College of Law celebrates Commencement May 13; welcomes Delaware Attorney General Joseph R. Biden III L’94 as speaker

Syracuse University College of Law will celebrate the graduation of 194 juris doctor degree candidates on Friday, May 13, at 1 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. A live webcast of the event is available.

Delaware Attorney General Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III, a 1994 graduate of the College of Law, will return to the SU campus and serve as the Commencement speaker. Jessica Caterina, a member of the class of 2011, will sing the national anthem for the second consecutive year. Class president Noah Schectman will speak on behalf of the class.

Since serving as attorney general, Biden has created the Delaware Department of Justice Child Predator Unit to track and prosecute child sex offenders, and he helped pass state legislation strengthening Delaware’s sex offender registry statute. He implemented a family division, the first in the country, to streamline law enforcement resources on fighting domestic violence, protecting Delaware’s families and reducing juvenile crime. In 2001, Biden served as interim legal advisor for the United States Department of Justice in post-war Kosovo.

Biden serves as a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps and is assigned to the 261st Signal Brigade in Smyrna, Del., which was activated for a 12-month deployment to Iraq in 2008. After completing that deployment, Biden returned to the Delaware Department of Justice.

Biden is a graduate of Archmere Academy in Wilmington, Del., the University of Pennsylvania and Syracuse University College of Law.

Additionally, Syracuse University College of Law graduates may join in the SU and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in celebrating Commencement in the Carrier Dome on Sunday, May 15.