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Law School Briefs is Indiana Lawyer’s new section that will highlight news from
the four law schools in Indiana. While we have always covered law school news and will continue to keep up with law school
websites and press releases for updates, we’ll gladly accept submissions for this section from law students, professors,
alums, and others who want to share law school-related news. If you’d like to submit news or a photo from an event,
please send it to Rebecca Berfanger, [email protected], along with contact information for any follow up questions at least
two weeks in advance of the issue date.
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All four Indiana law schools had commencement ceremonies in May recognizing more than 800 graduates around the state.
Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis awarded 312 J.D. degrees May 8; Indiana University Maurer School of
Law – Bloomington gave 197 J.D. degrees the same day; Notre Dame Law School gave 172 J.D. degrees May 16; and Valparaiso
University School of Law awarded 162 J.D. degrees May 22.
Those numbers include students who will likely be eligible to receive their degrees later this summer and were eligible to
participate in their respective graduation ceremonies. These numbers don’t include those who received an LL.M. or other
legal degrees.
The numbers don’t reflect how many of these students will actually take the bar exam, or plan to stay in Indiana to
practice law. Those numbers are typically officially released at least nine months after graduation to give career services
offices enough time to gather job surveys from alumni.
Distinguished speakers addressed the graduates, including Richard Lewis “Dick” Thornburgh, former U.S. attorney
general, former governor of Pennsylvania, and former under-secretary general of the United Nations, who spoke at I.U. School
of Law – Indianapolis. John Hoehner, who received both his undergraduate and law degrees at Valparaiso University and
served as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, spoke at Valparaiso University School of Law. 7th Circuit
Court of Appeals Judge John D. Tinder spoke at his alma mater of I.U. Maurer School of Law – Bloomington, and Notre
Dame Law School professor Michael Kirsch and Dean Nell Newton addressed graduates in South Bend.•
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