A Lawrence High School graduate is one of the fastest-rising “legal stars” in Washington, D.C., according to an article in the latest issue of Washingtonian magazine.

“I have no idea why they picked me — this is a city that’s full of lawyers,” said Kannon Shanmugam, who graduated from Lawrence High School in 1989.

He’s being modest.

“I can give you several reasons,” said U.S. District Court of Appeals Chief Judge Deanell Tacha. “He has the kind of legal, analytical and interpersonal abilities that will almost assuredly make him a leader of his generation. There’s no question in my mind.”

Shanmugam served a summer internship in Tacha’s Lawrence office in 1990.

A Lawrence native, Shanmugam, 32, has bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University, and a master’s degree in classics from Oxford University. He’s been a clerk for a federal court of appeals judge in Virginia and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

He worked with former independent counsel Kenneth Starr during a Starr-led challenge to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 before the Supreme Court. Starr, of course, is best known as the special prosecutor who investigated President Clinton.

“Oh, I had nothing to do with that,” said Shanmugam, noting that his association with Starr began after copies of The Starr Report and its revelations about Clinton’s relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky appeared in bookstores across the nation.

In June, Shanmugam joined the U.S. Office of the Solicitor General. He’s scheduled to argue a Fourth Amendment case before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

“I can’t imagine a better place to grow up than Lawrence, Kansas,” Shanmugam said. “I had a wonderful childhood and a terrific education. I feel I owe a lot to my teachers because without them, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I’ve had.”

One of those teachers was Raymond Wilbur, who taught mathematics at Lawrence High School for 30 years before retiring in 1995.

“He was absolutely one of the best students I ever had,” Wilbur said. “He’s a lawyer now, but you know what? It didn’t matter, he would have been a success in whatever field he chose.”

Shanmugam’s parents, Sam and Radha Shanmugan, plan to be in Washington this week to see the oldest of their two sons argue before the Supreme Court.

“He has always been interested in constitutional law,” said Sam Shanmugan, an engineering professor at Kansas University for the past 25 years.

The Shanmugans’ other son, Ravi Shanmugam, 26, has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Harvard and master’s degree in business administration from the University of California-Berkeley. Currently, he is working on a doctoral degree at Berkeley.