EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 19, 2010) – Ricardo Urbina, a federal judge for the District of Columbia, will speak at the 2010 University of Oregon School of Law commencement on Saturday, May 22.

Urbina is a former public defender, lawyer in private practice, law professor and director of the Criminal Justice Program at Howard University. The Georgetown University Law Center graduate was nominated for the U.S. District Court bench by former President Bill Clinton, and was confirmed in 1994.

The law school's commencement ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. in Eugene’s Hult Center for the Performing Arts. Parking is available nearby. A reception will follow at The Club at Autzen Stadium, 2727 Leo Harris Parkway. Details of the law commencement are available at http://www.law.uoregon.edu/students/commencement.

Members of the School of Law’s graduating class selected associate professor Rob Illig to lead their procession.

The 2010 Meritorious Service Award will be presented to Mary Lawrence, an associate professor emerita at the school of law, and to Chambers Communications Chairwoman and CEO Carolyn Chambers. The award is given each year for extraordinary contributions to legal education and the law. Lawrence led Oregon Law’s nationally renowned Legal Research and Writing Program from 1978 until her retirement in 2000. Chambers is chair of the advisory board for Oregon Law’s Center for Law and Entrepreneurship, and her gift of $1 million established the center in 1994.

Tom Lininger will receive the Orlando J. Hollis Faculty Teaching Award. Lininger directs the school’s Public Interest Public Service program and serves as the auctioneer at the annual fundraiser for the Oregon Law Students Public Interest Fund. The Hollis Award is presented annually to the law school’s outstanding teacher, to reward excellence in classroom instruction.

For the first time, Oregon Law will live-tweet the commencement ceremony. To receive commencement updates as they happen, visit http://twitter.com/OrLawGraduation.

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 63 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Credence Sol, Oregon Law director of communications, 541-346-1665, csol@uoregon.edu

Link: UO School of Law commencement, http://www.law.uoregon.edu/students/commencement