It sounds like it's basically an award for taking on complex, risky work that resulted in something positive for the public. Perhaps he's trying to set a preced

It sounds like it's basically an award for taking on complex, risky work that resulted in something positive for the public. Perhaps he's trying to set a precedent/example to entice other lawyers to consider pressing these kinds of cases. To me, reminiscent of performance awards within a company. "X & Y took on risky/ailing project Z that everyone else wrote off, and hit it out of the park. Bravo"