2012 Law School Commencement Speakers

• Akron:  Solomon Oliver (Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio)
• Albany:  Victoria Graffeo (Judge, New York Court of Appeals)
• American:  Valerie Jarrett (Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama)
• Appalachian:  Beverly Perdue (Governor, North Carolina)
• Arizona State:  Sandra Day O'Connor (Retired Justice, U.S. Supreme Court)
• Arkansas-Fayetteville:  Jeffrey Gearhart (Vice President & General Counsel, Wal-Mart)
• Arkansas-Little Rock:  Dustin McDaniel (Attorney General, Arkansas)
• Ave Maria:  Robert George (Professor, Princeton University)
• Barry:  Jose Rodriguez (Judge, Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida)
• Boston College:  Victoria Kennedy (widow of former Sen. Edward Kennedy)
• Boston University:  Roderick Ireland (Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court)
• Brooklyn:  Carol Bagley Amon (Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York)
• BYU:  Thomas Griffith (Judge. U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit)
• Campbell:  William Suter (Clerk, U.S. Supreme Court)
• Capital:  Robert Schottenstein (Chairman & CEO, M/I Homes)
• Cardozo:  Jonathan Lippman (Chief Judge, New York Court of Appeals)
• Case Western:  Leila Vespoli (Vice President & General Counsel, FirstEnergy Corp.)
• Catholic:  Daniel Gappagher (Commissioner, SEC)
• Chapman:  Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye (Chief Justice, California Supreme Court)
• Charleston:  Hulett "Bucky" Askew (Consultant on Legal Education, ABA)
• Charlotte:  Anthony Foxx (Mayor, Charlotte)
• Chicago-Kent:  Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol (Princess, Thailand), Laurel Bellows (President-elect, ABA)
• Cincinnati:  William Robinson (President, ABA)
• Cleveland State:  Yvette McGee Brown (Justice, Ohio Supreme Court)
• Colorado:  Neil Gorsuch (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit)
• Columbia:  Donald Verrilli (Solicitor General, United States)
• Connecticut:  John Lewis (Member, U.S. House of Representatives)
• CUNY:  Ronald Ellis (Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York)
• Dayton:  Elizabeth A. McClanahan (Justice, Virginia Supreme Court)
• DePaul:  John Simon (Partner, Jenner & Block, Chicago)
• Drexel:  Anthony Scirica (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit)
• Duke:  John Paul Stevens (Retired Justice, U.S. Supreme Court)
• Elon:  James Wynn, Jr. (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit)
  
• Emory:  Della Wager Wells (Partner, Alston & Baird, Atlanta)
• Florida Coastal:  Deanell Tacha (Dean, Pepperdine University School of Law)
• Florida State:  Charles Canady (Chief Justice, Florida Supreme Court)
• Fordham:  Michelle DePass (Assistant Administrator, Office of International & Tribal Affairs, EPA)
• George Washington:  Carmen Ortiz (U.S. Attorney, Massachusetts)
• Georgetown:  Gay McDougall (Visiting Professor, Georgetown University Law Center)
• Georgia State:  Bobby Lee Cook (Defense Attorney, Summerville, GA)
• Georgia:  Richard Story (Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia)
• Golden Gate:  Morgan Christen (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit)
• Gonzaga:  Debra Stephens (Justice, Washington Supreme Court)
• Hamline:  Lucinda Jesson (Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services)
• Harvard:  Eric Holder (Attorney General, United States)
• Hawaii:  David A. Ezra (Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii)
• Houston:  Alan Crain (Vice President & General Counsel, Baker Hughes)
• Idaho:  Roger Burdick (Chief Justice, Idaho Supreme Court)
• Illinois:  Edward Walters (CEO, Fastcase)
• Indiana-Bloomington:  David Carden (U.S. Ambassador, Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
• Indiana-Indianapolis:  Patricia McGowan Wald (Former Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit)
• Iowa:  Donald Verrilli (Solicitor General, United States)
• John Marshall (Atlanta):  Lawrence Lessig (Professor, Harvard Law School)
• Kentucky:  William Robinson (President, ABA)
• Lewis & Clark:  Neal Katyal (Professor, Georgetown University Law Center)
• Louisville:  Lisabeth Hughes Abramson (Justice, Kenntucky Supreme Court)
• Loyola-L.A.:  Margaret McKeown (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit)
• LSU:  Bennett Johnston (Former Member, U.S. Senate)
• Maryland:  Thomas Sager (Vice President & General Counsel, DuPont)
• Mercer:  Jim Petro (Chancellor, Ohio Board of Regents)
• Michigan:  Eric Holder (Attorney General, United States)
• Michigan State:  Richard Cordray (Director, U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
