BOT Chair Debo P. Adegbile ’91 wins Legal Aid DC’s Servant of Justice Award
Debo P. Adegbile ’91, chair of Connecticut College’s Board of Trustees and a partner at the international law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, will be honored with Legal Aid DC’s 2024 Servant of Justice Award at the 34th Annual Servant of Justice Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 9.
Adegbile will be honored alongside fellow 2024 recipient D.C. Circuit Cort of Appeals Judge David S. Tatel at the event, which brings together leading public servants and attorneys from across the District to recognize the awardees for their services. The Servant of Justice Awards recognize exemplary commitment to the pursuit of justice from legal luminaries who have dedicated their careers to the protection of underserved communities and the defense of moral and ethical standards under the law.
“My colleagues and I at Legal Aid are inspired by the work that Mr. Adegbile and Judge Tatel have done on behalf of the communities we serve. We are proud to honor these two civil rights leaders for their unwavering commitment to justice and fierce advocacy to end racism and poverty,” said Executive Director Vikram Swaruup. “Their dedication to justice mirrors the spirit of Legal Aid DC, and we look forward to bringing together public servants and attorneys across the District to recognize their exceptional service. Mr. Adegbile’s and Judge Tatel’s work reinforces the impact that lawyers can have in making our country—and city—a better and fairer place.”
At WilmerHale, Adegbile is chair of the anti-discrimination practice. He previously worked at the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund from 2001 to 2014, including as director of litigation from 2007 to 2014 and acting president and director-counsel from 2012 to 2013. He has argued several important civil rights cases at the Supreme Court and beyond—including successfully defending the Voting Rights Act before Judge Tatel on the DC Circuit, in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder. Adegbile also served as senior counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary from 2013-2014, advising on Supreme Court jurisprudence and the defense of civil rights, especially voting rights. In 2016, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, on which he served for six years.
Most recently, Adegbile led a WilmerHale team in a challenge to Georgia’s congressional and legislative maps on the basis that they were racially discriminatory. His team secured a court order that requires the state to redraw those maps in a more racially inclusive way.
Legal Aid DC also commended Adegbile’s ongoing commitment to providing clients with civil rights and equity audits, “imparting the wisdom and practice from his many years of upholding American civil liberties.”
