D.C. Bar Honors New President, 2025 Award Winners at Celebration of Leadership
June 30, 2025
On June 26 more than 300 members of the District of Columbia legal community gathered at the Westin DC Downtown hotel for the D.C. Bar’s Celebration of Leadership, featuring the installation of Sadina Montani as the Bar’s 54th president.
Montani, partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, was sworn in by D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby. After the passing of the gavel from former D.C. Bar president Shaun M. Snyder, Montani spoke about being part of the largest unified bar in the nation and reflected on the role of lawyers.
“The oath that all of us took as lawyers means something,” Montani said. “So, we need to model all that we can to our apprentices, to our peers, and to our communities that we know being a lawyer gives us the privilege and the responsibility to act as officers of the court and caretakers of the rule of law.”
Earlier in her speech, Montani thanked various people and organizations, including her firm; the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, where she served as president in 2020–2021; her predecessors, Snyder and Charles Lowery Jr.; her husband, Chris Bailey; and longtime mentor Amy Bess, a shareholder at Vedder Price.
“It’s not hyperbole or exaggeration to say that I spent my entire career trying to emulate Amy Bess,” Montani said. “Not just because she’s a hell of a lawyer. She’s been my most important mentor. She’s allowed me to be her apprentice … she’s always treated me as her intellectual peer.”
Introducing Montani before the swearing in, Bess said she met Montani in 2007 when the latter arrived at Vedder Price as a summer associate. “We bonded immediately,” Bess said. “Not over fancy legal theories or shared ambitions of climbing the professional ladder. We actually bonded as two Midwesterners — Sadina from Michigan and [me] from Illinois — each of us from very humble beginnings and both suffering from a bit of imposter syndrome.”
Bess later said, “[Montani] doesn’t just want justice; she builds it brick by brick, case by case, person by person. While I technically am the mentor in this relationship, I can tell you without any hesitation that I’ve learned more from Sadina than she will ever learn from me.”
Celebrating Excellence
Snyder and former Bar president Chad Sarchio hosted this year’s gala, which included the presentation of the Bar’s annual awards.
Nkechi Taifa, founder, principal, and CEO of The Taifa Group, LLC, received the 2025 William J. Brennan Jr. Award for her significant contributions to improving access to justice. Taifa has dedicated decades of her professional career fighting for numerous civil rights initiatives, including reparations and criminal justice reform, as well as advocating for D.C. statehood.
Taifa said that she was “deeply honored yet a bit surprised” to receive the Brennan Award. “I say surprised, not because I doubt the incredible work that I’ve achieved over the past 40 years as an attorney,” she said, “but because my path has never followed the traditional mode, which has been known for coloring inside the lines. I spent my entire career agitating for change, sometimes with a pen, sometimes with a bullhorn. I’ve always felt that I was a freedom fighter disguised as a lawyer.”
Taifa said “civil rights, human rights, and history itself are under siege,” calling on the crowd to engage more in protecting civil rights for all. “We are living in challenging times, and I don’t want you to despair,” she said. “I don’t want you to give up hope.”
Janice Hoffman, former associate general counsel at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), gave a moving speech after accepting the 2025 Beatrice Rosenberg Award for Excellence in Government Service. “As someone who is a longtime public servant, having retired this year, this award is especially meaningful to me as I look back at the list of past recipients,” Hoffman said.
At HHS, Hoffman supervised approximately 100 attorneys and support staff and guided its leaders through major hurdles such as supporting the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the redesigned Medicare Part D program, and expansion of COVID-19 testing during the pandemic. She also led efforts at the HHS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Division (CMS) to implement the Inflation Reduction Act Medicare drug negotiation and rebate program.
“When I was offered a litigation staff attorney position at the CMS division of the OGC [Office of the General Counsel], I was delighted to accept,” Hoffman said. “I didn’t necessarily think that I would remain with HHS for the rest of my career.”
Hoffman expressed gratitude to her HHS colleagues with a special shoutout to Laura Schattschneider and her family for their support throughout her career. “I will always be grateful both for the opportunity to serve the American people and for this award recognizing that service,” Hoffman said.
The D.C. Bar also recognized individuals and organizations whose outstanding work and exceptional projects in the past year benefited Bar membership, enriched the legal community, and expanded access to justice. The honorees included:
- Virtual D.C. Courts Interactive Website and MyDCLawyer — Frederick B. Abramson Award
- Early Career Lawyers Community — Community of the Year Award
- Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association — Voluntary Bar Association of the Year Award
- Paul Cornoni of Regan Zambri Long PLLC — Laura N. Rinaldi Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year
- Sidley Austin LLP — Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year
Additionally, the D.C. Bar Communities honored 10 Communities members for their leadership in their respective practice areas, excellence in their professional and personal lives, and dedication to the mission of the D.C. Bar and its Communities.
