Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient William T. Coleman Honored by American Bar Association

Harvey Rishikof (L) and William Coleman exchange greetings at a luncheon of the Standing Committee on Law and National Security of the American Bar Association on June 8. [click image above for slideshow of photos from this event]

By Alexandra Buller
American Bar Association News Service
June 8, 2011

WASHINGTON — “From his career as a lawyer to work in public service, he is a great American and patriot,” said Jeh Johnson, general counsel of the Department of Defense, in introducing storied lawyer William T. Coleman today at a luncheon held in his honor.

Coleman, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, was honored by the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security for his lifetime of public service at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C. 

“We can’t thank you enough for your dedication to the law and our country,” said Harvey Rishikof, chair of the standing committee.

Coleman recently served on the Court of Military Commission Review, designed to review all Guantanamo military commission rulings. He also assisted lead counsel Thurgood Marshall in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that struck down segregation in public education systems.

Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson spoke of Coleman’s dedication to future generations and their personal relationship, saying, “Bill is not only interested in the big things going on in D.C. or in the country, he’s interested in people and lawyers.”

Coleman graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and magna cum laude and first in his class from Harvard Law School. In his recently released book, Counsel for the Situation: Shaping the Law to Realize America’s Promise, Coleman discusses his life, the law and shares stories about his gratitude for the opportunities he has been afforded in the court room, the board room and in the “corridors of power.”