Judge Sentelle to speak to Class of 2009

May 1, 2009Duke Law News

Duke Law will honor its graduating class with a special hooding ceremony on Saturday, May 9, at Cameron Indoor Stadium, featuring a commencement address from Chief Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The ceremony is one of several events planned during graduation week at Duke Law. On Wednesday, May 6, graduating students will celebrate with an awards ceremony and gala at Durham’s historic American Tobacco Campus. On Friday, May 8, a family barbecue will be held at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens on Duke’s campus, and a candlelight dinner honoring international graduates will be held at the Law School’s Star Commons. More detail on these events can be found here.

During Saturday’s hooding ceremony, 215 students will be honored for completing the juris doctor degree. Ninety-eight students will be honored for completing the Master of Laws (LLM) degree; of those, 76 are international students and 22 are students who are simultaneously completing JDs.

Degrees will be officially conferred during Duke University’s graduation ceremony on Sunday, May 10.

Judge Sentelle will speak to Duke Law graduates during the hooding ceremony. He was appointed U.S. Circuit Judge in 1987 and became chief judge of the District of Columbia Circuit in 2008. He had previously served as a U.S. District Court judge in the Western District of North Carolina, as an assistant U.S. attorney in Charlotte, N.C., and as a North Carolina state district judge.

Sentelle has practiced law as an associate with the firm of Uzzell & DuMont and as a partner with the firm of Tucker, Hicks, Sentelle, Moon & Hodge. A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law, Chief Judge Sentelle is president of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of the American Inns of Court and a member of the U.S. Judicial Conference's executive committee. He also is a member of the Duke Law Board of Visitors.

Two students were elected by their peers to speak during the hooding ceremony. Emmanuel Ceusters will speak on behalf of the graduating LLM class. A native of Antwerp, Belgium, Ceusters holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Namur and a Master of Laws from the University of Antwerp, magna cum laude. He also was a member of the Erasmus Program at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Ceusters has worked for the law firm of Baker & MacKenzie in Antwerp and is fluent in four languages.

Sarah K. Campbell will speak on behalf of the JD graduates. Campbell is earning a Master of Public Policy from the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in addition to her law degree. After graduation, she will clerk for Judge William H. Pryor, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit before joining the law firm of Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. A native of Rogersville, Tenn., she holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee.