Law School diversity banquet marks achievements

Capping a year in which minority UW Law School graduates recorded impressive accomplishments, the 35th annual Legal Education Opportunities banquet will be held Saturday, March 27.

The event is an occasion for the Wisconsin legal community, Law School alumni, students and prospective students of color to meet and recognize the achievements of current and former LEO students.

Delivering the keynote address will be Gary Okihiro, director of the Center for Race and Ethnicity at Columbia University. Okihiro’s talk is titled “On Common Ground: Making Real the Promise of America.”

The event will begin with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Madison Hotel, 706 John Nolen Drive, followed by a 7 p.m. dinner. Tickets cost $30.

Law School Dean Kenneth B. Davis Jr. says the dinner affords a chance to recognize both alumni accomplishment and the school’s reputation as a leader in increasing opportunities for minority lawyers and law students.

“More than 25 percent of our current students are students of color, and the UW Law School has graduated close to 1,000 minority lawyers,” Davis says. “We are proud of our strong tradition in diversity and the banquet gives us a chance to celebrate those who have helped build that reputation.”

Minority graduates of the UW Law School have logged major achievements in the past several months.

For example, Gov. Jim Doyle appointed 1985 graduate Paul Higginbotham as Wisconsin’s first African-American or person of color to serve on any state appellate court. The governor also named 1991 graduate Glenn Yamahiro to the Milwaukee County bench, making him the state’s first Asian-American judge.

In addition, Michelle Behnke, who graduated from the school in 1988, will take over this May as the first person of color to be elected president of the State Bar of Wisconsin. She is also a member of the Board of Visitors and works as a mentor through the Friends of LEO Mentorship Program.

A number of other UW Law School minority graduates also took high-profile jobs during the past year, including Cory Nettles, a 1996 graduate, who was named by Doyle as state secretary of the Department of Commerce; Danae Davis, a 1980 graduate who was named by the governor to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents; and Jorge Gomez, a 1986 graduate who joined Doyle’s administration as state insurance commissioner.

To purchase tickets to the event, contact Kate Kaiser at the UW Law School at kekaiser@wisc.edu, or call her in the afternoon at (608) 262-6297.