Michael P. Galvin to Address 2019 Chicago-Kent Graduates

Michael P. Galvin, president of Galvin Enterprises, Inc., will deliver the keynote address at Chicago-Kent College of Law’s 2019 Commencement on Sunday, May 19. The ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Chicago Theatre, 175 North State Street, in Chicago.

Three student speakers will join Galvin in offering remarks. Valedictorian Betül Serbest will deliver the J.D. Commencement address; Hyojeong Son, a candidate for an LL.M. in International Intellectual Property Law, will deliver the graduate address; and Dawn Peacock will give an address as the 2018–19 Student Bar Association president. This year 236 J.D. students, 103 LL.M. students, and one J.S.D. student are eligible to graduate. 

Graduates, their guests, and members of the law school community are encouraged to share well wishes and photos on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #ckgrad or #IllinoisTechGrad. The ceremony will be streamed live at kentlaw.iit.edu/commencement. 

Known for his passion for technology innovation, operating business skill, public service experience, and high ethical standards, Galvin previously served under former President George H. W. Bush as assistant secretary for export administration for the United States Department of Commerce, where he worked to reformulate and renegotiate post-Cold War strategic trade policies after the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. Earlier in his career, Galvin was a co-founder of Harrison Street Real Estate, later sold to Colliers. He also was a corporate finance transactions partner at the law firm of Winston & Strawn in Chicago. An Illinois Institute of Technology trustee alumnus, Galvin is a member of the Executive Committee. He served on the board’s Strategic Planning and Campaign Planning Committees and is a member of the Board of Advisors of Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Student Speakers

Betül Serbest

Serbest graduated cum laude from Loyola University Chicago with a B.S. degree in biology and psychology. At Chicago-Kent she made the dean’s list every semester, won CALI Awards for the highest grade in several of her classes, and was a member of the Moot Court Honor Society. Serbest was a 2017–18 member of the Chicago-Kent Law Review, and her article “Enhanced Patent Infringement Damages Post-Halo and the Problem with Using the Read Factors” was selected for publication. She is currently working as a Public Interest Law Initiative fellow in the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian. Serbest is fluent in Turkish and volunteers as an interpreter in asylum interviews. After graduation she will join Reed Smith LLP as a litigation association.   

Hyojeong Son

Born in Chang-won, South Korea, Son graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in materials science and engineering in 2012. She studied law at Korea National Open University. After graduation Son worked as a patent attorney at various intellectual property law firms in Seoul, where she was involved in a diverse intellectual property practice encompassing worldwide patent and trademark prosecutions, post-grant patent and trademark challenges, patent litigations, and client counseling. She has represented many companies listed in Fortune Global 500. She is a member of the Korea Patent Attorneys Association, and enjoys scuba diving and traveling in her free time. After graduating from the LL.M. program, Son plans to continue to study U.S. law.

Dawn Peacock

A native of Kentucky, Peacock graduated from the University of Louisville with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and an associate’s degree in paralegal studies. During law school she competed on the trial advocacy team, worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Romanucci & Blandin and Dykema Gossett, served as a notes and comments editor of the Chicago-Kent Law Review, and was an active member of the Student-Alumni Board, Student Bar Association, and Black Law Students Association. She earned CALI Awards for earning the highest grades in Legal Writing 3 and Business Organizations, and was a teaching assistant for Criminal Law and Business Organizations. This spring she was inducted into the Chicago-Kent Bar and Gavel Society. After graduation she will work at Dykema Gossett as a first-year associate.