Larry A. Hammond

Larry Hammond, past President of the American Judicature Society (AJS) and a member of the Osborn Maledon, P.A. law firm in Phoenix, has been chosen as the 2008 recipient of the American Judicature Society’s Justice Award.  The award ceremony and dinner program will be held On the Field at Scottsdale Stadium on April 24, 2008.

 John R. Tunheim, AJS President, announced the award selection, noting that “as President of the American Judicature Society from 2003-05, Larry led efforts to create the AJS Institute and Commission on Forensic Science and Public Policy while shepherding the Society from Chicago, Illinois to its new home in Des Moines, Iowa.  One of the foremost criminal defense lawyers of his or any other generation, Larry has devoted his unmatched energy and legal acumen to ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system and improving the administration of justice for all.”

“The American Judicature Society is delighted to honor Larry Hammond for his decades of leadership in promoting criminal justice reform, more effective utilization of scientific and forensic evidence, and greater public understanding of the courts,” said Seth S. Andersen, Executive Vice President for AJS.  “As a lawyer, scholar, and leader of the bar, Larry represents the essence of the mission of AJS:  to secure and promote an independent and qualified judiciary and a fair system of justice.”

After earning his law degree from the University of Texas, Hammond moved to Washington D.C., clerking for Judge Carl McGowan of the U.S. Court of Appeals and for Justices Hugo L. Black and Lewis F. Powell, Jr., of the Supreme Court of the United States. Hammond then served as an Assistant Watergate Special Prosecutor in 1973-74.

During the Carter Administration, Hammond also served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Justice Department, receiving the Department’s highest award for excellence in public service. Among many other honors, Hammond has received the Judge Learned Hand Award for Community Service from the Arizona Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, and the Arizona State Bar Foundation Walter E. Craig Award for Career Service.

As a private sector lawyer at Osborn Maledon and its predecessor firm for more than thirty years, Hammond has worked timelessly to address the causes of wrongful convictions. He was instrumental in planning the National Conference on Preventing the Conviction of Innocent Persons, convened by AJS in January 2003.  Hammond was also one of the founders of Arizona’s Innocence Project, the Justice Project. That Project is now deeply rooted in Arizona’s law schools and has helped countless inmates with significant claims of wrongful conviction.

The Justice Award is the highest honor given by AJS. It is given annually to an individual or group that has made significant contributions to improving the administration of justice in the United States. Past Justice Award recipients include former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti, William H. Webster, former director of the FBI and the CIA, the Superior Court of Arizona in the County of Maricopa, and Dwight D. Opperman, former chairman and CEO of West Publishing.