Close to a thousand lawyers gathered at the Grand Hyatt for the Washington Lawyers' Committee's 2015 Wiley Branton Awards Luncheon.

One Branton Award went to Wiley Rein's first ever full-time pro bono partner, Ted Howard; his happy family celebrated with him. Ted's also a WLC board member and former co-chair. The WLC was founded in 1968 to address discrimination and poverty in DC with pro bono legal services.

The other Branton Award recipient was Relman, Dane & Colfax founder John Relman, third from right. Each year, the honor goes to lawyers who've shown longtime commitment to pro bono and civil rights. It's named for civil rights lawyer Wiley Branton Sr., who fought to end segregation.

Savills Studley EVP Richard Rome, left, was honored with the Cotter-Hall Corporate Service Award. He's with BDO USA client services director Jackie Flynn and Latham partner and Committee board member Kevin Metz. Another honor of the evening, the Alfred McKenzie Award, went to the American Council of the Blind.

Here's Akin Gump partner and WLC board member Charles Johnson alongside the Committee's corporate advisory board chair Jay Frankl of FTI Consulting. Akin Gump won the Vincent Reed Education Award, which was presented by Chancellor of DC Public Schools Kaya Henderson.