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Paul Clement and Don Verrilli with Dean Spencer.
Photos by David F. Morrill
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Former U.S. Solicitors General Clement and Verrilli Honored with Marshall-Wythe Medallions by David F. Morrill
Two legal practitioners have been honored by William & Mary Law School for their significant contributions to the field of law and justice. Former U.S. Solicitors General Paul Clement and Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. each received the 2025 Marshall-Wythe Medallion at a dinner in their honor on February 25 at William & Mary Law School.
The Medallion, presented by Law School Dean A. Benjamin Spencer, is the highest honor conferred by the law faculty and recognizes members of the legal community who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and accomplishment.
“We first conferred this award in 1967 and have done so nearly every year since,” Dean Spencer explained. “The award rotates between three categories of recipients: outstanding jurists, outstanding lawyers, and outstanding legal scholars.”
Clement and Verrilli join a distinguished list of recipients, comprising some of the finest lawyers of the last 50 years, including Lewis Powell, Edward Bennett Williams, Guido Calabresi, William Brennan, H.L.A. Hart, Thurgood Marshall, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Richard Posner, Stephen Breyer, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, Elena Kagan, Patricia Millett, and Jeffrey Sutton.
Paul Clement served as 43rd U.S. Solicitor General from June 2005 until June 2008, and before that as Acting Solicitor General and Principal Deputy Solicitor General. He has argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and argued more such cases since 2000 than any lawyer in or out of government.
Now a partner at Clement & Murphy, Clement’s practice focuses on appellate matters, constitutional litigation, and strategic counseling. He represents a broad array of clients in the Supreme Court and in federal and state appellate courts.
Donald Verrilli has enjoyed a remarkable career as one of the nation’s premier Supreme Court and appellate advocates. He served as U.S. Solicitor General from June 2011 to June 2016, and argued more than 50 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Before serving as Solicitor General, Verrilli served as Deputy White House Counsel, and previously as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice. He is currently a partner with Munger, Tolles & Olson.
Clement and Verrilli are well known at William & Mary as mainstays of the annual Supreme Court Preview.
“I am not a sports person, but I am confident that you can say that we have the equivalent of LeBron James and Michael Jordan with us here tonight,” said Allison Orr Larsen, Alfred Wilson & Mary I.W. Lee Professor of Law and Director, Institute of the Bill of Rights Law. “What I mean by that analogy is that these two men have reached the highest heights of our profession, and they have a lot in common.”
In remarks during the dinner, Clement played on that camaraderie, saying that good constitutional law textbooks could be put together just on the cases that he and Verrilli have argued against each other and on the cases they argued together.
“I can tell you having argued both with Don and against Don, it’s much more enjoyable to argue with Don,” Clement said. “But, really, religious liberty, federalism—the list could go on and on the cases that we had a chance to argue together. And it was always a greater pleasure to know if you are arguing with or against Don, and you knew that the other side would get the best possible presentation.”
Verrilli added that everyone who has received the Marshall-Wythe Medallion over the years has believed in the proposition that John Adams wrote into the Massachusetts Constitution of 1776— that “we are a government of laws and not men.”
“One can believe in that and yet have different views about what the law should provide for in any given situation,” Verrilli said. “And that’s healthy and good…. But what I know that Paul and I share, and I think everybody on that list shares, is that overriding fundamental belief that we are a government of laws and not men.”
Professor Evan Criddle, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, wrapped up the event by thanking Clement and Verrilli for all they do in service to the judicial system and William & Mary Law School. He also previewed the next day’s Scalia-Ginsberg Collegiality Series, during which the advocates would share insights about cultivating productive working relationships across ideological divides.
“In your role as advocates, you serve the common project of our profession with uncommon distinction,” Criddle said. “So, in celebrating your excellence as Supreme Court advocates tonight, we gratefully hold you up as models to our students. We are excited that you will get to spend some time with them tomorrow.
“And we hold you up to the wider legal profession as models of what it means to be a citizen lawyer.”
Published on the William & Mary Law School website February 26, 2025.
