U.S. District Judge Denny Chin will be the keynote speaker at the University of Miami School of Law’s Spring 2009 Commencement on Sunday, May 17, 2009.

Chin serves in the Southern District of New York, where he has presided over a number of high-profile cases, including three that were used as plots for the popular Law & Order television series. Aside from the prominence of his cases, Chin is the first Asian-American to be appointed to a federal district court judgeship outside the 9th Circuit, and is one of only six Asian-American federal judges. He was appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton in 1994.

In the time since, Chin has presided over several prominent cases – most recently, the United States v. Bernard L. Madoff, the trial of American businessman Bernard Madoff who was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person. Other notable cases that Chin has headed include the civil suit that Fox New Network filed against Penguin Group and Alan Franken to prevent Franken from using the phrase “fair and balanced” in the title of his then-forthcoming book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Chin also presided over the criminal prosecution of Larry Stewart, the handwriting expert who was accused of committing perjury during the trial of Martha Stewart (no relation); the trial of Tongsun Park, also known as Pak Dong-seon, in connection with Pak's alleged involvement in the scandal surrounding the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme; and the criminal trial of Oscar Wyatt, the Texas oil billionaire accused of making kick-backs to the Hussein regime during the UN Oil-For-Food Programme.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Chin practiced law for 14 years. He started out as a clerk with the Honorable Henry Werker, and went on to practice with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1980 to 1982. From 1982 to 1986, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1986, Chin left the U.S. Attorney's Office and started the law firm Campbell, Patrick & Chin with two colleagues from the U.S. Attorney's Office. In 1990, he joined the law firm Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., where he specialized in labor and employment law, representing employees and unions. He practiced at Vladeck until his appointment to the bench in 1994.

Chin was born in 1954 in Kowloon, Hong Kong and came to the U.S. in 1956. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1971, and went on to receive his Bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 1975. After college, he studied law at Fordham University School of Law, where he was the Managing Editor of the Fordham Law Review. He graduated from Fordham in 1978, and has taught there as an adjunct professor for 20 years.

On May 17, 2009, Chin will address UM Law graduates, as well as alumni, parents, and other members of the University and Law School communities. The ceremony begins at 2:00 p.m., and will be held in the BankUnited Center on the UM Coral Gables campus.

On Saturday, May 16, 2009, the Law School will host a reception for law graduates and their families from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. in the Law School Quadrangle, located at 1311 Miller Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33143. For more information about the Spring 2009 Commencement, visit the Law School’s Commencement web page, or contact the Dean of Students Office at 305-284-4551.

posted 03-April-2009