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The Antitrust Law Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) has established the Distinguished Public Service Award to recognize the significant contributions of individual antitrust lawyers who have demonstrated a commitment to providing legal services to individuals and entities that could not otherwise afford them. The award is given at the discretion of section leadership and is open to members of the Antitrust Law Section of the ABA who have made significant pro bono and community service legal contributions.

The award recognizes a member's record of public service, which may include government service (state or federal; legislative, executive, or judicial branch; foreign competition or consumer protection authorities), teaching or research in an academic or other nonprofit setting, or service on a non-profit entity. The record of public service may reflect one or more of the preceding categories of service.

Past recipients of the award have demonstrated dedication to the development or delivery of pro bono legal services at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels. They have also contributed significant work toward developing innovative approaches to the delivery of legal services and/or provided sustained legal counsel to nonprofit organizations in aid of community development.

The award was last presented in 2020 to G. Allan Van Fleet for his outstanding contributions in pro bono and community public service. If you are interested in nominating a member of the Antitrust Law Section of the ABA, please reach out to the section staff for more information.

2020 Recipient: G. Allan Van Fleet, G. Allan Van Fleet, P.C., Houston, TX

Winner of the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Distinguished Public Service Award in 2020, his public service work dates to 1976 while he was a student at Columbia Law School. Now based in Houston and Galveston, Texas, Van Fleet worked with the legendary Jack Greenberg at Columbia, mainly assisting on briefs in death penalty cases. He has continued to focus on service to others for nearly 45 years, and his section colleagues praise him for making extraordinary positive changes for individual and institutional clients as well as whole communities. His legal work has been in indigent defendants’ rights, children’s rights, bail reform, immigrant rights, civil rights, and death penalty and wrongful conviction.