William C. Burton Honored on Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Leading Legal Awards Program
As the year 2024 winds down, the recognition for William C. Burton and the Burton Awards Program was one of the highlights. It was a year in which the Burton Awards celebrated its 25th Anniversary.
In recognition of William C. Burton’s contributions to the legal profession, the American Bar Association (ABA) and Georgetown University Law Center honored Mr. Burton and the program he established. The Burton Awards, established in 1999, is funded by the Burton Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and academic effort devoted to recognizing and rewarding excellence in the legal profession. The Burton Awards honors the finest accomplishments in law, including those lawyers in the military, executive branch of government, academics writers, and even managing partners in America’s largest law firm.
Mary Smith, President of the ABA, awarded Mr. Burton the ABA Presidential Citation. President Smith lauded the partnership between the ABA and the Burton Foundation through their collaboration with the Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress. “The Burton Awards uphold the rule of law in America, which all lawyers and citizens must recognize, exercise, and promote as essential to the freedoms and liberties we all cherish,” said Smith. She further highlighted the importance of Mr. Burton’s work, stating, “Bill’s vision and leadership have been indispensable in uniting our legal system’s finest and bringing valuable attention to the importance of an outstanding legal and judicial system to our democratic society.”
William Treanor, Dean of Georgetown Law Center, also honored Mr. Burton and the Burton Awards for their pivotal role in advancing legal excellence. Dean Treanor, who has known and admired Mr. Burton for many years, lauded both the awards and their founder for their pivotal role in advancing the legal profession. “The mission of these awards is both simple and critically important: to award excellence and encourage perfection,” said Treanor. “Since their inception, the Burton Awards have advanced that mission powerfully and made a profound difference.”
Drawing a parallel between the Burton Awards and commencement ceremonies, Treanor remarked on the lasting impact both events have on participants. He noted that while commencements celebrate the beginning of a legal career, the Burton Awards honor the culmination of a lifetime of achievement in the law. “When we do celebrate achievement through awards or other recognition, I don’t know of any event that has the magic of a commencement except for the Burton Awards,” he said.
Dean Treanor emphasized Mr. Burton’s mastery of the English language, citing his creation of the widely-used legal thesaurus more than 40 years ago and his receipt of the Gold Pen award from the Legal Writing Institute. Treanor highlighted how the Burton Awards have evolved from recognizing excellence in legal writing to honoring monumental achievements in the law, including academic excellence, legends in law, and public service. “The awards superbly advance the mission of awarding excellence and encouraging perfection. As everyone who has received an award knows, it’s an honor that is a highlight of a lifetime,” he shared.
For additional information, please contact Jaclyn Hashim at jhashim@burtonawards.com or 212-672-1862.
THE BURTON AWARDS
The Burton Awards, established in 1999, is funded by the Burton Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and academic effort devoted to recognizing and rewarding excellence in the legal profession. The Burton Awards were established to honor the finest accomplishments in law, including writing, reform, public service and interest, regulatory innovation, and lifetime achievements in the profession. The Honorary and Distinguished Board of Directors of The Burton Awards Program includes: William C. Burton, Partner, Sagat | Burton LLP; former Chief Judge Richard A. Posner, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; U.S. Senator John Cornyn; U.S. Senator Roger Wicker; U.S. Senator Mike Crapo; U.S. Senator James E. Risch; U.S. Senator Todd Young; U.S. Senator Joni Ernst; U.S. Senator Mike Rounds; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; U.S. Senator Christopher Coons; U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.; U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen Jr.; U.S. Senator Michael F. Bennet; Justice Carol A. Corrigan, California Court of Appeals; Les Parrette, President, One Page Thinking; Jane Sullivan Roberts, Managing Partner, Macrae; H. Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Lisa A. Rickard, Counselor to the President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (retired); Betty Whelchel, Former Head of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, BNP Paribas S.A. (retired); Brad Karp, Chairman, Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; Linda A. Klein, Senior Managing Shareholder, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, and former President, American Bar Association; Stephen R. Mysliwiec, Partner, Miller Friel, PLLC; Bernard Nash, State Attorneys General Practice Co-Chair, Cozen O’Connor; Brian D. Burton, Senior Attorney, Alston & Bird; Hubert L. Allen, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Abbott; Bruce Byrd, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Palo Alto Networks; Lynn Charytan, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Comcast Cable; Lucy Fato, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Seaport Entertainment Group; Duane Holloway, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, U. S. Steel Corporation; Marc Kesselman, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Purdue Pharma; Jennifer Newstead, Chief Legal Officer, Meta; Anne Robinson, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Vanguard; Maryanne R. Lavan, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Steve McManus, Chief Legal Officer, State Farm; Kevin O’Connor, Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Carrier; and Bradford Berenson, General Counsel, TPG.
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WILLIAM C. BURTON, ESQ., CHAIRMAN
William C. Burton is a partner at Sagat|Burton LLP, New York. He is the Founder and Chairman of the Burton Awards Program. He is also the Founder and Chair of the Burton Foundation for Legal Achievement, which funds the program. He has served as a New York State Assistant Attorney General and an Assistant New York State Special Prosecutor. For fifteen years, he was the Director of Government Affairs for Continental Insurance, then one of the largest international insurance companies. He is the author of “Burton’s Legal Thesaurus,” the first and only reference book of its kind written for the legal profession. The book is now in its sixth edition. When it was published forty-one years ago, Mr. Burton was given a prestigious award by the Association of American Publishers which declared the book “One of the most Creative and Innovate Projects of the Year.”
In 1999, Mr. Burton created the Burton Foundation and established the non-profit Burton Awards Program with the initial goal of encouraging clear and comprehensive legal writing and rewarding other monumental achievements in law.
In 2010, Mr. Burton was awarded the prestigious Golden Pen Award by the Legal Writing Institute, the second largest organization of law professors in the United States with 3,000 members. The honor was given for his advocacy and impact on legal writing. Later in 2011, he was presented the “Blackstone Award” by the Friends of the Law Library of Congress for embodying and promoting the best ideals of the venerable institution.
He was a Legal Reform Award recipient from the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform in the fall of 2017. In 2022, Mr. Burton was selected as a member of the Hofstra Law School Hall of Fame. The Law School selected its top 50 graduates on celebrating its 50th Anniversary. He is also the recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Legal Writers comprised of more than 2,700 jurists, professors and practitioners. The award was previously presented to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Paul Stevens, and Stephen Breyer, and other prominent award winners. In 2024, he received the ABA Presidential Citation for his visionary leadership and contributions to the legal profession and society at large.