Commencement 2007
 Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano '83 MP3 Class Photo (right-click link and "save as"; photo will be larger if you download it rather than just clicking on it; final size is approximately 9" by 14" at 300 dpi.) Individual Speeches Dean John Jeffries (4:54) MP3 SBA President Adam Wolk (5:33) MP3  E-mail  Print |
To be successful in today’s legal world, lawyers must be able to master the rapid changes that accompany progress, said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano ’83 at the May 20 commencement ceremony at the Law School. Changes in technology, international law, and the rule of law are three areas that will affect the entire legal profession over the next century. She challenged the Class of 2007 to make sense of these transformations. “Your job will be to sort out where to alter the law and where to leave it alone,” she said.
The convergence of science, medicine, and engineering will continue to produce unimaginable and unpredictable results, explained Napolitano. “It will be up to lawyers to get ahead of the changes,” she said. “When you consider that we have now mapped the human genome, that our mobile phones allow us to watch videos and make them, and that we may only be a year or two away from a production line car that routinely gets more than 100 miles to the gallon, it becomes clear that the speed at which our world reinvents itself is astonishing. And as the changes come faster and faster, someone needs to make sense of them.”
Napolitano noted that international law also will continue to undergo myriad changes. Globalization has made it possible for a company in Kansas City to have a supply chain that spans three countries on two continents, or for a technician in India to interpret the results of an x-ray of a patient in Texas, she said. Ordinary lawyers will have to sort through the laws that govern transactions that pass through international borders. International law will no longer be an area for just specialists and academics, she observed, but a fact of life that all lawyers must have in their tool kits. International law “will be part and parcel of the routine practice of law and you will have to master it.”
Lawyers will also have to protect the rule of law in this ever-changing environment. When the founders set out to create “a more perfect union” during the formation of the United States, they passed on the responsibility of protecting the rule of law to subsequent generations.
As the Class of 2007 makes their way into the rapidly changing world, Napolitano offered two pieces of advice. First, she told graduates not to lose themselves in the overwhelming first years of practice, when new lawyers learn law through practice and work long hours.
“You do have the right to nourish your spirit, keep close to your family, and grow in ways that extend beyond knowledge of the law,” she said.
Second, she recommended graduates use their talents to improve their communities. You’ve missed the point if you became a lawyer for financial gain, she said. “To know the law is to know how to make this world better through its proper application and to practice law properly is to engage in public service of the highest order. Never forget that being an attorney is not just a job, it is a calling, it is a way of life,” she said.
“So for the future, I say do all of these things, do them well. For tomorrow I say good luck on the bar exam. And for today, I simply say congratulations, ladies and gentlemen, you’ve done it.”
Dean John Jeffries called the Class of 2007 the “most committed, the most engaged, the most active, and successful class in our long history.
“You leave here with opportunity and with power. And we who send you on your way are proud of your skills, proud of your commitment, and confident in your future. We are glad to have been present at the creation of your careers in the law.”
The Law School conferred 364 Juris Doctor degrees, 33 Masters of Laws degrees, and one Doctor of Juridical Science degree to the Class of 2007.
Margaret G. Hyde Award
Ajeet Pundalika Pai
James C. Slaughter Honor Award
Khang Vinh Tran
Thomas Marshall Miller Prize
Porter Noell Wilkinson
Z Society Shannon Award
Ajeet Pundalika Pai
Law School Alumni Association Best Note Award
Thomas Chiunhong Chen
Robert E. Goldsten Award for Distinction in the Classroom
Andrew MacMaster Carlon
Teah Lolita Frederick
Roger and Madeleine Traynor Prize
Andrew MacMaster Carlon
James Michael McDonald
Herbert Kramer/Herbert Bangel Community Service Award
Kelly Dionna Voss
Mortimer Caplin Public Service Award
Brent Vernon Savoie
Robert F. Kennedy Award for Public Service
Rachel Elizabeth Cella
Edwin S. Cohen Tax Prize
Jason Lee Mcintosh
Earle K. Shawe Labor Relations Award
Sarah Louise Pendergraft
John M. Olin Prize in Law and Economics
Thomas Chiunhong Chen
Eppa Hunton IV Memorial Book Award
Christopher David Jackson
Virginia Trial Lawyers Trial Advocacy Award
Teah Lolita Frederick
Virginia State Bar Family Law Book Award
Courtney Willson Cass
Leslie Carolyn Kendrick ’06
Justice David Souter
Supreme Court of the United States
Justin Bernick ’07
The Honorable Robert Doumar ’53, LL.M. ’88
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
John Blanton ’07
Staff Clerkship
Richmond Circuit Court
Jennifer Bowen ’05
The Honorable Timothy Savage
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Pauletta Brown ’06
The Honorable Myron Steele ’70, LL.M. ’04
Delaware Supreme Court
Jamie Burro ’07
The Honorable George Kazen
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
Andrew Carlon ’07
