Columbia Law School to Hold Graduation Ceremony on May 17, 2012

New York, May 11, 2012—More than 700 J.D., and LL.M. degree candidates will participate in Columbia Law School's graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 17, on the South Lawn of the Columbia University campus.

The remarkably diverse and talented Class of 2012 includes engineers, entrepreneurs, Fulbright scholars, military veterans, journalists, and an array of other accomplished individuals.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony, to be held from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., will be U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. ’83, who represents the federal government before the Supreme Court. Verrilli was confirmed and sworn in last year as the 46th solicitor general after serving as deputy counsel to President Barack Obama and as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Professor Robert J. Jackson Jr. will also speak as the 2012 recipient of the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching, as voted upon by students. The award is named after a famed longtime professor of conflicts of law and torts at the Law School who developed the first standard admissions test for American law schools. Reese died in 1990.

Other speakers will include: David M. Schizer, Dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law; Nona R. Farahnik ’12, outgoing Student Senate President; John G. Albanese ’12, speaking on behalf of the J.D. candidates; and Theodore Te ’12 LL.M., who will represent fellow LL.M. candidates.

Members of the Class of 1962, who will celebrate their 50th reunion this year, will join the graduation procession as well.

The graduation will be webcast live at the Columbia Law School website, where profiles of a sampling of graduates will also be available for viewing. Speeches and remarks, among other materials, will be posted online as soon as they become available.