Acting Solicitor General (and Georgetown Law Professor) Neal Katyal

By Ann W. Parks

The 11th annual Supreme Court Institute year-end reception was a celebration of stellar advocacy before the nation’s highest court — due in no small part to the Institute itself. Since its founding in 1999, SCI’s moot court program has helped seasoned attorneys and Supreme Court first-timers alike prepare for the most important oral arguments of their careers.

Justice Elena Kagan, Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler and former Solicitor General Paul Clement honored Acting Solicitor General (and Georgetown Law Professor) Neal Katyal for his contribution to government and to the Court. Katyal, who was appointed principal deputy solicitor general in 2009, has served as acting SG since Kagan’s nomination to the Court last year.

Professor Richard Lazarus — a faculty director of the program who will be leaving Georgetown to join the faculty at Harvard Law School — was informally honored by his co-director, Professor Steve Goldblatt, and Executive Director Irv Gornstein for creating the Supreme Court Institute eleven years ago. “It’s a rare person who can both come up with a brilliant idea and then brilliantly implement it,” said Gornstein.

In the 2010-2011 term, the Supreme Court Institute mooted 73 of the 78 cases before the High Court, said Deputy Director Dori Bernstein. Almost 1200 student observers attended the moots, which were judged by a record 215 attorneys, including Dean William Treanor.