Category: Law School News

The Law School held its Annual Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 13, 2006 in the Knapp Center at Drake University before a crowd of approximately 2,500. One hundred and fifty-nine members of the Class of 2006 received their Juris Doctor degrees in a ceremony attended by students, family and friends,

Bryan Glinton, GR'93, LW'93, says this without a hint of irony: "The Bahamas is a hot jurisdiction right now." Glinton is talking about the business climate rather than the temperatures in his native Nassau. When it comes to business in the Bahamas, he's always got an eye on the thermometer.

The Law School faculty selected two students in late spring to receive awards. Brooke Timmer, 2005-06 Student Bar Association president, received the Iowa State Bar Association Award. The award is given to the graduating senior who by service, attitude and ability is expected to be the most successful member of the class in leadership and service to the Iowa State Bar.

Dwight Opperman, a 1951 Drake Law alumnus, has donated $3 million to further endow the Opperman Scholar program. The fund awards five or more merit-based, full-tuition scholarships for outstanding first-year students, and the scholarships are renewable.

A $750,000 leadership gift from Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. is earmarked for a dynamic, new program in intellectual property law, Walker said. "We want the Drake Law School to be a national and international leader in intellectual property law," Drake Law School Dean David Walker said.

Through the generosity of Wane and Donna Kern, Drake Law School received a gift of $1.5 million to endow the Kern Family Chair. The focus of the chair is pursuant to the new strategic plan and on-going efforts to enhance Drake Law School.

The Drake Law School announced $5.25 million worth of gifts at an alumni luncheon held during the Iowa State Bar Association's annual meeting

Aspen Publishers Inc. recently published the latest edition of "Problems and Materials on Decedents' Estates and Trusts," on which Martin Begleiter, Ellis and Nelle Levitt distinguished professor of law, is a new co-author. The text is the second-most widely used book of cases and materials on wills and trusts in legal education.

Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and a 1974 Drake Law School alumnus, is pursuing and prosecuting suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that left 800,000 dead.

United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spent the week of Feb. 6-10 as distinguished jurist in residence at Drake Law School, where he taught a Supreme Court seminar, met informally with students, faculty and staff and participated in a question-and-answer session with the entire Law School student body.