We regularly highlight the efforts of those who work to make our justice system more accessible and equitable for all. This Partner Profile features Phil Horton, DC Bar Foundation’s newest member of its Board of Directors.
Name Phil Horton
Job/Position Retired partner/retired chair pro bono committee
Organization Arnold & Porter
Years on the Job Been at A&P for over 33 years. Still there doing pro bono in retirement.
Where did you grow up? up and down the east coast — started in the south, went to mid-Atlantic, then New England
What brought you to DC? My dream since I was a boy was to live and work in DC due to my interest in public affairs
INTERESTING FACTS
Daily Habit Gotta see the op-ed page
Favorite app At 61, I wouldn’t know an app if one bit me!
Favorite Movie Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest
Favorite Restaurant Tia Queta (in Bethesda)
Favorite Vacation Spot Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Guilty Pleasure My own homemade ice cream
One Item from your Bucket List Go to a baseball game in every big league ballpark
Hobbies Guitar
Hero Bobby Kennedy
Your News Source Newspapers – rarely watch TV
One thing (other than your phone) you never leave the house without is… Change in my pocket, even though it’s obsolete
You get to paint a mural on the side of the White House. What do you paint? The Bill of Rights
CAREER PATH
Most rewarding element of your work Building pro bono/public interest institutions
Biggest failure and what you learned Four lost death penalty cases. Win by losing.
If I hadn’t become a lawyer, I would be… Folk singer
LEGAL AID
Legal aid is important to me because . . . Injustice infuriates me.
My dream for the legal system is… Abolition of the death penalty
The most pressing civil legal aid issue in DC is…. Access to housing.
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