On May 8, UIC John Marshall Law School hosted a live, virtual event to celebrate the 231 JD and 7 LLM graduates in the May 2021 class.
Emmanuel “Chris” Welch, Speaker of the Illinois House and a graduate of the Law School, delivered the keynote address. Welch told graduates, “While you may be entering different areas of law, or using your degree in different ways, you will all be warriors of justice and jurisprudence in your own ways.”
Welch has served the 7th District of Illinois since 2013. He was elected Speaker of the House in January 2021 after serving on several key committees. He is a Partner in local government law firm Ancel Glink. He has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” and one of Chicago’s “Leading Lawyers.”
During the ceremony, UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis presented Rep. Welch with the Chancellor’s Medallion. UIC established the Chancellor’s Medallion to honor individuals whose distinguished service and leadership in the world serve to remind others that everyone has the power to make a difference.
Dorien Clark was named this semester’s valedictorian. While at UIC Law, Clark served as the Lead Articles Editor for the UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law, which published his comment, “The Yeezy Boost 350 Copyright Registrations: Did Kanye West Turn Justice Breyer’s Fear Into a Reality?” He was also active in the Law School’s USPTO-licensed Trademark Clinic, an inaugural member of the Dean’s Leadership Academy and served as a teaching assistant for multiple courses. Clark, who holds a chemical engineering degree from the University of Cincinnati, began pursuing a career in intellectual property law during his first year of law school and will be joining the IP boutique law firm McAndrews, Held & Malloy.
UIC Law Professor Steven Schwinn received the Spring 2021 Lex Ancilla Justitiae Award. The award, whose name translates to “law is the servant of justice,” is given to the faculty member who the graduating class believes best embodies this guiding principle of education at the Law School. Student Bar Association President Lacey Locke, a member of the May 2021 graduating class, presented the award to Schwinn.
Graduating student Jerrilyn Gumila is this year’s Lucy Sprague Public Service Award recipient. The Lucy Sprague Public Service Award, named in memory of Lucy Sprague who attended the Law School during 1995–1996, honors a student who makes a significant commitment to public service. Made possible by a generous gift from the Sprague family, the first Lucy Sprague Service Award was bestowed in 1998. During law school, Gumila was a national finalist and named Best Oralist at the Twelfth Annual First Amendment and Media Law Diversity Moot Court Competition; a national semifinalist in the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Civil Rights Trial Competition; and a regional semifinalist at the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition. She was also awarded the Student Bar Association Public Interest Scholarship and a $5,000 scholarship from the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund, which was sponsored by law firm Schiff Hardin LLP. Gumila will begin working with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office later this year.
