Attorney General Holder Recognizes Chief of Appellate Division
With Award for Outstanding Service
- Roy W. McLeese III Honored at Ceremony Today -

     WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder today recognized Roy W. McLeese III, Chief of the Appellate Division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, with an award for distinguished public service in his nearly 25 years with the Department of Justice.

     Mr. McLeese was among 340 Department of Justice employees honored this afternoon at the 59th Annual Attorney General Awards Ceremony. Forty-four other individuals outside of the department were also honored for their work. Held at DAR Constitution Hall, this annual ceremony recognizes both department employees and others for their dedication to carrying out the Department of Justice’s mission.

     “This year’s award recipients have made significant contributions across, and far beyond, the Department of Justice and helped to protect the rights, safety and best interests of the citizens we are privileged to serve,” Attorney General Holder said. “I am grateful for the dedication and passion that these extraordinary public servants bring to their work, and I am honored to count them as colleagues.”

     “Roy McLeese’s brilliance is matched only by his dedication to doing what is right,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. “The people of the District of Columbia have been lucky to have one of the nation’s leading criminal appellate lawyers at their service for nearly a quarter century. It is a privilege to see Roy receive this well-deserved honor from the Attorney General.”

     Mr. McLeese, who joined the Department of Justice in 1987, was honored with the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, one of the department’s highest honors.

     He was nominated for his exemplary and sustained role in representing the United States in criminal appellate litigation. Mr. McLeese has led the Appellate Division since 2005, with the exception of an assignment in 2010 in which he was called upon to serve as Acting Deputy Solicitor General. During that time, as the award states, Mr. McLeese has consistently combined extraordinary substantive expertise, legal acumen, and willingness to provide support and wise counsel to attorneys both within and outside the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

     During his assignment as Acting Deputy Solicitor General, Mr. McLeese assumed the task of overseeing the conduct of government litigation in criminal cases in the Supreme Court, and his ability to articulate the Government’s case clearly and powerfully was a principal factor in the Department’s success in the important Supreme Court cases he argued this year; Abbott v. United States and Pepper v. United States, as well as in numerous other cases he supervised.

     Mr. McLeese has received numerous awards throughout his career, including an Attorney General’s Award in 2005 for his expertise in handling appeals.

 

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