William French Smith Lectures

The Fourth Annual
William French Smith Memorial Lecture

Conversationalists

The Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy

ANTHONY M. KENNEDY is an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court. He studied at the London School of Economics, Stanford University, and Harvard Law School. Following law school, Kennedy established a private practice in Sacramento that spanned criminal and civil litigation, probate and estate planning, and corporate and international transactions. Kennedy was appointed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Ford in 1975, at the time making him the youngest appellate judge in the nation and the third youngest in history. He served for years as a member of the Committee on the Codes of Judicial Conduct of the Judicial Conference and has chaired its Pacific Territories Committee, which assists emerging judiciaries in the West Pacific. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1988 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Awards bestowed on Justice Kennedy include the Learned Hand Award from the New York City Bar Association, the ABA's John Marshal Award, the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Award from the American Inns of Court, and the University of Virginia's Thomas Jefferson Medal. He has also received the ABA Medal for Distinguished Service to the law and the profession, making him only the tenth Justice ever to receive the award in its nearly 100-year history.