Washington Lawyer - August/September 2018 - 12

GOVERNMENT & GAVEL

FLANNERY LECTURE AT

10

A Living Memorial to a
Beloved Judge's Reverence for the Law
By Anna Stolley Persky
Despite his unassuming nature, he charmed judges,
as well as fellow attorneys, says Roger Zuckerman,
a longtime D.C. litigator.

THE 10TH ANNUAL

JUDGE THOMAS A. FLANNERY LECTURE
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Courthouse
WHEN: October 24, 5 p.m.
CONTACT: Roger Zuckerman at 202-778-1802 or
rzuckerman@zuckerman.com, or Addy Schmitt at 202-626-5837
or aschmitt@milchev.com

Members of the bench and the D.C. Bar are invited to attend this
complimentary event.

T
Courtesy of Roger Zuckerman

he late Judge Thomas Aquinas
Flannery, who served as a
federal judge in Washington,
D.C., for more than 30 years, wasn't
much of a showman. A tall, taciturn
man, Flannery evoked Gary
Cooper's principled, brave sheriff
in the classic Western film High
Noon, according to his friends.
Even when he was prosecuting
cases in the U.S. Attorney's Office,
he was soft-spoken.

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018

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"He projected integrity and strength. He just
radiated goodness," says Zuckerman, a founding
partner at Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, a boutique law
firm in D.C. "He was gentle and wise and strong. He
was decency and honesty, and that transmitted
itself in a magical way to a jury."
Judge Flannery was the U.S. Attorney for the
District of Columbia between 1969 and 1971. He
then served on the United States District Court for
the District of Columbia, eventually becoming a
senior judge. Over the decades, Flannery amassed
mentees and admirers within the Washington bar
so that when he passed away in 2007, there was
a collective will to memorialize him.
But his friends and admirers struggled with how
best to honor Flannery's decency and reverence
for the law. After some discussion among lawyers
who had grown up under his tutelage, the
Annual Judge Thomas A. Flannery Lecture
on the Administration of Justice was born. This
year, the Flannery series is celebrating its 10th
anniversary with U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the keynote speaker.
"A lecture seemed to us to be a living memorial and
something that could contribute to the civic life of
the courthouse community over a long period of
time," says Zuckerman, a member of the Flannery
Lecture Committee. "Judge Flannery had an
extraordinary effect on a group of trial lawyers and
the D.C. legal community. This series allows the
lawyers he nurtured to stay close and . . . to nurture
the next generation of D.C. litigators."
Since its inception, the lecture series has featured
noteworthy speakers, including former U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia Chief Judge
Royce Lamberth, the late Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia, former Attorney General Eric
H. Holder Jr., and former FBI Director Robert
Mueller. Last year, Deputy Attorney General Rod
J. Rosenstein was the keynote speaker, discussing
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