Baylor Law School to Hold Summer Commencement Exercises Aug. 2
by Julie Carlson, director of communications, Baylor Law School, (254) 710-6681
Baylor Law School will hold commencement exercises at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building. Jeremy Counseller, associate professor of law, will deliver the keynote address. Additionally, John Paul Neyland, the highest ranking student in the graduating class, will deliver student remarks. Baylor regent John C. Reimers of Beaumont also will participate in the program and will help award juris doctor degrees to the 35 graduates.
Counseller, who received an Outstanding Professor Award from Baylor University in 2007, 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. Counseller also earned an M.B.A. from the Baylor University Hankamer School of Business and a B.A. summa cum laude from Stephen F. Austin State University.
After receiving his J.D., 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 & Guiliani LLP), where he was an associate in the trial section.
His litigation experience includes the representation of both plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury and commercial cases, but his practice focused on the defense of professional negligence actions. His trial experience includes obtaining one of the first defense verdicts in Texas in an equitable subrogation action brought by an insurance company against a law firm. Counseller continues to represent clients and consult in matters involving commercial disputes and product defects.
He has authored numerous articles and essays and presented papers on various evidentiary and procedural issues. Counseller is the co-author and editor of the practical treatise 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, and he is the Contributing Evidence Editor of the State Bar of Texas's General Practice Digest.
Counseller teaches numerous courses, including Civil Procedure, Trial Advocacy, and Conflict of Laws. He is also 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 ATLA National Championship mock trial team.
Counseller and his wife, Jennifer, who serves as the director of children's programs at Austin Avenue United Methodist Church, have three children: Jack (7), Brett (4) and Kate, who was born in late March.
Assisting Reimers with awarding degrees will be Dean Brad Toben, The M.C. and Mattie Caston Professor of Law, and 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, assistant professor of law. The invocation will be given by Brian Serr, professor of law.
After the ceremony, a reception for the graduates and their guests will be hosted by the Baylor Law Alumni Association at the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center.