The Board of Governors of the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) has named Harmeet K. Dhillon of California the 2018 Republican Lawyer of the Year. Ms. Dhillon was selected as the 2018 Republican Lawyer of the Year in recognition of her outstanding professional accomplishments and years of service to the Republican Party and its ideals. She will be honored at a reception and luncheon at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, November 14.
RNLA President Elliot Berke said of this year’s honoree: “We are thrilled to honor Harmeet – an excellent lawyer and communicator who advances our Republican ideals. She is a credit to our profession and to our RNLA ranks.”
RNLA Chair and 2016 Republican Lawyer of the Year John Ryder added: “I had the privilege of working Harmeet on the RNC and on the Republican National Convention Rules Committee. She is committed, smart and professional. She embodies all the qualities one would want in a Republican Lawyer of the Year.”
RNLA Co-Chair Joanne Young agreed: “Harmeet Dhillon faithfully serves the Republican Party with a particular commitment to defending free speech by conservatives. She represents her clients passionately and effectively, and is able to simplify complicated legal issues to the broader viewing public as a sought after television commentator. She is an excellent example of many strong and talented Republican women attorneys. The RNLA is pleased to honor Harmeet Dhillon as the Lawyer of the Year.”
RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielen stated: “For the last couple years, Harmeet has been the leader fighting for the conservative speech rights against the biggest liberal opponents. No fight is too big for her; whether it is the UC Berkeley College Administration, the City of San Jose, or Google, Harmeet never gives up. As such she is not only a great lawyer, but a great representative of what a Republican lawyer should be.”
Harmeet Kaur Dhillon is a nationally recognized lawyer, trusted boardroom advisor, and passionate advocate for individual, corporate, and institutional clients across numerous industries and walks of life.
She is the RNC Committeewoman for California, former Vice Chair of the California Republican Party, former Chairman of the San Francisco GOP, a two-time candidate for legislative office in California as the Republican nominee, and a frequent legal and political analyst on Fox News. She also serves as Vice President for Communications for the Republican National Lawyers Association. She opened the second day of the 2016 Republican National Convention with a Sikh prayer in both Punjabi and English.
A graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia School of Law, she has been awarded the prestigious designation of Northern California Super Lawyer in business litigation by Thomson/West Publishing, an accolade reserved for the top 5% of lawyers in the jurisdiction. She is also AV peer rated by the Martindale Hubbell group on the basis of her strong legal ability and highest ethical standards. California’s Daily Journal legal newspaper named Harmeet one of the top 100 lawyers in California in 2018.
Following a clerkship with the Hon. Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Ms. Dhillon’s practice in New York, London, and the San Francisco Bay Area has focused on federal and state commercial litigation and arbitration, with a particular emphasis on unfair competition/trade secret misappropriation, intellectual property (including trademark litigation and internet torts), complex contractual disputes, employment litigation, and civil rights litigation (including defamation, trade libel, right of publicity, religious liberties, and anti-SLAPP motions). Harmeet frequently argues cases in the state and federal appeals courts, trial courts, and in arbitrations and mediations. Among her many clients, she represents the Berkeley College Republicans and Young Americans for Freedom in their lawsuit against the University of California at Berkeley for violating the students' First Amendment rights by discriminating against conservative speakers. She also represents James Damore and others in employment lawsuits against Google, and represents a class of Trump supporters assaulted in a riot during the 2016 election, suing the City of San Jose and San Jose Police Department for violating their civil rights at the event.
The Republican Lawyer of the Year Award has been presented annually since 2004, and winners in the past several years were Larry Levy (2017), John Ryder (2016), Bobby R. Burchfield (2015), and E. Mark Braden (2014).
The RNLA is the national organization of Republican attorneys. The mission of the RNLA is to advance professionalism; open, fair and honest elections; career opportunity; and Republican ideals. For more information, please visit http://www.rnla.org.
A PDF copy of this press release can be downloaded here.