Third Circuit Chief Judge Smith to deliver 2020 Penn State Law in University Park commencement address

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Law in University Park is delighted to announce that the Honorable D. Brooks Smith, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, will deliver the law school’s 2020 commencement address. 

Judge Smith was elevated to chief judge of the Third Circuit in 2016 and previously served as chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He is the only judge in the history of the Third Circuit to have served as chief judge at both the district and circuit levels. Judge Smith also is the Circuit’s longest-tenured sitting judge. 

Judge Smith serves as chair of Penn State Law’s Board of Advisors, which provides support and advice to enhance Penn State Law’s vision of providing legal education for a changing society. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Penn State Law. Chief Judge Smith received the law school’s first leadership award in 2016, and in 2017 won Penn State’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the University’s highest honor. He is a graduate of Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law. 

Penn State Law’s 2020 commencement ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, in Eisenhower Auditorium on Penn State’s University Park campus. Tickets are not required for the ceremony, which will also be live-streamed on the Penn State Law YouTube channel. 

For more information on 2020 commencement, please visit pennstatelaw.psu.edu/2020commencement.