Distinguished Alumnus and General Counsel for the United Church of Christ to Serve as Rutgers Law–Camden Commencement Speaker

CAMDEN – Donald C. Clark, Jr., general counsel of the United Church of Christ, will present the keynote address during Rutgers School of Law–Camden’s commencement ceremony to be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the Susquehanna Bank Center on the Camden Waterfront.

The 1979 Rutgers Law–Camden alumnus made legal history in October, when he delivered an unprecedented win on behalf of the United Church of Christ.  When U.S. District Court Judge Max Cogburn issued his ruling in the case General Synod of the United Church of Christ et al v. Resingerr, striking down North Carolina’s marriage laws as unconstitutional, the United Church of Christ became the only national Christian denomination to fight and win a challenge to a state’s ban on same-sex marriage. 

Clark, who endows an annual law and religion lecture each spring at Rutgers–Camden, says the concept of equal rights is an enduring concept in America. “It speaks to the aspirations of our people that have been present since the founding of our country, coupled with the importance of religious freedom. I would expect all people, and especially people of faith, to continue to assert those aspirations and rights in any context in which they believe they are being infringed.”

After serving as a litigation partner in two of Chicago’s largest law firms (Isham, Lincoln & Beale and McDermott, Will and Emery), Clark managed his own litigation boutique (Clark & DeGrand) for nearly a decade. Since 2003, he has been serving as the primary legal counsel for the United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination of over one million members and approximately 5,200 churches, and regularly appearing in courts throughout the country.

According to Rutgers Law–Camden Acting Dean John Oberdiek, having such a distinguished alumnus serve as keynote speaker is an honor for the law school. "Don Clark exemplifies the best of Rutgers Law–Camden. He is a phenomenally skilled and successful lawyer, he has made a major impact on the landscape of U.S. law, and he is also committed to his alma mater, generously supporting the law school's academic mission in myriad ways."

In 2014, Crain’s Cleveland Business magazine presented Clark with a Lifetime Achievement Award and he received an honorary doctor of letters degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary.  He is admitted to practice law before the courts of the State of Illinois, the Federal District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois, the Federal Appellate Courts of the Third, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits, and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Clark’s pro bono work includes post-conviction representation of a death-row inmate in Alabama, where he successfully obtained reversal of the sentence and capital-murder conviction. The Rutgers Law–Camden alumnus has been an adjunct professor, teaching trial advocacy at both Rutgers and Northwestern law schools, and at both Andover Newton Theological School and the Chicago Theological Seminary, where he has taught “Legal Issues in Contemporary Parish Ministry.” Clark is a former chair of the Board of Trustees of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and a former chair of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Theological Seminary. He has been married to wife Ellen B. Clark, since 1976; together they have two children and six grandchildren.