Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s Fall Commencement will be held on Saturday, December 15, 10 a.m., at Copley Symphony Hall in downtown San Diego.
60 graduates will be receiving their juris doctor degrees at the ceremony, and there is one Master of Laws (LL.M.) post-graduate in American Legal Studies.
TJSL is proud to announce that the commencement speaker will be alumnus Vince Hall ‘08, who has been named as Chief of Staff for San Diego’s new Mayor Bob Filner. Since his graduation, Hall has been the Vice-President of Public Affairs & Communications at Planned Parenthood of San Diego & Riverside Counties. Hall also served on Filner’s congressional staff in Washington, D.C. and was the staff director to former California Governor Gray Davis.
The class valedictorian is Vatana Lay, a 2005 UCLA graduate who served as editor on the Thomas Jefferson Law Review.
“I am humbled by it because there are so many other people at TJSL that can also have been acknowledged for their efforts,” said Lay. “However, it was very rewarding to hear the joy in my mother's voice when I told her that I was valedictorian.”
After law school, Lay hopes to be a civil litigator, practicing either insurance defense or medical malpractice defense, but after taking the bar exam, he says, “I want to go on a nice long vacation to Europe.”
Lay says he is grateful for the experiences he had at TJSL.
“I am thankful for the all the support I received from the professors to the staff to the students,” Lay said. “Everyone has just been so supportive and helpful throughout my stay at TJSL. I am very thankful for all of the people that have shared a little bit of their lives with me and I hope that these relationships will continue long after I leave San Diego.”
The event is by invitation, and the doors open at 9 a.m. at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B Street, San Diego.