Spring Awards Banquet to Recognize Alumni Special Achievement Award Recipients and Owens Lawyer of the Year

Santa Clara University’s School of Law Spring Awards Banquet is being held Friday, April 28, 2006.  The Awards Banquet recognizes the Alumni Special Achievement Award recipients and the Owens Lawyer of the Year.  Pictured are the 2005 Alumni Special Acheivement Award recipients (left to right) Professor Kyong-Whan "Kenny" Ahn ’85, Honorable Eileen A. Kato ’80, Richard C. Watters ’73 and Honorable Eugene M. Premo ’62.

The 2006 Alumni Special Achievement Award recipients are Honorable James A. Wright ’49, John C. Cruden ’74 and Naomi Young ’74.  The Alumni Special Achievement Award was established by the Santa Clara University School of Law’s Alumni Association for the purpose of publicly recognizing outstanding achievements of Law School alumni.  Recipients are those who have distinguished themselves in their profession, community, and in service to humanity.

The 2006 Owens Lawyer of the Year is William B. Clayton, Jr. ’74.  Named for Edwin J. Owens, Dean of Santa Clara University School of Law for 20 years and later judge of the Superior Court, the Lawyer of the Year Award was first presented in 1966.  The first honoree was Judge Owens himself.  The recipient must be a member of the bench or bar and must be either an alumnus of the School of Law or a member (or former member) of the full-time faculty or administration.  He or she should be a person of high moral character and recognized intellectual ability who is devoted to the highest ideals of professional responsibility and who has made significant contributions to the University, the community and the law.

James Wright came to Santa Clara University from Denver, Colorado, in 1939 as a highly recruited football player. Wright, nicknamed “Nubby,” became the starting fullback for the nationally-ranked Broncos in his sophomore year. He graduated in 1943 as a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit National Honor Society, with a B.A. in Philosophy. Immediately after graduation, Wright entered the U.S. Army as a private, was shortly thereafter promoted to second lieutenant, field artillery, and was discharged as a major in August, 1946. He served in combat with distinction in World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal in 1945. Returning to SCU in 1946, he entered law school and became the first president of the school’s Student Bar Association.  In 1949, Wright earned his J.D. and won the Outstanding Graduate Award.

He joined the firm of Miller & Morton, where he was later named partner. He was the president of the Santa Clara Bar Association during 1963-64, and was widely known as one of the most respected attorneys in Santa Clara County.  Wright was appointed to the Sunnyvale Municipal Court in May 1972, elevated to the Superior Court in 1975, and later served as the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Courts. In 1985, Wright was unanimously elected as the Presiding Judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Throughout his distinguished career, Judge Wright has received many honors including being named the Edwin J. Owens Lawyer of the Year by Santa Clara University School of Law in 1977, and Trial Judge of the Year by the local Trial Lawyers Association in 1983.  He retired from active judicial service in 1988.  He and his wife, Janet, have three children and six grandchildren.

John Cruden, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, served in the airborne, ranger and Special Forces units in Germany and Vietnam before attending law school. He took the LSAT and successfully applied to several law schools in 1971 while still in Saigon. He won a leave to attend SCU, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1974.  Cruden went on to earn a master’s degree in government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia, where he again graduated with honors. He attended the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s graduate course and was named outstanding graduate. In subsequent military assignments he served as a criminal prosecutor, head of civil litigation in Europe, agency general counsel, staff judge advocate, and law professor. He also served as chief legislative counsel for the Army from1988 to1991.

Having developed an environmental law specialty during years of litigating, Cruden landed at the Department of Justice where he soon became chief of the environmental enforcement section, supervising the department’s largest litigation section and working on cases like the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. He is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Presidential Rank Award. In June 2005, Cruden was inaugurated as the 34th president of the Washington D.C. Bar, the nation’s second-largest bar association; he is the first government attorney elected to that post.

Naomi Young was born and raised in the Bronx, NY, and she attended undergraduate school at Saint Louis University.  Upon receiving her B.A. degree from SLU in 1971 she continued west to Santa Clara University, where she earned her J.D. in 1974.

Ms. Young began her legal career with the National Labor Relations Board in Newark, N.J. in 1974.  She returned to Northern California in 1976 to join the labor and employment law firm of Littler Mendelson as an associate attorney.  Ms. Young relocated to the firm’s Los Angeles office in 1980 and became a principal in the firm in 1981. In 1985, she co-founded Gartner & Young, a boutique labor and employment law firm, where she practiced until 2002, when Gartner & Young moved its practice to the law firm of Baker & Hostetler LLP.  Currently, Ms. Young is a partner at Baker & Hostetler in Los Angeles where she represents employers in labor law and employment litigation matters.

Throughout her career, Ms. Young has been active in civic affairs and the legal community. Appointed by Governor George Dukemejian, Ms. Young served as a Commissioner on the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission.  She also served as a volunteer referee to review attorney disciplinary matters in the Review Department of the formerly constituted California State Bar Court, and currently is a volunteer mediator for the Los Angeles Superior Court.  Ms. Young is a former member of the Boards of Directors of California Women Lawyers, the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, and the John M. Langston Bar Association in Los Angeles.  She is a founding and executive committee member of the National Employment Law Council, a nationwide organization primarily composed of minority in-house and outside counsel representing management in labor and employment law matters.

In addition, Ms. Young has been active in a number of other bar associations, including as a founding member and the first president of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of California, Northern California Chapter, as the first vice president (north) of the California Association of Black Lawyers, as the secretary of the Labor Law Division of the National Bar Association, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.

In 2003, Ms. Young was selected as one of America’s Top Black Lawyers by Black Enterprise Magazine. She was also named one of Southern California’s “Super Lawyers”® by Southern California Super Lawyers and Los Angeles Magazine in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Bill Clayton was born and raised in Santa Clara County. He is a dual-alumnus of Santa Clara University, earning a B.S.C. in Marketing in 1971 and a J.D. in 1974. He is also an alumnus of the university’s football program, having played for the Broncos all four years as an undergraduate. After graduating from law school, Clayton entered the United States Army as an officer. Upon completion of his active duty obligation he served in the Army reserves as a member of the 445th Civil Affairs Unit based in Oakland and provided legal services to military personnel at the Presidio in San Francisco.

He began practicing law with the law firm of McNamara, Lewis and Craddick, where he stayed until 1980, at which time Clayton opened his own practice with fellow SCU alumnus Laurence McEvoy, B.A. ’66, J.D. ’69. Clayton has been involved in numerous professional, civic and community activities. He is a member and has chaired the Santa Clara County Bar Association Fee Arbitration Executive Committee, served as the Committee’s Presiding Arbitrator and serves as a member of the corresponding California State Bar Mandatory Fee Arbitration Committee; serves on and chaired the San Jose Arena Authority, and served on and chaired the Parking Commission for the City of San Jose; served on the Downtown Transit Task Force for the City of San Jose; serves on the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Board, and serves on and chaired the Santa Clara University Law Alumni Board, to name a few.  He and his wife Rosanne, B.A. ’71, have three children and three grandchildren.

For more information about the Spring Awards Banquet visit: http://lawscuedustage.wpengine.com/alumni/law_2006_spring_awards_info.html