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Anna Kathryn Barnes received Elon University School of Law’s top honor for new graduates when she was named recipient of the David Gergen Award for Leadership & Professionalism at Commencement for the Class of 2019.

With words of encouragement from Elon Law’s dean emeritus, African-American graduates in the Class of 2019 and their families celebrated on Friday the achievements and promise of a legal education in the law school’s third annual Donning of the Kente Ceremony.

Graduates in Elon Law’s Class of 2019 were recognized Friday with school and professional honors for advocacy, legal writing and research, academic excellence, and excellence in service.

Elon University School of Law conferred 107 degrees in a Commencement ceremony on Saturday that featured an address by Chief Justice Cheri L. Beasley of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, who tasked the Class of 2019 with using the knowledge bestowed by a legal education to expand access to the justice system.

A new report by RTI International measured access, affordability, and value in Elon Law’s 2.5-year Juris Doctor program, which prioritizes learning by doing through sequencing doctrinal courses with a first-of-its-kind legal residency-in-practice for academic credit.

The four scholarship recipients were recognized at an October gala for their academic achievement and distinguished record of leadership in law school.

As a philanthropic arm of the legal community, the Greensboro Bar Association Foundation’s gift to Elon Law will help support the school’s expansive print and digital collections, including a Westlaw public access terminal.

The 2020 edition of “The Best 167 Law Schools" featured student praise for Elon Law’s faculty, its 2.5-year curriculum, and its highly experiential approach to legal education with a residency-in-practice program that is “a tremendous asset to this school.”

Janet Ward Black, a former past president of the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Association of Trial Lawyers, received Elon Law’s 2019 Leadership in the Law Award on Friday at an evening awards gala hosted by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly.

Executive board members and class representatives help lead an umbrella organization that governs other law school organizations and committees.