The American Law Institute is pleased to announce that Judge Raymond J. Lohier Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will be presented with the Distinguished Service Award at the 2026 Annual Meeting. The Distinguished Service Award is given from time to time to a member who over many years has played a major role in the Institute, accepting significant burdens as an officer, Council member, committee chair, or project participant and helping keep the Institute on a steady course as the greatest private law-reform organization in the world.
“It is a privilege to recognize Judge Raymond Lohier with ALI’s Distinguished Service Award,” said ALI President David F. Levi. “Ray has contributed enormously to the work of the Institute over many years. He brings a deep respect for the law and for the people engaged in its development, and he participates in our deliberations with care, patience, and an open mind. Those who have worked with him on ALI projects know how generously he gives his time and attention to the work before us. His service reflects the kind of sustained commitment that this award is meant to recognize. I have frequently benefitted from his wisdom and judgment. We are fortunate to have him as a member of the Council and deeply grateful for the example he sets within the Institute.”
Elected to ALI in 2013 and to its Council in 2014, Lohier has contributed extensively to several of the Institute’s major projects, including serving as an Adviser to the Restatement of the Law, Employment Law; Principles of the Law, Compliance and Enforcement for Organizations; and Principles of the Law, Policing. He currently serves as an Adviser to the Restatement of the Law, Corporate Governance.
Born in Montreal, Canada, he graduated from Harvard College in 1988 and received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1991. While at NYU, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Survey of American Law and received the Vanderbilt Medal, the law school’s highest honor.
His broad range of legal experience spans both private practice and public service. Following law school, Lohier clerked for Robert P. Patterson Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He worked as an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton’s New York office from 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 2000, he was a senior trial attorney at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 2000, Lohier joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he served in several leadership roles, including chief and deputy chief of the office’s Narcotics Unit and later deputy chief and chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. In that role, he led investigations and prosecutions involving major financial crimes, including securities fraud, insider trading, Ponzi schemes, and commodities fraud. He was responsible for overseeing several high-profile financial crimes cases, including the Bernard Madoff prosecutions, as well as the investigation and prosecution of Marc Dreier.
In 2010, Lohier was unanimously confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where he serves today. He was appointed by John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, to chair the Supreme Court Fellows Commission, which oversees the program committed to offering fellows an opportunity to broaden their understanding of the judicial system through exposure to federal court administration.
Lohier is a member of the Federal Bar Council Inns of Court, serves on the New York University School of Law Board of Trustees, and is an adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law. He is also a recipient of the New York University Alumni Association’s Eugene J. Keogh Award for Distinguished Public Service.
The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Lohier by Gerard E. Lynch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday, May 19 at ALI’s 2026 Annual Meeting.
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About The American Law Institute
The American Law Institute is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law. The ALI drafts, discusses, revises, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law that are influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education. By participating in the Institute’s work, its distinguished members have the opportunity to influence the development of the law in both existing and emerging areas, to work with other eminent lawyers, judges, and academics, to support the rule of law and the legal system, and to contribute to the public good.