06/17/91

CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558

Stanford Law School presents diplomas, honors

STANFORD -- Stanford Law School graduated l85 students at its 1991 commencement Sunday, June 16.

The event, held on the lawn between the Law School and J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library, followed the universitywide commencement exercises.

Paul Brest, dean of the Law School, welcomed the school's 98th graduating class and a record crowd of more than l,300 relatives and friends.

The graduating class voted the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for excellence in teaching to Barbara H. Fried, assistant professor of law.

In a brief speech before prsenting the award, class president Timothy Fox told the class: "Law is an incredibly powerful tool to touch people's lives. We have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference. Let us accept the responsibility to use this opportunity."

Fried, who left private practice in 1987 to enter law teaching, said that her career change was influenced in part by two maxims she had found in Chinese fortune cookies: "Make up your mind what you want to do, and do it" and "You have great talents. Use them."

"Life is short and dear," she told the graduates. "Don't throw it away on things that don't matter to you.

"Some parts of our lives we choose; most parts choose us. The challenge is to take this life -- cobbled together out of choice and necessity -- and make something of it, make a life that matters."

Brest, in the final speech of the ceremony, urged the departing graduates to understand and support the commitment of Stanford and other institutions of higher learning "to creating a nurturing environment for a diverse student body and for the vigorous exploration of diverse ideas."

Top scholars

John Thornburgh of Birmingham, Ala., was named the Nathan Abbott Scholar for the highest cumulative grade point average in the graduating class. Thornburgh also had won the first- and second-year honors for the highest average.

Gary Feinerman of Highland Park, Ill., received the Urban A. Sontheimer Third-Year Honor for having earned the second-highest cumulative average in the graduating class.

Order of the Coif

Eighteen members of the class were elected to the Order of the Coif, the national law honor society. Membership in the order is extended to graduating students who rank at the top 10 percent of the class academically and are considered worthy of the honor.

In addition to Thornburgh and Feinerman, the newly elected members of the Order of the Coif are Dan Bagatell of Phoenix, Ariz.; Michael Dahl of Omaha, Neb.; Rob Eaton of Auburn, Wash.; Clark Freshman of Plantation, Fla.; H. Jay Kallman of Saratoga, Calif.; Raleigh Levine of Bethesda, Md.; Alex Miller of San Francisco; Michael Moyers of Cupertino, Calif.; William Needle of Maplewood, N.J.; Jay Pomerantz; Olga Popov of New York City; Peter Savich of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada; Amy Silverstein of San Francisco; Edward Swanson of Janesville, Wis.; Rosemary Tarlton of San Francisco; and Maria Wolff of San Francisco.

'With Distinction' graduates

A total of 47 students -- more than one-quarter of the Class of 1991 -- graduated "with distinction," an honor recognizing high academic achievement during their studies at Stanford Law School.

In addition to the 18 new Order of the Coif members, those graduates were Stephen Bene of Austin, Texas; Michelle Ben-Yehuda of Los Angeles; Gerald Brown of Alexandria, Va.; Mark Budensiek of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Dorianne Davidson of Richmond, Calif.; Philip Deutch of Lexington, Mass.; Markus Dubber of Hannover, Germany; Thomas Dugard of Peoria, Ill.; Carin Duryee of Tucson, Ariz.; and James Earle of Miami.

Also: Mark Ebel of Littleton, Colo.; Anthony Fenwick of Palo Alto, Calif.; Martin Hansen of Grass Lake, Mich.; Lillie Hsu of Chicago; Robert Klein of Los Angeles; Jamie Kogan of Mt. Kisco, N.Y.; David Lamarre of Longmeadow, Mass.; Dana Martin of Tenafly, N.J.; Julie Matlof of Sacramento, Calif.; Bradley Miller of Tucson, Ariz.

And: Daniel Ninivaggi of Closter, N.J.; Eden Quainton of Washington, D.C.; Joanne Roit of Mesa, Ariz.; Stephanie Rosen of Nashville, Tenn.; Paul Schmidtberger of Jersey City, N.J.; Alexander Silverman of West Long Branch, N.J.; Jeannette Swent of Salt Lake City; Matthew Viola of Smithtown, N.Y.; and David Vogel of Wilmette, Ill.

Moot Court awards

Ted Meisel of Bethesda, Md., and Rob Eaton received the Mr. and Mrs. Duncan L. Matteson Sr. Award as the best overall team of advocates in the 1991 Marion Rice Kirkwood Moot Court competition. Eaton also earned the Walter J. Cummings Award as best oral advocate.

In the same competition, Anthony Justman of Fruita, Colo., and Raleigh Levine won the Walter J. Cummings Award for best moot court brief. Justman and Levine also received the Mr. and Mrs. Duncan L. Matteson Sr. Award for the runner-up team of advocates.

Law Review awards

Six members of the class have been honored for work on the Stanford Law Review.

Dan Bagatell and Martin Hansen are the 1990-91 winners of the Board of Editors' Award for outstanding editorial contributions to the Review. Jonathan Sherman of Washington, D.C., was the 1989-90 recipient of the award.

Alexander Silverman earned the Irving Hellman Jr. Special Award for the outstanding student note published by the Stanford Law Review.

John Moore Jr. of Teaneck, N.J., was given the Jay M. Spears Award for outstanding service to the Law Review in his second year.

And Dixie Hieb of Tripp, S.D., received the United States Law Week Award for outstanding service to the Review.

Other awards

William McCullough of Mattituck, N.Y., was given the 1990-91 Frank Baker Belcher Award for the best academic work in evidence.

Clark Freshman was the first-place recipient of the 1990-91 Steven M. Block Civil Liberties Award for distinguished written work on issues relating to personal freedom. Susan Holley of Los Angeles, and Paul Schmidtberger were the second- and third-place recipients, respectively.

John Moore was the 1989-90 co-winner of the Carl Mason Franklin Prize for the best paper in international law.

Raleigh Levine was presented with the 1990-91 Richard S. Goldsmith Award for the best research paper concerning dispute resolution. Bradley Mozee of Santa Catalina Island, Calif., was the 1989- 90 award winner.

Bradley Miller was the first-place recipient of the 1990-91 Olaus and Adolph Murie Award for the most thoughtful written work in environmental law. Bradley Mozee was the second-place recipient.

Brian Akers of Cleveland was the 1988-89 recipient of the R. Hunter Summers Trial Practice Award, presented by officers of Sergeants-at-Law for outstanding student performance.

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