Degrees Awarded, Judge Thomas Hardiman Addresses Graduates at Law Commencement

Duquesne President Ken Gormley conferred Juris Doctor degrees on 120 graduates at the School of Law’s commencement ceremony at the A.J. Palumbo Center on May 25. Gormley knew several students and their families from his years of serving as dean and professor of law.

Associate Law Professor Steven Baicker-McKee, associate dean of teaching excellence and strategic initiatives, opened the ceremony and welcomed the graduates and guests. The Rev. Daniel Walsh, C.S.Sp., who presided over the baccalaureate liturgy earlier in the morning, offered the invocation. Dean Maureen Lally-Green, L’74, thanked Walsh for his longtime support of the law school and its students during her remarks, calling him “a true father to the law community.”

Earlier in the program, Lally-Green announced Law Professor Nancy Perkins, the Duquesne University Noble J. Dick Endowed Chair in Academic Leadership, as the recipient of the 2018 Dr. John E. Murray Faculty Scholarship Award. The dean also recognized the retirement of Law Professor Ronald Ricci.

Gormley introduced the commencement speaker—the Honorable Thomas M. Hardiman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit—and noted his distinguished service to the law school as an adjunct professor of constitutional law, founder of a law scholarship and mentor to numerous law students and recent graduates.

Among the total law graduates in 2018, one student earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) for Foreign Lawyers degree.