U.S. Solicitor General to Deliver Commencement Address at the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law

May 11, 2011 - PRLog -- RALEIGH, N.C. – On Friday, May 13, Neal Katyal, Acting Solicitor General of the United States, will address Campbell Law School students as they prepare to make the move from students to practicing lawyers. The Campbell Law School commencement will take place in Meymandi Concert Hall in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts at 10:00 a.m.

As Acting Solicitor General, Neal Katyal oversees litigation strategy under the Obama Administration. He is most noted for his work with the 2006 Supreme Court case Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld by serving as lead counsel for the Guantanamo Bay detainees.

In a poignant introduction, his former adversary, Judge Stuart Couch will introduce the Solicitor General at the commencement.  Couch served as liaison to the Department of Justice and Solicitor General in the same case as Katyal in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

Earlier in Couch’s career, he refused to prosecute Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a detainee linked to the 9/11 terror attacks once he determined that statements obtained from Slahi were the product of torture.  Couch had a personal connection to the proceedings, as he was friends with a co-pilot on the second airplane to hit the World Trade Center.  Despite his personal misgivings, Couch knew he could not prosecute the detainee based on the evidence provided.

“Solicitor General Neal Katyal is an extremely influential figure in the legal profession and it is an honor for Campbell Law School to hear him address our graduates as they begin their careers,” said Melissa Essary, Campbell Law School Dean.

Among his accolades, Katyal was named “Lawyer of the Year” in 2006 by Lawyers USA, one of the top 50 litigators in the nation by the American Lawyer Magazine, and one of the 90 Greatest Lawyers over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times.

Judge Couch, Campbell Law class of 1996, was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as an Immigration Judge in the Charlotte Immigration Court.

About Campbell Law School: Since its founding in 1976, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others and create a more just society. The School has received two prestigious awards from the American Bar Association (ABA), the first for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program, and the second for having the nation’s top Professionalism Program. In 2007, the Law School’s Moot Court Program was ranked 13th nationally among 196 ABA accredited law schools. Campbell Law boasts more than 2,900 alumni, including 1,900 who reside and work in North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.law.campbell.edu.