ALEXANDRIA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A.J.
Kramer, Esquire has been selected to receive the prestigious 2019 American
Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the D.C. Circuit. Chief
Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit will present the award during the Judicial Conference of the
D.C. Circuit on June 27 in Cambridge, Maryland.
Kramer has been the federal public defender for Washington, D.C., since
the office was created in 1990. “Over the course of his almost 30 years
as our federal public defender, Mr. Kramer has displayed sterling
character, unquestioned integrity, and dedication to the highest
standards of the legal profession and the rule of law,” says Garland,
who nominated Kramer for the award. “Mr. Kramer’s reputation in the
legal community is stellar.”
Since Kramer’s initial term, the court has unanimously reappointed him
seven times. Described by a fellow attorney as “utterly devoted to the
cause of indigent criminal defense,” Kramer frequently represents
defendants in court himself, providing what one nominator called “a
level of criminal defense equal to, if not better than, the level to be
expected by the finest private practitioners…”
In addition to trying cases himself, Kramer oversees a team of assistant
federal public defenders. “His lawyers work hard, do a great job for
their clients, and seem happy with their work, as is evidenced by how
long most of [them] have been employed there,” says a judge who
submitted comments as part of Kramer’s latest reappointment. “They are
an absolutely first-rate group of lawyers, and A.J. deserves a lot of
credit for that.”
A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Kramer is deeply
committed to teaching the next generation of lawyers. He serves on the
permanent faculty of the National Criminal Defense College in Macon,
Georgia.
Before coming to Washington, Kramer spent seven years as an assistant
federal public defender in San Francisco and then three years as the
chief assistant federal public defender in Sacramento. Before that, he
clerked for Judge Procter Hug, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit in Reno, Nevada. Kramer graduated from Stanford University
in 1975 and received his law degree from the University of California,
Berkeley, School of Law in 1979. He is an alumnus of the William B.
Bryant American Inn of Court.
The American
Inns of Court, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, inspires the
legal community to advance the rule of law by achieving the highest
level of professionalism through example, education, and mentoring. The
organization’s membership includes more than 31,000 federal, state, and
local judges; lawyers; law professors; and law students in nearly 380
chapters nationwide. More information is available at home.innsofcourt.org.
Contacts
American Inns of Court
Cindy Dennis
Awards & Scholarships
Coordinator
(571) 319-4703
[email protected]
