WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, current senior counsel with the law firm of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, is inaugural recipient of the 2015 Winston Churchill National Leadership Award.

The award is presented by The Churchill Centre, the leading international organization dedicated to preserving the historic legacy of Sir Winston Churchill, and recognizes an individual whose career “has exhibited the virtues of resolution, magnanimity and goodwill in the service of constitutional democracy, exemplified by the life and career of Sir Winston Churchill.”

Previous recipients of the Churchill Centre award include former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and James Baker, British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron, the Prince of Wales and Gen. Tommy Franks

The award was presented to Lieberman by Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan at a dinner reception held on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. In attendance were close to 90 notable U.S. and U.K. leaders, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Steny Hoyer, and Senators John McCain, Orrin Hatch and Susan Collins, among others. Former House Speaker John Boehner participated in the award presentation.

Lieberman, who was the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 2000, served 24 years in the United States Senate before retiring in January 2013 following the end of his fourth term. Prior to being elected to the Senate, he served as the attorney general of the State of Connecticut for six years.

In addition to the Winston Churchill Leadership Award, Lieberman is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. In 2012, he received the Ewald von Kleist Award, given to the individual who has “made an outstanding contribution to peace and conflict resolution,” by the Munich Security Conference, the most prominent independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers. That year the Republic of Korea also awarded him the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Gwanghwa Medal.

In addition to practicing law, Lieberman is a co-chair of the American Enterprise Institute’s American Internationalism Project, which is a cross-party initiative designed to rebuild and reshape a bipartisan consensus around American global leadership and engagement.