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Commencement SPRING 2019 2019 SPRING C OMMEN C EMENT 1 Greetings from the Levin College of Law Dean ongratulations on the culmination of your law school career. Reaching this milestone is an incredible achievement and a testament to your dedication, intellect, and passion for law. CDuring your time at UF Law, each of you enriched our campus beyond measure. In addition to your achievements that are too many to name, I deeply thank you for your commitment to ensuring that UF Law is a diverse and welcoming community. Diversity – of background, thought, and aspiration – is one of UF Law’s greatest strengths. Each of you, in your own way, has contributed to the cultural fabric of UF Law. This culture is one that we will continue to treasure and build upon for years to come. Today, you become part of the most powerful law alumni network in the world – the Gator Law Nation. You will continue to build relationships with your classmates, and you will encounter other Gator lawyers in every state and around the globe. When you walk across the stage today, you become role models for generations of students yet to grace our halls. I am excited to see how you move the world forward. Congratulations! Laura Ann Rosenbury University of Florida Levin College of Law Dean Laura Ann Rosenbury Laura Rosenbury is Dean and Levin, Mabie & University School of Law in St. Louis. She Levin Professor of Law at University of Florida has also served as a visiting professor at Levin College of Law. She joined UF Law in 2015 Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and quickly engaged students, faculty, staff, and University of Chicago Law School. Before and alumni in building a shared vision to make entering academia, Dean Rosenbury was a UF Law a top ten public law school. In under litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell four years, that vision has taken hold at every in New York. level. In 2019, UF Law reached its highest-ever Dean Rosenbury also clerked for judges sitting ranking in the U.S. News & World Report law on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second school rankings, placing 31st among all law Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the schools, 12th among public law schools, and 1st Eastern District of New York. Dean Rosenbury in the state of Florida. This new ranking marked graduated cum laude from Harvard Law a 10-point leap in UF Law’s overall ranking in School, where she served as a primary editor just one year and a 17-point climb since 2016. of the Harvard Law Review. She received her Before joining UF Law, Dean Rosenbury was A.B. summa cum laude in women’s studies professor of law and vice dean at Washington from Harvard-Radcliffe College. 2019 SPRING C OMMEN C EMENT 2 Commencement Agenda Friday, May 17, 2019, 10:00 a.m., the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Processional Welcome .....................................................................Laura A. Rosenbury Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law Presentation of Honorary Degree ............................................... Laura A. Rosenbury Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law Class Representative Remarks .............................................. Adam Allen Bent (JD 19) Commencement Address .............................................. Yolanda Cash Jackson (JD 90) Shareholder, Becker & Poliakoff P.A. Presentation of Degree Candidates .............................................. Laura A. Rosenbury Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law Conferral of Degrees ................................................................. Mori Hosseini Chairman, University of Florida Board of Trustees Closing Remarks............................................................... Laura A. Rosenbury Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law Recessional 2019 SPRING C OMMEN C EMENT 3 Honorary Degree Recipient George H. Starke, Jr. Four years after segregation was declared unconstitutional in Brown vs. Board of Education, Mr. George H. Starke, Jr. enrolled in the University of Florida in September 1958 as the first African-American student admitted to the 105 year-old institution. Mr. Starke was 27 years old at the time and pursuing his dream of a law degree. Ultimately, the physical and emotional pressures of being the only African- American student at UF took their toll, and Mr. Starke withdrew after just three semesters to take a job on Wall Street. Before making history at UF Law, Mr. Starke earned an A.B. degree in Business Administration from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. For the next five decades, he worked as a mortgage broker, investment banker, and energy consultant in New York and Washington, D.C. In 1962, Mr. Starke was the first African- American employed as an Investment Advisory Aide with Moody’s Investment Advisory Services in New York City. His business acumen facilitated a successful career in venture capital and corporate and municipal finance including serving as President of both Investment Services Corporation and General Power Company