Three Seattle Attorneys Receive Washington State Bar Association’s Award of Merit

SEATTLE (September 24, 2011) – Perkins Coie is proud to announce that Seattle Litigation partners Joe McMillan, Harry Schneider and Charles Sipos have received the Washington State Bar Association's (WSBA) Award of Merit.  

The Award of Merit was first given in 1957 and is the WSBA's highest honor and is most often given for long-term service to the Bar and/or the public, although it has also been presented in recognition of a single, extraordinary contribution or project.  

WSBA President Steven G. Toole presented the award at the WSBA Annual Awards Dinner on September 22, 2011, at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle attended by over 350 Washington lawyers, judges, and State Supreme Court Justices.

“We are very proud of Joe, Harry and Charles for receiving this honor,” says Leah Medway, Pro Bono Counsel for Perkins Coie. “Their devotion to pro bono work and to the preservation of the Rule of Law is nothing short of remarkable.”  

McMillan, Schneider and Sipos received this award in recognition of their work on behalf of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former Guantanamo detainee who had served as Osama bin Laden's driver. They were part of a team of lawyers to file a federal habeas petition in April 2004 on behalf of Hamdan. This federal lawsuit culminated in the United States Supreme Court's 2006 opinion in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), which declared unlawful the military commission system established by the Bush administration to try Guantanamo detainees for alleged war crimes.  

Hamdan was recharged with conspiracy and material support for terrorism under a federal statute passed in response to the Court's Hamdan decision, the Military Commissions Act of 2006. McMillan and Schneider, along with Hamdan's military defense counsel, represented Hamdan in the subsequent military commission trial held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hamdan was convicted of material support but acquitted of the much more serious charge of conspiracy. He was sentenced to just four months in addition to time served. In all, the attorneys spent more than 10,000 hours working on the case.  

“The work that Messrs. Schneider, McMillan, and Sipos did for Mr. Hamdan was extraordinary,” said WSBA Past-president Mark A. Johnson in a press release by the WSBA. “As they pursued justice for Mr. Hamdan, they also recognized the risks to America — to our core constitutional principles and to our democratic values — and in the great tradition of hero lawyers, they embraced the challenge for Mr. Hamdan and for us all. Given the complexity and importance of the issues, the courage it took to represent a person who was closely identified with the most hated man in America, the many thousand hours of pro bono work they donated and the justice they achieved for Mr. Hamdan, attorneys Schneider, McMillan, and Sipos deserve to be recognized with the WSBA’s highest award.”

McMillan focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation. In 2007, McMillan was a co-recipient of the King County Bar Association Outstanding Lawyer Award. In 2006, he was a co-recipient of the Japanese American Bar Association Public Service Award and the National Law Journal Pro Bono Award. He received his B.A., cum laude, and M.A. from the University of Iowa and earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Saint Louis University School of Law.

Schneider focuses on litigation, trial practice, and arbitration before state and federal courts and administrative bodies. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a member of the American Bar Association Litigation Section’s “blue-ribbon” committee, appointed by the ABA president. In 2008, Schneider was presented with the Thomas C. Wales Award for Passionate Citizenship, in recognition of his “leadership, dedication, and groundbreaking work defending Salim Hamdan.” He received his A.B. from the University of California, Berkeley and earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.  

Sipos focuses on intellectual property litigation, class action defense and appellate litigation. In 2007, Sipos was a co-recipient of the King County Bar Association Outstanding Lawyer Award. In 2006, he was named a co-recipient of the Japanese American Bar Association Public Service Award and the National Law Journal Pro Bono Award. He has been named as a Washington Law & Politics “Rising Star of Washington Law” in 2005–2008 and 2010-2011. He received his B.A. the University of Puget Sound and earned his J.D., Order of the Coif, from Vanderbilt University Law School.