49 to Graduate From Baylor Law School Aug. 3

by Alan Hunt

Forty-nine law students are scheduled to graduate from Baylor School of Law during commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, in Waco Hall.
Keynote speaker will be former Texas Supreme Court Justice Jack Hightower, who was selected by the graduates to deliver the commencement address. Hightower was named 1996 Baylor Lawyer of the Year earlier this year in recognition of his distinguished legal career and his service to Baylor. He is a 1951 Baylor law graduate.
A native of Memphis, Texas, Hightower retired from the Texas Supreme Court bench in January this year after seven years of service. A former District Attorney for the 46th Judicial District, he was elected to the Texas Senate in 1964, serving for 10 years. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and served for 11 years.
For three years, from 1985-87, he served as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas, and the following year he was elected Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He was re-elected four years later.
Hightower has received many accolades and awards, including several prestigious honors from Baylor, where he served as a trustee for 10 years.
Hooding the graduates during the ceremony will be Louis S. Muldrow, who serves as the Leon Jaworski Professor of Practice and Procedural Law, and Gerald Powell, the Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence. The invocation will be given by Angus S. McSwain Jr., law dean emeritus and Master Teacher.
The degrees will be awarded by Law Dean Brad Toben, the Gov. Bill and Vara Faye Daniel Professor of Law, and Leah W. Jackson, associate dean and professor of law.
After the ceremony, a reception for the graduates and their guests will be hosted by the Baylor Law Alumni Association in the Barfield Drawing Room of the Bill Daniel Student Center.