Spring Awards Banquet Recognizes Distinguished Law School Alumni

On Friday, April 28, Santa Clara University School of Law honored four of its most distinguished and accomplished graduates at its annual Spring Awards Banquet. With nearly 300 guests filling the Leavey Center, this year’s banquet set a new attendance record for the event. Alumni, friends, family, professors and students came out to pay tribute to the Hon. James A. Wright ’49, Naomi Young ’74, and John Cruden ’74 who received Alumni Special Achievement Awards, and to William B. Clayton, Jr. ’74 – the 2006 Owens Lawyer of the Year.

The Alumni Special Achievement Award was established by the School of Law Alumni Association to publicly recognize the outstanding achievements of its alumni. Recipients have distinguished themselves in their profession, community and in service to humanity. This year’s honorees all expressed tremendous gratitude for the lessons learned at Santa Clara and for the opportunities that resulted from their respective legal educations.

Also presented at the event was the Edwin J. Owens Lawyer of the Year Award, an award given to a distinguished member of the law school community who is devoted to the highest ideals of the profession and has made significant contributions to the university, the community and the law.  This year’s recipient, Bill Clayton, has been a longtime supporter of the law school and served as President of the Law Alumni Association from 1999-2001.

In his acceptance remarks, Clayton said, “It is my belief that the natural order of things requires us to transition from student to teacher at some point in our lives …we, as alumni, have an obligation to assist in the education of the next generation.”  He went to encourage others to get involved at the school saying, “I challenge you to do what you can. Remember, although we start as students, we are all teachers. Working together we can stake a claim for this law school and the rule of law in this country, now and into the future. [The law school] needs people like you.”

In a follow-up note several days after the banquet, event attendee and Law Alumni Association Board Member Liz Landess ’88 wrote, “Kudos to all the board members and staff who worked so hard to make the event a great one.  It is really turning into a superb annual event.”