Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, was recently recognized with a John Marshall Award for Providing Legal Advice. U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch presented Karlan with the award at the 63rd Annual Attorney General’s Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C., in October 2015.  John Marshall Awards are the highest awards offered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to attorneys for contributions and excellence in specialized areas of legal performance.

Karlan returned to Stanford Law School in September 2015 after a two-year leave from teaching in order to work on DOJ projects in the nation’s capital as a deputy attorney general in the Civil Rights Division. She was part of a team honored with the John Marshall Award for guiding the department to its new position regarding Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination due to gender identity. The award description noted, “Transgender individuals are among the most marginalized in our society, and thus they are sorely in need of the protections of federal antidiscrimination law. Consequently, the significance of the department’s change in position cannot be overstated.”  A leading expert in voting and the political process, Karlan is the co-director of the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.