Neal Kumar Katyal was named the ‘Lawyer of the Year’ by Lawyers USA for 2006. He was declared the Runner-up for ‘Lawyer of the Year’ by National Law Journal. Neal Kumar was declared as one of the 30 best living Supreme Court Advocates. American Lawyer Magazine chose him as one of the top litigators in the nation. He was declared as one of the 90 Greatest Lawyers over the last 30 years by Legal Times, and National Law Journal awarded him with the 2004 Pro Bono Award.
He is an American lawyer and chaired professor of Law. He served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States. For 15 years Neal Katyal served as a Law Professor at Georgetown University Law Center where in the history of the university, he was one of the youngest professors to have received tenure and a chaired professorship. He was also Director of the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law. He was appointed Principal Deputy Solicitor General at the Justice Department. He also served as a visiting professor at Yale Law Schools and Harvard.
He argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court while serving at the Justice Department. It includes his successful defense ( by an 8-1 decision) of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act 1965 in the landmark case ‘Northwest Austin vs.Holder’. Katyal has been the only head of the Solicitor General’s office to argue in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Neal Katyal has served as the National Security Adviser in the US Justice Department during 1997-1999. President Bill Clinton commissioned him to write a report on the need for more legal pro bono work.
Neal’s love for logics and justice and his brilliant ability to successfully put it across, makes him a winner.
Courtesy: Wah Bharat by Nirmal Joshi