as well as roles at Oppenheimer & Company, The Greyhound Corporation, Wall Street In 2009, Mr. Starke was given UF’s Investment Corporation, and General Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 1998 and Trading Corporation. again in 2018, he was honored by UF Law’s Center for the Study of Race and Race Mr. Starke was born into a family of pioneers. Relations in recognition of the important His father, Dr. George Starke, was the first role he played in the history of Florida higher African-American to gain membership in the education. Florida Medical Association and opened his own practice in Sanford, Florida. His mother, Mr. Starke has served on the UF Alumni Mattie Starke, was a beloved high school Association Board of Directors and the teacher and librarian. Mr. Starke’s cousin, University of Florida Foundation’s D.C. Daphne Duval Williams, also made history Council. He is a lifetime member of the as Florida’s first female African-American UFAA, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi student when she enrolled in UF’s College of Fraternity, and an honorary member of Education in January 1959. Florida Blue Key. 2019 SPRING C OMMEN C EMENT 4 Commencement Speaker Yolanda Cash Jackson Shareholder, Becker & Poliakoff Yolanda Cash Jackson from the UF Law Class of 1990 is among the power elite when it comes to lawyer-lobbyists in our State Capitol. Her nontraditional path to becoming a lawyer who influences state policy at the highest levels is a model for new lawyers seeking meaning in their law practice. Ms. Jackson knows political leaders by their first name and changes people’s lives through institutional and programmatic initiatives. Ms. Jackson learned early in her career about the shared benefit of giving back to the community. She learned how community involvement is more than helping your community; it’s also about helping yourself. Through her active involvement in organizations as diverse and prestigious as the University of Florida Foundation, the Levin College of Law’s Law Center Association Board of Trustees, the Orange Bowl Committee, Delta Sigma Theta National Social Action Committee, Urban League and the National Bar Association, Ms. Jackson has established a reputation for fairness, integrity, dedication and trust. She strives to exemplify those profound qualities every day working on behalf of her clients, many of whom have been with her for more than 10 years. Clients rave about her commitment to client service and praise her effectiveness in Tallahassee. into the League of Superheroes, the only Ms. Jackson’s nontraditional path took her non-elected, non-government official to be through many areas of law, including family inducted for the third time. law and litigation, before she found her Last but certainly not least, Ms. Jackson has passion in lobbying and policy. The constant risen to the highest ranks in her own law firm, presence in her career, however, has been serving as one of only seven shareholders giving back through non-profit and service who form the Becker Management organizations. Although her awards are too Committee, charged with overseeing all numerous to mention, Ms. Jackson has been aspects of firm policy, operations and recognized by national organizations such as strategic growth. Becker is a multi-practice the National Bar Association for Outstanding commercial law firm with attorneys, lobbyists Service and by local organizations including and other professionals in offices throughout the Junior League. Her community Florida and the East Coast. commitment knows no boundaries. The Miami Herald named her one of only 50 Ms. Jackson has leveraged her strengths statewide influencers for 2020 election and stayed true to her ideals to create a coverage, and the Daily Business Review personally meaningful and civically impactful named her a “Most Effective Lawyer” in legal career that adds tremendous value to 2018. The Children of Inmates inducted her her clients, her firm and her community. 2019 SPRING C OMMEN C EMENT 5 Doctoral of Juridical Science in Taxation The S.J.D. degree is an advanced degree for students who have already attained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, or in the case of international students, attained an equivalent law degree from a university outside the United States. The S.J.D. degree is awarded to students who complete the College's requirements, which include writing a monograph of publishable quality. Students are recommended for the degree by the faculty of the Levin College of Law. Abdullah Abdulaziz Almudayhim (In Absentia) Gainesville, Florida LL.B. - King Saud University Master of Laws in U.S. Law The LL.M. in U.S. Law degree is awarded to students who complete Levin College of Law requirements (including a substantial research paper) and have earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from a recognized foreign university. Students are recommended for the degree by the faculty of the Levin College of Law. Abdullah Salem Alfaidi Hongsung Kim Yoelyn Sanabria Rodriguez Umlajj, Saudi Arabia Busan, South Korea Orange Park, Florida B.C.J.

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