SAN DIEGO, Nov. 22, 2005 – California Western School of Law’s winter graduation will be held Monday, Dec. 19, 10 a.m. at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego.  The President of the American Bar Association (ABA), Michael S. Greco, will address California Western’s new graduates. 

“California Western is fortunate to have President Greco as our commencement speaker.  His commitment of a 'Renaissance of Idealism in the Legal Profession' is consistent with the values of California Western,” said California Western Dean Steven R. Smith, who serves as chair of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. “President Greco’s role in preserving and enhancing legal education is an excellent example for all of our new graduates.”

A total of 72 degrees will be awarded, with 62 candidates receiving the Juris Doctor (J.D.) and 10 receiving the Master of Comparative Law/Master of Laws in Comparative Law (M.C.L./LL.M.). In addition, Greco will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from California Western.

Greco became president of the ABA in August 2005. He is former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the New England Bar Association, the New England Bar Foundation, and the Board of Trustees of Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. 

Greco has long been active in a myriad of ABA activities, some of which include serving in the House of Delegates and as the elected state delegate from Massachusetts. He is former co-founder and co-chair of Bar Leaders for Preservation of Legal Service for the Poor.  He has also served on the ABA Task Force on Terrorism and the Law, the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security, and the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession.

Greco is a trial lawyer with over 30 years of litigation experience in business, employment, and real-estate law.  He serves as mediator and arbitrator in complex business and other disputes on both state and national levels. He is partner of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP in Boston. 

As an academic, Greco taught English at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H.  He later obtained his J.D. from Boston College Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Boston College Law Review and class president, and later clerked on the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

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 California Western School of Law is the independent, ABA/AALS-accredited San Diego law school that advances multi-dimensional lawyering by educating lawyers-to-be as creative problem solvers and principled advocates who frame the practice of law as a helping, collaborative profession.  California Western is home to several innovative centers and institutes including the California Innocence Project, the Center for Creative Problem Solving, the Institute of Health Law Studies, and the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy.  In addition to a J.D. program, the law school offers several duel degree programs in conjunction with local universities; an LL.M. in Federal Criminal Law; and an M.C.L./LL.M. for foreign law graduates. 

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California Western School of Law
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