Baylor Law School to Hold Commencement Nov. 5

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Baylor Law School will hold its fall commencement at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at Waco's First Baptist Church. Professor Jeremy Counseller will deliver the commencement address. Roberto Nass-Worthington, the highest ranking student in the graduating class, will deliver student remarks.

Baylor President Ken Starr and Baylor Law School Dean Brad Toben also will participate in the program and award juris doctor degrees to the graduates. Assisting Starr and Toben in awarding degrees during the commencement program will be Leah W. Jackson, professor of law and associate dean. Hooding the graduates will be Gerald Powell, The Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence and Master Teacher, and James Wren, associate professor of law. Chase Gordon Neely, who will receive his law degree during commencement, will deliver the invocation.

Counseller joined the faculty of Baylor Law School in 2003. He graduated from Baylor Law School with honors and was a member of the Baylor Law Review, the Order of the Barristers, and the interscholastic moot court and mock trial teams. He also earned an M.B.A. from Baylor's Hankamer School of Business and a B.A. summa cum laude from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Following his graduation from law school, Counseller served as a law clerk to the Honorable Reynaldo G. Garza of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He then entered private practice in Houston, Texas, with Bracewell & Patterson, LLP (now Bracewell & Giuliani LLP), where he was an associate in the trial section. Counseller also served as an Assistant Criminal District Attorney in McLennan County, Texas, where he prosecuted both misdemeanors and felonies.

Counseller has authored articles and presented papers on various evidentiary and procedural issues. He is also the co-author and editor of the Handbook of Texas Evidence (Civil Practice). In 2006, the President of the State Bar of Texas appointed him to serve on the Administration of the Rules of Evidence Committee. He is also the Contributing Evidence Editor of the State Bar of Texas's General Practice Digest. In 2007, Baylor University designated Counseller an outstanding tenure track faculty member in recognition of distinguished teaching.

Counseller teaches Civil Procedure and Texas and Federal Procedure in Baylor Law School's renowned Practice Court program. He also is a coach of the Law School's interscholastic moot court and mock trial teams. In 2005, he was the coach of Baylor Law School's Association of Trial Lawyers of America national championship mock trial team.

A reception for graduates and their guests will take place immediately after commencement at the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center.

About Baylor Law School

Established in 1849, Baylor Law School was the first law school in Texas and one of the first west of the Mississippi River. Today, the school has more than 7,000 living alumni. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Baylor Law School has a record of producing outstanding lawyers, many of whom decide on a career in public service. The Law School boasts two Texas governors, members or former members of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate, two former directors of the FBI, ambassadors, federal judges, justices of the Texas Supreme Court and members of the Texas Legislature among its notable alumni. In 2010, Baylor Law received the Law School Commitment to Service Award that is presented by the Texas Access to Justice Commission. The School's advocacy program also is ranked third in the nation by U.S. News.

About Baylor

Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions.
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