KU Law News
May 26, 2008
New batch of 'stars' graduates from KU Law
Members of the KU Law Class of 2008 enjoy commencement festivities. Browse a gallery of graduation photos.
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Full text of David Elkouri's graduation address.It’s a surreal moment – that instant between student and alumnus. There you are, sitting with your classmates in black robes, still recovering from final exams, listening to the Dean capture three grueling years of law school in a speech that lasts a few minutes.
Then suddenly you’re a KU Lawyer.
By the end of the summer, 163 students will have experienced that monumental transition as graduates of KU Law’s Class of 2008. Many of them attended the hooding ceremony on May 18 at the Lied Center.
Dean Gail Agrawal invited them to think back on their first days of law school.
“You had difficulty distinguishing plaintiff from defendant, trial court from appellate court, and dicta from holding,” she said. “Your first ‘briefs’ were anything from brief. Those were the days when you feared you were destined to be the living embodiments of the Kansas state motto: to the stars through difficulties.”
“With difficulties perhaps – but certainly with style – all of you have reached this particular constellation of stars.”
Members of the 2008 graduating class organized the school’s first-ever global human rights symposium, founded the Muslim Law Students Association, brought home national honors in the International Trade Law Writing Competition and the National Criminal Procedure Moot Court, fed the hungry and filed taxes for low-income clients.
The school bestowed awards to several outstanding students during the ceremony. Read more about those honors. And 1978 KU Law alumnus David Elkouri delivered a few well-received words on behalf of the school’s Board of Governors.
“You have been taught by outstanding teaching professors that have prepared you very well for the next steps in your education,” he said. “In return for this, always do what you can to enhance the reputation of KU Law, by being an excellent attorney who always is the strongest advocate for your client, while constantly practicing with integrity, honor and humility.”
