Published: April 30, 2002

When University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law Registrar Barbara Leggate takes the stage during the school's commencement ceremony, it won't be as a marshal, something she has done for the past 25 years.

Instead, Leggate, who will be retiring this year and has the school's Humanitarian Award named after her, will be recognized for her years of service with a Lifetime Humanitarian Award.

"Not only is it an honor to be recognized by the students with the Lifetime Humanitarian Award, but it is an even greater honor to have the award named after me," said Leggate. "The students are truly what make my job so wonderful."

The School of Law will graduate 162 students at 2 p.m. on May 11 in Macky Auditorium, followed by a reception at Kittredge Field, located east of the Fleming Law Building. Along with Leggate, the school will acknowledge Professor Nort Steuben, who is also retiring after 34 years, and will award Karen Mathis the Honorary Order of the Coif.

American Bar Association President Robert E. Hirshon will give the keynote address. Hirshon will talk about the role of the ABA, which is the largest voluntary professional membership association with more than 400,000 members. He will also hold a question-and-answer session at noon in the Lindsley Memorial Courtroom of the Fleming Law Building.

Hirshon received his bachelor's degree with distinction from the University of Michigan in 1970, where he also received his Juris Doctor three years later. He immediately joined the Portland, Maine, firm of Drummond, Woodsum & MacMahon, developing its Financial Services Group. Hirshon has been widely published and has taught several courses at the University of Maine's School of Law.

Sixteen faculty, students and staff will be honored with awards during the ceremony, including Associate Professor Scott Peppet, the Excellence in Teaching Award; Lisa Teesch-Maguire, the SBA-Sutcliffe Award; and Kelly Cooper and James Wooll, the Meritorious Student Award.

The CU School of Law was recently ranked 16th in the nation out of 180 law schools in the highly regarded "Journal of Legal Studies" Educational Quality Rankings by Brian Leiter, professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Leiter also ranked the faculty 15th in the nation in academic and professional quality.

For more information call the CU-Boulder School of Law offices at (303) 492-8047 or visit the Web site at .