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The University of Wisconsin Law School’s graduating class has selected the Honorable Louis B. Butler Jr. to present the keynote address at its 2018 Hooding Ceremony.


Louis Butler

Between 2004 and 2008, Butler served on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He is the first and only African American to have held the post. Prior to that, Butler served as a public defender, a municipal judge, and a state court judge.

Butler was first public defender in Wisconsin’s history to argue before the United States Supreme Court in McCoy v. Wisconsin Court of Appeals. He was nominated by President Barack Obama to be a United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Wisconsin. Butler is also a permanent member of the faculty of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, where judges take continuing judicial education classes.

In 2016, Butler joined the firm DeWitt, Ross & Stevens, where he focuses his practice on providing clients with advice in several areas of the law, including litigation, construction litigation, environmental issues and appellate matters. He is a 1977 graduate of UW Law School.

Along with Butler, the graduating class has selected Professor Miriam Seifter as its faculty speaker. Tomás Clasen and Reginald Thedford Jr., J.D. graduates, and Carlos Arrau Miranda, a graduate law student, were selected as student speakers for the ceremony.

The hooding ceremony—a special recognition for students receiving law degrees—will take place at 1 p.m. May 11 at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center Exhibition Hall, One John Nolen Drive.

At the ceremony, faculty members place the J.D. doctoral hood over the head of the graduate to signify his or her success in completing their law degree. The hooding event is in addition to, and does not replace, the university-wide commencement.

The Law School will provide a live stream of the ceremony. Check law.wisc.edu the day of the event for details.

Submitted by Law School News on April 24, 2018

This article appears in the categories: Alumni, Articles

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