The following is excerpted from a speech delivered by Second Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. after receiving the Federal Bar Council’s Learned Hand Award on Law Day, May 1, 2013.
On this evening, in the company of so many colleagues and friends, I would like to reflect on what matters most to me about our profession. I have had the privilege of knowing quite a number of outstanding lawyers and judges in my day, but among those, with whom I was especially close, was William Bryant. Bill Bryant was one of my all-time favorite adults. He lived and practiced in Washington, D.C. and served as chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the early 1980s. He was my father’s colleague on that court, and the wonderful new courthouse in Washington is named for him. After I became a judge, I would make periodic trips to Washington for lunch and conversation in Bill’s chambers.
