Via Email 1666 K Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20006 T 202.887.1400 F 202.466.3215 Paul L. Knight D 202.887.1470 pknight@nossaman.com February 4, 2015 9020985_1 Council for Court Excellence 1111 14th Street, N.W. Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005 Re: Nomination for 2015 Justice Potter Stewart Award Roger M. Adelman To whom it may concern: I am nominating Roger M. Adelman for the Justice Potter Stewart Award. Very few attorneys, if any, have had as much of an impact on the administration of justice in the District of Columbia as Roger. Roger has had a long and storied career as a lawyer in the District of Columbia. Seven years ago, he was recognized by the District of Columbia Bar as a “Legend in the Law.” During his legal career, Roger has served in a variety of prosecutorial roles, as a stellar civil attorney and criminal defender, and as a law professor. Roger has always maintained three attributes in each of these roles. Each of these attributes shows Roger’s strong commitment to the administration of justice. First, Roger is a legal scholar – an avid student of the law. He has read nearly every opinion issued by the District of Columbia courts and he committed the holdings of those cases to memory. He personally participated in many of these precedent setting cases so he can often recite the minutest facts of these cases. Second, Roger loves to mentor and teach others – he always goes to great effort to share his knowledge with young prosecutors, law firm associates, and students. Roger taught evidence and criminal law at Georgetown Law School for 24 years. He was honored by the Law School with the Charles Fahey Distinguished Professor Award for exceptional service in teaching, curriculum development, student counseling, and involvement in extra-curricular Law Center activities. Roger’s passion for helping young lawyers was evident when he co-founded the William B. Bryant Inn of Court. Inns of Court programs are designed to teach trial practice and ethics to young lawyers. Council for Court Excellence February 4, 2015 Page 2 Roger’s third attribute is his vigorous advocacy for his clients. Regardless of whether his client is the United States or a criminal defendant, Roger always expends all his knowledge and energy in that representation. Roger has regularly volunteered his time in support of bar activities. He played an important role in drafting and updating the District of Columbia’s Redbook of Criminal Jury Instructions. He served as a member of a hearing committee for the Board on Professional Responsibility. Roger participated in numerous American Bar Association programs including its Criminal Justice Section, and he participated in ABA sponsorship programs where foreign attorneys visited the United States and learned the workings of our criminal justice system. Roger routinely volunteered his time to participate in seminars and panels discussing timely and important legal issues. Roger always instilled a sense of passion in his teaching. Roger served in several prosecutorial roles. He served as a special prosecutor for Independent Counsel Ken Starr in the Travelgate investigation of then-President Bill Clinton. Roger was also selected to be a special prosecutor in the United States Court in Berlin. He was appointed to be the lead prosecutor of Polish man who hijacked a plane destined for East Germany and forced it to land in West Germany. This trial (United States v. Tiede) was conducted in Berlin, Germany, under American procedural law but German substantive law. From 1969 to 1987, Roger served with great distinction as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia. Roger prosecuted every case vigorously but fairly. Because of his hard work and talent, Roger was asked to handle the Office’s most sensitive and significant cases. He worked on the shooting of Senator John Stennis and prosecuted the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan and the wounding of Press Secretary James Bundy by John Hinckley. When undercover FBI agents found corruption in the U.S. Congress, Roger prosecuted Members of Congress in what became known as ABSCAM. Roger brought nationwide narcotics cases such as U.S. v. Tarantino and was one of the first prosecutors in D.C. to use the RICO statute in the prosecution of Fred Black. Roger was awarded the Harold Sullivan Award, the highest honor in that office in recognition of his “dedication, personal courage, and professional excellence.” Roger also received the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance. Throughout his entire tenure in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Roger was a mentor to younger prosecutors on how to be ethical, professional, vigorous, and fair. When Roger entered private practice in 1987, he worked as a white collar criminal defense attorney and as a plaintiffs’ class action attorney against corporate defendants. Roger achieved distinction in major class actions against the tobacco companies, Enron, and the telecom industry. Throughout his career, Roger has personally maintained the highest standards for ethics and hard work. He has continuously sought to instill those qualities in new lawyers eager to enter into the criminal justice system. I believe Roger would be the ideal recipient of the Justice Potter Steward award as a true hero in in the fight for justice. Roger has contributed greatly to the education of lawyers Council for Court Excellence February 4, 2015 Page 3 necessary to the administration of justice, not only by increasing their knowledge and sense of ethics, but in instilling a passion in those he mentored to achieve a fair and just resolution to the issues between the parties. Roger has always been a vigorous advocate for his clients, but always in a professional and ethical fashion. PLK/jm
