Wayne Law Commencement honors 120

Wayne State University Law School’s 2017 Commencement ceremony Monday, May 15 honored 120 recipients of degrees for December 2016 and candidates for degrees in May 2017 and August 2017

Students eligible to participate in the ceremony included 113 for juris doctor and 7 for masters of laws. The ceremony was in the Detroit Opera House.

Albie Sachs, a human rights activist and former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, was awarded the honorary doctor of laws degree in tribute to his distinguished legal career and outstanding contributions as a human rights activist, lawyer, and champion for liberation and equality.

Justice Richard Bernstein of the Michigan Supreme Court provided the keynote address. Bernstein is the first blind justice elected to Michigan’s highest court. He previously served an eight-year term on Wayne State University’s Board of Governors and was chair from 2009-10.

Also speaking were Interim Dean Lance Gable; Marilyn Kelly, ‘71, member of the WSU Board of Governors; WSU President M. Roy Wilson; Sandra Hughes O’Brien, chair of the WSU Board of Governors; Hannah Fielstra, president of the Wayne Law Student Bar Association Board of Governors; and Interim Associate Dean Susan Cancelosi.

Receiving awards at the ceremony were professors of the year Kirsten Matoy Carlson and Alan S. Schenk.