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George H. Kendall
Of Counsel
George Kendall’s practice focuses primarily on pro bono matters. George handles capital, criminal and civil rights cases around the United States at trial, on appeal and in post-conviction proceedings including in the United States Supreme Court, where he has represented clients for more than 25 years.
He also regularly consults with capital defense lawyers nationwide. George has worked with the Defender Services Division of the Administrative Office of the US Courts in improving the quality of legal representation in federal criminal cases and has also worked closely with The Innocence Project and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund (LDF) on policy initiatives. While at the LDF he was editor of the newsletter Race Notes, which identifies arguments and strategies citizens can use to lessen the influence of racial bias in the criminal justice system.
He is a former staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Eleventh Circuit Capital Litigation Project. George has taught courses on criminal justice issues at several law schools including Yale Law School, Florida State University College of Law and St. John’s School of Law.
George is the recipient of numerous awards including the Life in the Balance Achievement Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association in 1999, the New York State Defenders Association Service of Justice Award in 1997, ACLU of Georgia Bill of Rights Award in 1987 and the Stuart Still Memorial Award in 1987.
George frequently appears as a panelist or keynote speaker at capital litigation seminars. He is a board member of the Death Penalty Information Center and Southern Public Defender Training Center. George is also a member of the Advisory Group for the Georgetown University Law Center Supreme Court Institute.
In 2010 George was the recipient of the Equal Justice Champion Award from the Equal Justice Initiative for assistance in juvenile life without parole cases and other matters, and the Constitutional Champion Award from the Constitution Project, a highly respected DC-based organization that assembles bipartisan commissions to work toward sensible policy solutions to some of our toughest legal issues.
- Providing lead counsel representation to three clients who have spent more than three decades in solitary confinement.
- Providing coordination for amicus brief filings in two cases heard by the United States Supreme Court in 2008 concerning whether life without parole sentences imposed on juvenile offenders, a 13-year old at the time of the offense and a 17-year old, violates the Eighth Amendment.
- Providing lead counsel representation to a client who was wrongly convicted of rape and murder, and sent to prison with a life without parole sentence.
- Providing lead counsel representation to a client who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in a federal habeas corpus proceeding.
Education
- Antioch College, J.D., 1979
- University of Richmond, B.A., 1974
Admissions
- District of Columbia, 1979
- Georgia, 1984
- Not admitted in New York
Memberships & Affiliations
- Board member of the Death Penalty Information Center and Southern Public Defender Training Center
- Member of the Advisory Group for the Georgetown University Law Center Supreme Court Institute
- New York Law Journal's New York Trailblazer in 2019
- Norman Redlich Capital Defense Distinguished Service Award by the New York City Bar Association in 2017
- Equal Justice Champion Award from the Equal Justice Initiative in 2010
- Constitutional Champion Award from the Constitution Project in 2010
- Life in the Balance Achievement Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association in 1999
- New York State Defenders Association Service of Justice Award in 1997
- ACLU of Georgia Bill of Rights Award in 1987
- Stuart Still Memorial Award in 1987