The Honorable Milan Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Courtney Cass ’07
The Honorable J. Frederick Motz ’67
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
Gwendolynne Chen ’07
The Honorable Allan Rosas
Court of Justice of the European Communities
Tom Chen ’07
The Honorable Alvin Schall
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Gena Chieco ’07
The Honorable Thomas Rawles Jones, Jr. ’73
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Paul Crane ’07
The Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson III ’72
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Scott Cullen ’05
The Honorable R. Barclay Surrick LL.M. ’82
U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Kate Dalzell ’07
The Honorable John M. Rogers
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Linda Fang ’06
The Honorable Robert E. Cowen
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Chad Farrell ’07
The Honorable Robert Beezer ’56
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Adam Fotiades ’07
The Honorable James C. Cacheris
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Loyd Gattis ’07
The Honorable James Spencer
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Robert Glass ’07
The Honorable Kenneth Marra
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
Jeremy Graves ’07
The Honorable Adlai S. Hardin, Jr.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York
Jamieson Lee Greer ’07
The Honorable Irena Pelikanova
Court of Justice of the European Communities
Angela Harris ’07
The Honorable T.S. Ellis III
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
John Hickey ’07
The Honorable Russ Kendig
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Ohio
Isak Howell ’07
The Honorable Samuel Wilson
U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia
Christopher Jackson ’07
The Honorable Danny J. Boggs
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Christine Kim ’07
The Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain LL.M. ’92
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Lisa Kinney ’07
The Honorable Diana Gribbon Motz ’68
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Kate Kochendorfer ’07
The Honorable Jamie Orenstein
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Vanessa Kolbe ’07
The Honorable Terence T. Evans
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Jen Kosteva ’07
The Honorable James C. Dever III
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina
Shannon Lang ’07
The Honorable Nancy Friedman Atlas
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
Christopher Lynch ’07
The Honorable John D. Bates
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
Matthew Madden ’07
The Honorable Stephen Williams
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Jonathan Marx ’06
The Honorable Phyllis Kravitch
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
James McDonald ’07
The Honorable Jeffrey Sutton
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Derek Moore ’06
The Honorable Claude Hilton
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Everton Morris ’07
The Honorable Edwin H. Stern
New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division
Suzanne Moses ’07
The Honorable Robert B. King
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Mitch Mosvick ’07
The Honorable Jackson L. Kiser
U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia
Jon Mureen ’07
The Honorable Sidney Fitzwater
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
Ajeet Pai ’07
The Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Cathleen Phillips ’07
The Honorable James C. Cacheris
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Rob Prince ’06
The Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
Jennifer Pucci ’07
The Honorable Brian Burgess
Vermont Supreme Court
Alex Pyke ’07
The Honorable Andrew Hanen
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
Jennifer Rada ’07
The Honorable Jeb Boasberg
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Adam Schwartz ’07
The Honorable Henry Hudson
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Evan Shea ’07
The Honorable Benson E. Legg ’73
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
Sheri Shepherd ’06
The Honorable Peter J. Messitte
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
A. Blackwell Stieglitz, Jr. ’07
The Honorable John Heyburn
U.S. District Court, Western District of Kentucky
David Tejtel ’07
The Honorable Louise Flanagan ’88
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina
Scott Tenley ’06
The Honorable Cormac J. Carney
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Khang Tran ’07
The Honorable Robert G. Mayer ’75
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Miranda Turner ’07
The Honorable Beverly Martin
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia
Brian Vines ’07
The Honorable William H. Pryor, Jr.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Mark Walker ’07
The Honorable Norman K. Moon ’62, LL.M. ’88
U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia
Porter Wilkinson ’07
The Honorable Brett M. Kavanaugh
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Melanie Wilson ’07
The Honorable Kenneth F. Ripple ’68
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
James Yeagle ’07
The Honorable Boyce Martin ’63
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Paige Yurachek ’07
The Honorable Liam O’Grady
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
James Zucker ’07
The Honorable Jerry E. Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
