LAW SCHOOL'S 116th COMMENCEMENT

234 received juris doctor degrees

on Saturday, May 21

An award given in memory of Ryan J. Mullins, a member of the University at Buffalo Law School’s Class of 2005, who died suddenly in 2003, was presented for the first time at the Law School’s 116th Commencement. The new annual award was presented to Daniel Keyes Morris, a graduating senior demonstrating the greatest proficiency in criminal law and criminal trial practice skills, according to Dean R. Nils Olsen.

At the Law School ceremonies, held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 21st in the Center for the Arts, University President John B. Simpson and Dean Olsen conferred juris doctor degrees on 234 students. Nine students received post-graduate LL.M. degrees in criminal law; and 6 students received post-graduate general LL.M. degrees.

For a complete list of the graduates, click here.

For a complete list of award recipients, click here.

Honorable Paul L. Friedman ’68, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, gave the keynote address. An honored guest at the commencement was Gordon R. Gross ’55, a member of the State University of New York Board of Trustees. As part of their 50-year reunion celebration, Gross’ class, the Class of 1955, participated in the commencement.

Kenneth F. Joyce, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, served as Marshall. Greetings from the Law Alumni Association were given by President Terrance P. Flynn ’88. Matthew Robert Coseo ’05 presented the student address. Vice Dean and Professor Susan V. Mangold presented awards and prizes. Ericka N. Bennett ‘05 and Melanie G. Finkel ’05, of the Commencement Committee, presented faculty and staff awards. Herald was Professor Janet S. Lindgren. SUNY Distinguished Service Professor David M. Engel, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Elizabeth B. Mensch, Adjunct Associate Professor Amy Deen Westbrook and Professor James A. Wooten hooded graduates.

HONORABLE PAUL L. FRIEDMAN ’68, OF THE US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DELIVERS ADDRESS AT LAW SCHOOL COMMENCEMENT

Judge Paul L. Friedman ’68, a graduate of Buffalo Bennett High School, Cornell University, and the University of Buffalo Law School, was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.

Judge Friedman graduated cum laude in 1968 as an associate editor of the UB Law Review and was among the first graduates to serve as a law clerk to a federal judge outside Western New York. He clerked for Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 1968 to 1969, so it was especially significant when, twenty-six years later, Judge Robinson administered the oath of office to Judge Friedman as he joined him as a colleague on the same District Court. Judge Friedman also clerked for Judge Roger Robb of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Judge Friedman served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1970 to 1974, where he tried over a hundred criminal cases in the local and federal courts and argued cases in the courts of appeals. He assisted the original U.S. Attorney team that investigated and prosecuted the Watergate break-in. Judge Friedman left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1974 to become an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States under Solicitor General Robert Bork. He argued five cases in the Supreme Court of the United States

For the next 18 years, Judge Friedman was with the international law firm of White & Case, ultimately as managing partner of its Washington office. During that time, he handled a wide range of civil litigation, appellate cases and white collar criminal defense matters, which included criminal antitrust, defense procurement fraud, general commercial litigation, administrative agency proceedings, and constitutional, securities, banking, bankruptcy, insurance and antitrust litigation. From 1986 to 1988, he also was a principal deputy to Judge Lawrence Walsh, Independent Counsel for the Iran-Contra Investigation

Judge Friedman served as President of the District of Columbia Bar, the third largest state bar in the country, and as Chair of the U.S. District Court Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, the U.S. District Court Grievance Committee, and the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission. He was the first Chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and was a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, the ABA Special Commission on Interdisciplinary Practice, and the ABA Standing Committee on Continuing Education of the Bar. Judge Friedman currently is a member of the American Law Institute and its Council and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Judge Friedman is a well-known speaker and author on matters relating to professionalism, legal ethics, the administration of justice, and sentencing. He is a recognized expert on issues relating to civility in the courts and the importance of an independent judiciary. His most recent publications include “Civility, Judicial Independence, and the Role of the Bar,” which appeared in Washington Lawyer magazine, and “Taking the High Road: Civility, Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law,” in the N.Y.U. Annual Survey of American Law.

As a federal judge, Judge Friedman presided over the largest civil rights settlement in U.S. history, a class action lawsuit brought by African-American farmers alleging decades of discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the continuing class action suits against the District of Columbia for alleged failings in the provision of special education services to disabled children; hearings with respect to John Hinckley’s ongoing requests for unsupervised release from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital; lawsuits by foreign sovereigns against U.S. tobacco companies seeking damages for health care costs; criminal cases that involved federal election law, campaign finance and false statement violations; the merger of West Publishing Company and The Thomson Corporation; and many other noteworthy and interesting cases, including the suit brought by the descendants of Dr. Samuel Mudd, a U.S. citizen convicted before a military commission in the conspiracy to kill President Abraham Lincoln.

Judge Friedman was a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the UB Law School from its creation in 1991 until 2002. In 1998, he received the UB Law Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award for his “conscientious and diligent performance in the judiciary.”