Past Winners

2013 Winner

Paul D. Clement

Paul D. Clement is a partner at Bancroft PLLC. Mr. Clement served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. Before his confirmation as Solicitor General, he served as Acting Solicitor General for nearly a year and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General for over three years. He has argued over 65 cases before the United States Supreme Court, including McConnell v. FEC, Tennessee v. Lane, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, Credit Suisse v. Billing, United States v. Booker, MGM v. Grokster, McDonald v. Chicago, and NFIB v. Sebelius. He has argued before the Supreme Court 16 times in just the last two Terms, an unprecedented number for a lawyer in private practice. Indeed, Mr. Clement has argued more Supreme Court cases since 2000 than any lawyer in or out of government. Mr. Clement has also argued many important cases in the lower courts, including Walker v. Cheney, United States v. Moussaoui and NFL v. Brady.

Mr. Clement is a native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and a graduate of the Cedarburg public schools. He received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was the Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Following graduation, Mr. Clement clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, Mr. Clement went on to serve as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights.

Mr. Clement has been an Adjunct or Visiting Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center since 1998, where he teaches a seminar on the separation of powers. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute.

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