The Honorable Victor A. Bolden will receive the Henry J. Naruk Judiciary Award at the CBA’s annual awards ceremony, Celebrate with the Stars, on Thursday, March 12.
Judge Bolden serves as a United States district judge for the District of Connecticut. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, He served as corporation counsel for the City of New Haven, acting as chief legal advisor to one of Connecticut’s largest municipalities. In that role, he supervised the city’s legal department and managed an extensive caseload involving federal and state constitutional issues, statutory and regulatory matters, and local governance questions.
Judge Bolden previously served as General Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), where he was the organization’s chief legal advisor on internal matters and a key resource for its legal staff on civil rights litigation nationwide. He also assisted with the administration of LDF’s New York and Washington, D.C. offices. He first joined LDF as assistant counsel, after working with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation’s National Legal Department. Even earlier in his career, Judge Bolden practiced at Wiggin and Dana LLP in New Haven, representing clients in complex civil litigation, including legislative reapportionment and educational access matters.
A committed educator and scholar, Judge Bolden taught a constitutional law seminar on race and poverty at New York Law School from 1992 to 2000 and has led constitutional law programs in South Africa and Brazil. He currently serves as a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School and previously served as Jurist-in-Residence at the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Judge Bolden is actively engaged in professional and civic organizations. He has appointed by president of the American Bar Association (ABA) to serve on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs and held multiple leadership roles in the ABA’s Litigation Section, including Managing Director, Division Director, and co-chair of both the Trial Practice and Appellate Practice Committees. Locally, he has served on the Executive Committee of the New Haven County Bar Association, including a brief term as President, and on the City of New Haven’s Commission on Equal Opportunities. He also served on the Board of the International Center of New Haven, including a term as Chair.
Judge Bolden graduated from Columbia College in 1986, where he was a John Lewis Scholar and the recipient of multiple academic prizes, and received his law degree in 1989 from Harvard Law School, where he received the Irving Oberman Memorial Award.
The Henry J. Naruk Judiciary Award is presented to members of the state and federal judiciary who have made substantial contributions to the administration of justice in Connecticut.
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