Peter A. Dirito Award, Federal Bar Association, 2003

Zuckerman Spaeder is pleased to announce that Herbert Better is the 2003 recipient of the Peter A. Dirito award, presented by the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. The award honors him for his outstanding and dedicated service to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and to the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake presented the award to Better on December 12, 2003, at a luncheon hosted by the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. The luncheon also honored William D. Quarles and Richard D. Bennett, who were appointed earlier this year as U.S. District Court Judges for the District of Maryland.

"Peter Derito served as the president of the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and was a member of the Chapter's Board of Governors for many years. His dedicated service and leadership set the example which all of us strive to follow. He was also a very special human being. To honor his memory, the Maryland Chapter established the Peter A. Derito Award in 1987. The award is made annually to recognize public service that furthers the Federal Bar Association's goals: the enhancement of the federal legal profession, the advancement of justice, and the betterment of society," said the FBA’s Maryland Chapter of the award.

A partner in the Baltimore office of Zuckerman Spaeder, Better is an alumnus of the University of Maryland Law School and former president of the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association. He served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney and Court-Appointed U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland.

In 1987, he opened the firm's Baltimore office. Better has been named one of the top five white collar criminal defense lawyers by Baltimore Magazine. In 2001, he was chosen by the judges of the U.S. District Court to receive the court's Pro Bono Service Award.