American Jewish Group to Honor Patton Boggs Partner

A leading American Jewish community group is slated to pay tribute to Washington-based Patton Boggs partner Stuart Pape this week.

During a luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown on Wednesday, the American Jewish Committee's Washington office is scheduled to honor Pape with its 2012 Judge Learned Hand Award, AJC's top accolade for lawyers.

"It's obviously an honor," said Pape, who was Patton's managing partner from 1996 to 2010. He has focused his career on matters related to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other health and safety agencies around the world. He held various posts in the FDA chief counsel's office before he joined the firm in 1980.

The award's namesake was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1924 to 1951. Hand was "widely admired as a dean among American jurists," according to AJC.

Ivy Fields, AJC's director of development, said Pape "embodies the spirit of Judge Learned Hand."

Last year's recipient of the award was R. Bruce McLean, chairman of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.