At the Berkeley law school graduation ceremony on May 13, 2016, Karin Gaudet-Asmus gave a speech as president of the LL.M. class with 200 students. There were thousands in attendance at the Hearst Greek Theater in Berkeley.

Karin Gaudet-Asmus at the graduation ceremony for the Berkeley LL.M. Program.

The ceremony celebrated the end of the one-year LL.M program with students from nearly 50 different countries as well as the end of the three-year J.D. program. During her term as Class president, Mrs. Gaudet-Asmus collaborated with students to organize cultural events, an end-of-the year ball at the Chabot observatory in Oakland, a boat trip around the San Francisco Bay, a new public service certificate for LL.M. graduates, and other events and celebrations. She also initiated a nationwide online network of LL.M. students at leading law schools. She tried to organize an event with all of the major bar exam preparation courses so students could compare their services and rates, but most of the prep courses refused the invitation to participate.

Karin Gaudet-Asmus Accepting Her Diploma From Berkeley Law’s New Dean Melissa Murray

As noted in her five-minute speech, an official copy of which may be viewed at this link, Mrs. Gaudet-Asmus intends to return to El Paso, Texas with her husband, Robert Joseph Gaudet, Jr. An unofficial recording of her speech, available at this link, includes the Berkeley law school dean’s introduction of Mrs. Gaudet-Asmus in which the Dean mentions Mrs. Gaudet-Asmus’s interest in returning to El Paso.

Mrs. Gaudet-Asmus was elected LL.M. Class president in a contested election with at least five candidates from France, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. To the best of recollection, she was the first female LL.M. class president at Berkeley. Classmates and officials at the Advanced Degree Program office noted she did an amazing job as Class president. One student remarked she gave the best speech at graduation.

As a student, Mrs. Gaudet-Asmus earned “high honors,” the highest available grade, from some of her courses. She enjoyed the opportunity to learn from outstanding, knowledgeable, and nationally known instructors such as Judge William A. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit and Prof. Burt Neuborne of NYU who litigated class actions on behalf of Holocaust survivors and taught at Berkeley in the 2016 Spring term.

Joseph Federici

In addition, Mr. Joseph Federici, who is Of Counsel at RJ Gaudet & Associates LLC, graduated this month from Georgetown University’s M.S. in Foreign Service Program. As a graduate student, he served as a teacher’s assistant for former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and improved his understanding of Afghanistan’s native language.

Congratulations to Mrs. Gaudet-Asmus and her classmates for their hard work and to Mr. Federici.