court Awards Committee.

For more information, go to www.innsofcourt.org/ProfessionalismAwards or contact Cindy Dennis at (571) 319-4703.

The honoree will be selected by a combined committee of the Second Circuit and the American Inns of Court.

 

Second Circuit Committee members will be:

Hon. Eunice C. Lee, U.S. Court of Appeals, Chair Hon. Sarah A. L. Merriam, U.S. Court of Appeals

Hon. Naomi Reice Buchwald, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Hon. Ramón E. Reyes, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

 

American Inns of Court members will be:

Hon. Carl E. Stewart, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Chair Kim J. Askew, Esquire, formerly with DLA Piper LLP

Hon. J. Michelle Childs, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Hon. Denny Chin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Hon. Kent A. Jordan, Retired Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Hon. William C. Koch, Jr., Former Justice, Tennessee Supreme Court and

Dean, Nashville School of Law

Hon. Cheryl A. Krause, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Thomas C. Leighton, Thomson Reuters Legal

Hon. Barbara M.G. Lynn, Retired Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Hon. Collins J. Seitz, Jr., Chief Justice, Delaware Supreme Court

 

Second Circuit Recipients

2025     Vilia B. Hayes, Esquire

Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP—New York, New York

2024     Alan Vinegrad, Esquire

Covington & Burling LLP—New York, New York

2023     Terrence M. Connors, Esquire

Connors LLP—Buffalo, New York

2022     Michael Kennedy, Esquire

Vermont Bar Counsel—Williston, Vermont

2021     Susan G. Kellman, Esquire

Law Offices of Susan G. Kellman and Associates—Brooklyn, New York

2020     Steven M. Edwards, Esquire

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP—New York, New York

James I. Glasser, Esquire

Wiggin and Dana LLP—New Haven, Connecticut

2019     Zachary W. Carter, Esquire

Chief Legal Officer of the City of New York—New York, New York 

2018     Susan E. Farley, Esquire

Heslin, Rothenberg, Farley & Mesiti, P.C.—Albany, New York

2017      Peter Enrique Quijano, Esquire

Quijano & Ennis, P.C.—New York, New York

2016     Peter G. Eikenberry, Esquire

Law Office of Peter G. Eikenberry—New York, New York

2015     Bettina B. Plevan, Esquire

Proskauer Rose, LLP—New York, New York

Lee S. Richards III, Esquire

Richards Kibbe & Orbe, LLP—New York, New York

2014     Patricia M. Hynes, Esquire

Allen & Overy, LLP—New York, New York

2013     Doreen A. Simmons, Esquire

Hancock Estabrook, LLP—Syracuse, New York

Roger L. Zissu, Esquire

Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, P.C.—New York, New York

2012     Hon. Barbara D. Underwood

New York Solicitor General—New York, New York

2011     Marilyn C. Kunstler, Esquire

Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP—New York, New York

Sharon M. Porcellio, Esquire

Ward Greenberg Heller & Reidy LLP—Rochester, New York

Guy Miller Struve, Esquire

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP—New York, New York

2010     Alan G. Krams, Esquire

The City of New York Law Department—New York, New York

2009     John Sand Siffert, Esquire

Lankler Siffert & Wohl LLP—New York, New York

2008     Anthony L. Ricco, Esquire

New York, New York

2007     John C. Yavis, Jr., Esquire

Murtha Cullina LLP—Hartford, Connecticut

2006     John B. Webber, Esquire

Webber, Chapman & Kupferer, Ltd.—Rutland, Vermont

2005     Henry Putzel III, Esquire

Law Office of Henry Putzel III—New York, New York

2004     Thomas J. Concannon, Esquire

The Legal Aid Society for the Eastern District of New York—Brooklyn, New York

2003     Gerald Walpin, Esquire

Rosenman & Colin LLP—New York, New York

2002     Marcia B. Paul, Esquire

Kay & Boose LLP—New York, New York