Commencement 2019

Congratulations, Class of 2019!

*Commencement 2020 will be held on Sunday, May 17th at 9am at the Track and Tennis Center, 100 Ashford Street. Stay tuned for more information.*

On May 19, the Boston University School of Law community held its 146th Commencement ceremony at the BU Track & Tennis Center. Robert Khuzami (’83), former deputy US attorney for the Southern District of New York, delivered the Commencement speech urging graduates to be “guardians of truth” as they pursued their legal careers.

Following Khuzami’s address, Alizae Fatima (LLM in American Law’19) and Alexandra Arnold (JD’19) delivered two exceptional speeches. Having received their degrees, the graduates joined their friends and families at a reception following the ceremony.

 

Highlights from the 146th Commencement Ceremony

Ordering Photos & Videos

Photos

Commencement Photos, Inc. took photographs of students receiving their diplomas and a formal shot once they left the stage. Commencement Photos, Inc. will be contacting students directly with information about purchasing their photos. Candids from the day can be purchased by visiting Commencement Photos, Inc.’s SmugMug page.

DVDs

Convocations are professionally-produced, high-definition, single-camera, archival recordings of individual school, college, or department diploma ceremonies. You may also order a copy of the All-University Commencement at Nickerson Field.

 

Robert Khuzami’s Remarks

About Mr. Khuzami

Robert Khuzami’s career has spanned multiple senior-level positions in the public and private sectors since graduating from Boston University School of Law in 1983.

He has twice served in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the nation’s largest and perhaps most well-regarded federal prosecutors’ office. Through April 2019, he served as the Deputy United States Attorney, second-in-command over more than 230 civil and criminal Assistant United States Attorneys who prosecute cases involving terrorism, public corruption, narcotics, violent gangs, organized crime, civil rights, securities fraud, environmental violations, money laundering, and other misconduct. In addition, Khuzami was the Acting United States Attorney supervising United States v. Cohen, in which Michael Cohen, the ex-counsel to President Trump, was convicted of campaign finance violations for arranging secret hush-money payments to two women as part of a “catch and kill” strategy to benefit the president’s 2016 campaign.

From 1990 to 2002, Khuzami was an Assistant US Attorney, also for the Southern District of New York, where he tried ten criminal trials to verdict and also served as chief of its Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. He was part of the prosecution team in United States v. Abdel Rahman, et al., then the largest terrorism trial in US history. The trial resulted in the conviction of Omar Ahmed Ali Abdel Rahman and nine codefendants for operating an international terrorist organization responsible for, among other crimes, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the July 1993 plot to bomb the United Nations, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, and the FBI headquarters. For their efforts, the prosecution team was awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the highest award offered by the Justice Department.

Khuzami also led the Division of Enforcement at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission from 2009 to 2013. He was appointed director of the office shortly after the 2008 financial crisis and immediately following revelations of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme. He guided the division through the most significant restructuring in its history while it filed cases in record numbers, many of which involved highly complex and emerging financial markets, products, and transactions. He also supervised multiple cases in which the SEC prosecuted financial institutions and individuals for defrauding investors in the sale of complex derivative securities tied to subprime mortgages. President Obama appointed Khuzami to serve as co-chair of two federal-state task forces created to prosecute financial-crisis misconduct, and he testified on 11 occasions before House and Senate congressional committees.

In the private sector, Khuzami was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, worked at Deutsche Bank AG as both Global Head of Litigation & Regulatory Investigations and as General Counsel, Americas, and was an associate at Cadwalader.

Khuzami is a 1979 graduate, magna cum laude, from the University of Rochester, where he received his BA in political science and philosophy, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He also served as a law clerk to the Hon. John R. Gibson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 1983 to 1984.

 

Alizae Fatima (LLM in American Law) delivers LLM student address

 

Alexandra Arnold delivers JD student address

 

Awards & Prizes

Sebastian Horsten Prize for Academic Achievement, to the LLM in American Law student who has achieved the highest cumulative average in the Class of 2019: Marc Jin Xi Leung

American Law Outstanding Achievement Award, for excellence in academic achievement, honorable conduct, and contributions to the class: Zrinka Anić-Milić

Graduate Tax Program Academic Achievement Award, for the highest cumulative average in the Class of 2019: Eileen Y. Lee Breger

Ernest M. Haddad Award, to the graduating Graduate Tax Program student who best exhibits overall ability, taking into consideration academic achievement, character, and potential to serve the public interest: Raja Thangamuthu Arumugam  

A. John Serino Outstanding Graduate Banking & Financial Law Student Prize, for overall performance, in terms of academic achievement and dedication to the highest standards of scholarship and service: Gustavo Andres Rodriguez Villate

Dennis S. Aronowitz Award for Academic Excellence in Banking & Financial Law, for the highest cumulative average in the Class of 2019: Si Li 

Faculty Award for Academic Accomplishment, for the most scholarly progress in the third year: Diego T. Duarte

William L. and Lillian Berger Achievement Prizes, for exemplary scholastic achievement: Emily Lacy Kase and Erica D. Puccetti

Faculty Awards for Community Service, for exceptional dedication to the ideals of community service: Noel A. Chapman and Miosotti H. Tenecora

Peter Bennett Prize, to the graduating third-year JD law student(s) receiving the highest–grade point average for that year: Julia Celeste Peay 

Spencer R. Koch Memorial Awards, for outstanding contributions to achieving the goals of the Esdaile Alumni Center through alumni outreach: Jonathan L. Allen and Alexander N. Bernstein

Honorable Albert P. Pettoruto Memorial Award, for excellence in the field of probate or family law: Abigail A. Mendez

Melville M. Bigelow Scholarship Awards, to members of the graduating class who show the greatest promise as scholars and teachers in law: Nia Marisa Johnson and Daniel Ordorica

Warren S. Gilford Humanity and Law Prizes, to students who shows humanitarian interest in law, primarily by taking jobs in the public sector after graduation: Alexandra Arnold and Laura K. Putnam

Alumni Academic Achievement Award, for the highest cumulative average in the three-year program of law study: Lauren V. Roberts

Sylvia Beinecke Robinson Awards, for significant contributions to the life of the School of Law: Kellie Patricia Desrochers and Lynexa L. Owens

Dr. John Ordronaux Prize, awarded to members of the graduating class for exemplary academic performance and leadership: Julia D. Harper and Nicholas Alexander LaPalme

Michael Melton Award for Excellence in Teaching is named for a longtime faculty member, who taught in the tax area and was director of the Graduate Tax Program, who died in 1999 at 53: Stephen M. Donweber

Mark Pettit Teaching Award is named for a beloved faculty member, also known as the “singing professor,” who taught contracts, evidence, consumer law, and professional responsibility and died in 2018: Stephen M. Donweber

John Stephen Baerst Award for Excellence in Teaching named for the former director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law who died in 2006: Kevin J. Handly

Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award, in recognition of the outstanding teaching of BU Law’s part-time faculty: Pamela A. Hill