History
The Capitol Hill Chapter was formally constituted on January 16, 1963, in response to the recognition by members of the DC Chapter of the need for a chapter to serve the special requirements of Capitol Hill lawyers. Six years earlier, in 1957, a Capitol Hill section of the DC Chapter had been established to acknowledge the different functions performed by the legislative lawyer and the executive branch lawyer. The first section President was Congressman Torbert Macdonald (D-MA). Former Congressman William Hungate (D-MO), who later served as a Federal judge, was a subsequent Chapter President.
The original Capitol Hill section listed a membership of approximately 40 lawyers. Today, Chapter membership is over 200. At its inception in 1963, the Chapter had a governing Council of 14 persons that included representatives from the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Library of Congress-then the component organizations constituting the Chapter. In 1972, the FBA National Executive Committee added the Supreme Court to the Chapter's component jurisdiction, and the Court's Justices were made honorary members of the Chapter. The General Accounting Office (now Government Accountability Office) became a Chapter component soon thereafter followed by the Government Printing Office. The Chapter's constitution was amended in 1996 to add to the Chapter's governing Council a component unit consisting of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Federal Judicial Center, the United States Sentencing Commission, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
The Capitol Hill Chapter has been known for the relatively high number of Chapter officers and members who have gone on to assume national office in the FBA. Marian Herring, in 1973, was the Chapter's first woman President.