Prof. Gerald Powell to Speak at Baylor Law Graduation Nov. 4

October 30, 2006

Professor Gerald R. Powell will give the keynote address during Baylor Law School's commencement ceremonies at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4, in the Miller Chapel. Baylor President John M. Lilley also will participate in the program and will award juris doctor degrees to the 13 graduates.

A Baylor law graduate and a 20-year member of the law faculty, Powell directs Baylor Law School's highly acclaimed Practice Court Program. He serves as the Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence Law and also holds Baylor's coveted Master Teacher designation, the highest honor granted to Baylor faculty members.

Earning his bachelor's degree from Baylor in 1974, Powell received his law degree with honors in 1977. As a law student he was a member of the National Mock Trial Team and executive editor of the Baylor Law Review. Following graduation, he joined the Dallas law firm of Vial, Hamilton, Koch & Knox, where he had an active trial and appellate practice with the firm and was made a partner in 1982. Four years later, Powell returned to Baylor Law School to teach, and in 1987, he was appointed the Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence Law.

Assisting Dr. Lilley in awarding degrees during the commencement program will be Dean Brad Toben, the Governor Bill and Vara Faye Daniel Professor of Law, and Leah W. Jackson, professor of law and associate dean.

Hooding the graduates will be David M. Guinn, who serves as the Louise L. Morrison Professor of Constitutional Law and Master Teacher, and Jim Wren, assistant professor of law. The invocation will be given by Ronald L. Beal, professor of law.

After the ceremony, a reception for the graduates and their guests will be hosted by the Baylor Law Alumni Association on the riverside veranda of the Fanning Student Lounge at the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center.