DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL, LAWRENCE WALLACE,
TO RETIRE FROM THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AFTER 35 YEARS OF SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lawrence Wallace, Deputy Solicitor General, announced that he plans to retire on January 3, 2003, after almost 35 years of service in the Office of Solicitor General. Later this month, Mr. Wallace will present his 157th oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States. That argument will extend his record for the largest number of cases ever presented orally by a career civil servant before the Court, as well as the largest number of Supreme Court cases argued by any presently living person. Mr. Wallace’s distinguished career includes service to nine Solicitors General (from Erwin Griswold to Theodore B. Olson) and to eight Presidents (from President Lyndon B. Johnson to President George W. Bush).

Attorney General John Ashcroft stated, "Larry Wallace’s record of advocacy and public service is a model for all government lawyers. He served Presidents, Attorneys General, and Solicitors General of both parties well and ably, always delivering his best view of the law. I thank him for his able and dedicated service."

Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson added, "I am deeply grateful to Larry for his enormous, invaluable and extraordinarily rich contribution to this office, the Department, the Government and the American people over a lifetime of public service. I served in the Department with Larry in the early 1980s and came to admire and respect his intelligence, wisdom and devotion. During the last year and one half, I have leaned on Larry in countless ways virtually every single day. He is and will continue to be a valued counselor and friend."

Mr. Wallace received an A.B. (Summa cum laude) and a M.P.A. degree from Syracuse University in 1952 and 1954, respectively, and his LL.B degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1959, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Law Review. After practicing for a year with the Washington, D.C. firm of Covington & Burling, he served as a law clerk to Justice Hugo L. Black of the United States Supreme Court. Upon completion of his clerkship in 1961, he joined the faculty of the Duke University Law School where he remained until 1968. Mr. Wallace joined the Solicitor General’s Office in January 1968 and was promoted to Deputy Solicitor General in 1970.

In 1993, Mr. Wallace received the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award. In 1990, Mr. Wallace was the recipient of the Federal Bar Association's annual Justice Tom C. Clark Award for Outstanding Federal Legal Service. In 1989, he was selected by the American Bar Association Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice as the first recipient of its newly created annual Outstanding Government Service Award. He has received the Department of Justice's John Marshall Award for outstanding appellate advocacy, the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service and the Senior Executive Service Meritorious Award.

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