Former D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine received one of two Servant of Justice Awards from Legal Aid DC during its 33rd annual dinner at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Northwest on April 19.
The Servant of Justice Award is designed to “celebrate people who have demonstrated faithful dedication and remarkable achievement in ensuring that all persons have equal and meaningful access to justice,” according to the organization’s program. Legal Aid DC assists over 9,000 low-and-middle income Washingtonians with civil cases and has a staff of 90, 65 of whom are attorneys.
Previous recipients of the Award include Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (posthumously in 1993), former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (1998) and retired founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund Marian Wright Edelman (2016).
Racine served as the District’s first elected attorney general from 2015-2023. He gained national recognition for supporting District statehood, advocating on behalf of a woman’s right to an abortion, and aggressively pursuing companies violating residents’ consumer and civil rights. He presently works as a partner for the Hogan Lovells law firm.
“Legal Aid DC is a juggernaut in the public interest,” Racine said to the gathering of over 300 people. “At the Office of the Attorney General, we used the law to help vulnerable residents.”
The co-recipient of the Servant Award was David Dantzic, a partner with the Latham & Watkins law firm. Other awardees were Cozen O’Connor law firm associate Josephine M. Bahn for the Klepper Prize for Volunteer Service. Resident Farhana Chowdhury and the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project co-received The Partnership Award.
Notables attending the event included D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring and Erek Barron, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland.