Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to announce that Thomas B. Griffith, special counsel to the firm and former judge on the DC Circuit, was selected to receive the 2026 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the DC Circuit.
The annual American Inns of Professionalism Awards are bestowed upon lawyers and judges “whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession and the rule of law.” Judge Griffith and his fellow honorees will be recognized at the American Inns of Court annual Celebration of Excellence held at the US Supreme Court in October.
Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit by President George W. Bush in 2005, Judge Griffith served on the court for 15 years until his retirement in 2020. As a member of the DC Circuit, he authored approximately 200 opinions on a range of matters, including administrative, environmental, and energy law, and congressional investigations.
Judge Griffith joined the firm in 2021, leveraging his judicial experience to focus his practice on appellate litigation, higher education, congressional and internal investigations, and strategic counseling. Also in 2021, he was appointed to the bipartisan Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, and in 2024 was appointed to serve as a judge on the Data Protection Review Court for the US Department of Justice. Judge Griffith is a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School, a senior research associate at the University of Oxford’s Pembroke College, and a thought leader on the rule of law both domestically and internationally.
A full list of the 2026 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award recipients can be viewed here.