• Minnesota:  Al Franken (Member, U.S. Senate)
• Mississippi:  William Winter (Governor, Mississippi)
• Montana:  William Neukom (Former Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft; Founder, World Justice Project)
• Nebraska:  Jeffrey Toobin (Analyst, CNN)
• New England:  Howard Dean (Former Governor, Vermont) 
• New Hampshire:  John Lewis (Member, U.S. House of Representatives)
• New York:  Kenneth Feinberg (Founder & Managing Partner, Feinberg Rozen, New York)
• North Carolina:  Eric Holder (Attorney General, United States)
• North Carolina Central:  Warren Ballentine (Radio Talk Show Host)
• North Dakota:  Gerald VandeWalle (Chief Justice, North Dakota Supreme Court)
• Notre Dame:  G. Robert Blakey (Professor, Notre Dame Law School)
• Northeastern:  Jacqueline Berrien (Chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
• Northwestern:  Jerry Reinsdorf (Owner, Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox)
• NYU:  Anthony Foxx (Mayor, Charlotte, North Carolina)
• Ohio Northern:  Yvette McGee Brown (Justice, Ohio Supreme Court)
• Oklahoma:  James Gallogly (CEO & President, LyondellBasell Industries)
• Oklahoma City:  John Norman (Partner, Norman & Edem, Oklahoma City)
• Oregon:  Garrett Epps (Professor, University of Baltimore School of Law)
• Pace:  Andrew Carter, Jr., (Judge, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York)
• Pennsylvania:  Rudy Giuliani (Mayor, New York)
• Penn State:  Thomas Vanaskie (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit)
• Pepperdine:  Tim Perrin (Vice Dean, Pepperdine University School of Law; Incoming President, Lubbock Christian University)
• Quinnipiac:  Lubbie Harper Jr. (Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court)
• Regent:  Michele Bachmann (Member, U.S. House of Representatives)
• Richmond:  Roger Gregory (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit)
• Roger Williams:  Jack Weinstein (Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York)
• Rutgers-Camden:  Theodore McKee (Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit)
• Rutgers-Newark:  Paul Fishman (U.S. Attorney, New Jersey)
• San Diego:  David Camp (Member, U.S. House of Representatives)
• San Francisco:  Goodwin Liu (Justice, California Supreme Court)
• Seton Hall:  Ryan Crocker (U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan)
• SMU:  Robert H. Dedman, Jr., (Founder & CEO, ClubCorp)
• South Dakota:  Judith Meierhenry (Retired Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court)
• Southern Illinois:  Sheila Simon (Lieutenant Governor, Illinois)
• St. John's:  Eugene Orza (former Chief Operating Officer, Major League Baseball Players Association)
• St. Mary's:  Nelson Wolff (Judge, Bexar County, Texas)
• Stetson:  Nieva Brock (Staff Judge Advocate, Naval Criminal Investigative Service)
• SUNY-Buffalo:  Martha Minow (Dean, Harvard Law School)
• Syracuse:  Dan Quayle (Former Vice President, United States)
• Texas:  Joseph Jamail (Founding Partner, Jamail & Kolius, Houston)
• Tennessee:  Ray Mabus (Secretary, U.S. Navy)
• Texas Tech:  Robert Black (President, Texas Bar Association)
• Thomas Jefferson:  Barry Hill (Senior Counsel, EPA)
• Tulane:  Reginald Davis (Vice President & General Counsel, Zynga Gaming Network)
• Tulsa:  Steadman Upham (President, Tulsa University)
• UC-Berkeley:  Kamala Harris (Attorney General, California)
• UC-Davis:  Goodwin Liu (Justice, California Supreme Court)
• UC-Hastings:  Jeff Adachi (Public Defender, San Francisco)
• UC-Irvine:  Harry T. Edwards (Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit)
• UCLA:  Chai Feldblum (Commissioner, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
• USC:  Goodwin Liu (Justice, California Supreme Court)
• Utah:  Deborah Dugan (CEO, (RED))
• Valparaiso:  Roberta Lang (General Counsel & Global Vice President of Legal Affairs, Whole Foods)
• Vermont:  Paul Reiber (Justice, Vermont Supreme Court)
• Villanova:  Seth Williams (District Attorney, Philadelphia)
• Virginia:  Neal Katyal (Professor, Georgetown University Law Center)
• Washington & Lee:  Linda Klein (Chair, ABA House of Delegates)
• Washington U.:  Mike Peters (Editorial Cartoonist, Mother Goose & Grimm)
• Western New England:  Barbara Lenk (Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court)
• Whittier:  Stephen Zack (Former President, ABA)
• Widener:  Christopher Coons (Member, U.S. Senate), William Nettles (U.S. Attorney, South Carolina)
• William & Mary:  John Charles Thomas (Former Justice, Virginia Supreme Court)
• William Mitchell:  Stephen Bonner (President & CEO, Cancer Treatment Centers of America)
• Willamette:  Carlos Moreno (Former Justice, California Supreme Court)