The Federal Bar Association Chicago Chapter is proud to announce that Thomas P. Walsh, Assistant United States Attorney, has been awarded the 2014 Frank J. McGarr Award for distinguished federal government service. 

The award is given in the name of the late Chicago Chapter Past President Frank J. McGarr (1921-2012), a U.S. district court judge and former first assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Tom Walsh joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Civil Division in 1978 directly from law school (DePaul) and was promoted to civil division chief in 1991. Since that time, he has run one of the highest-regarded civil divisions in the country during the tenures of five United States Attorneys. He also acts as the civil appellate chief for the office. He has been active on a national level within the Department of Justice as the longest-serving member of the Civil Chiefs Working Group, a part of the Attorney Generals Advisory Committee. On the local level, he has served for several years on the Seventh Circuit Pattern Jury Instruction Committee and on the district court’s Local Rules Advisory Committee. He credits his fellow civil AUSAs and the office’s staff for the division’s consistently good work.