Law360: Walter Dellinger’s Little-Known, Outsize Impact On Legal Aid
February 18, 2022
O’Melveny counsel David Lash authored this article highlighting former acting US Solicitor General Walter Dellinger’s impact on legal aid. Dellinger, who was also head of the US Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel under the Clinton Administration, argued a total of 24 US Supreme Court cases that were among the “most prolific and important performances in US legal history.” Dellinger served as the head of O’Melveny’s appellate practice where he mentored and taught a slew of attorneys, and his public service and pro bono accomplishments are “legendary, high-profile and many.” Lash wrote that Dellinger’s greatest moment was prevailing in the 2003 US Supreme Court case Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington, where he “saved the Interest On Lawyers’ Trust Account, or IOLTA, program, one of the largest sources of funding for legal aid in the United States.” He won the case in a 5-4 decision. “It should be shouted from the rooftops of every law firm and every legal aid office in the land — Walter Dellinger is a hero,” Lash wrote.
Read the full article here.