Gabrielle Valdez has always been in a hurry to get the most out of life. The 28-year-old native of Marin County, Calif., weighed only two pounds when she was born prematurely. But there’s nothing lightweight about her academic credentials, zest for life and passion for her chosen career. Valdez graduates on Sunday, May 21, from the University of Oregon School of Law. She finished her master’s degree in business last March as a participant in the J.D./M.B.A concurrent degree program offered through the law school and UO Lundquist College of Business. She accomplished that feat while commuting back and forth between Eugene and Portland as an intern for the Portland Trail Blazers. "I decided in my second year of law school that I didn’t want to go the traditional route of practicing law, and discovered that having both a J.D. and an M.B.A. would open up a wider variety of career paths." Then Valdez discovered sports marketing through the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the UO business college. "I fell in love with sports marketing and had the wonderful opportunity to work with the Trail Blazers and then as an intern at the new Staples Center in Los Angeles–that’s when I got hooked." Valdez is almost evangelical about working in sports venues like the Staples Center and would like to be the general manager of one someday. "I’ve already got a job lined up with Staples after I graduate and take the California Bar exam," she says. "I’m just so excited to begin my new career in sports management." SOURCE: Gabrielle Valdez, (541) 484-4840; gvaldez@law.uoregon.edu. (Note: Valdez will be out of town until Friday, May 19, but is available by cell phone before then at (541) 543-4840.)

The future is looking good for soon-to-be graduates of the University of Oregon School of Law. Approximately half of the 160 students who’ll graduate on Sunday, May 21, already have jobs. "Many will go directly to private firms and a few have landed prestigious government positions," says Merv Loya, UO School of Law career services director. Loya says if the class of 2000 fares as well as last year’s graduates, 92 percent will be employed nine months out of law school. He says of those graduates, more than half stayed in Oregon, 60 percent took jobs with private firms and in business, and 40 percent took government and other public service positions, such as judicial clerkships or as prosecutors. Some graduates go on to get advanced law degrees. Loya says based on last year’s pass rate, this year’s graduates also should do well on their bar exams. Of the class of ’99 UO law grads taking the Oregon Bar exam for the first time, approximately 90 percent passed, well above the average pass rate of 71 percent for first-time test takers from all law schools. The first-time pass rate was even higher for ’99 UO law graduates taking the Washington Bar exam, where 93 percent passed, as compared to the average pass rate of 80 percent for first-time test takers from all law schools. SOURCE: Merv Loya, UO School of Law career services director, (541) 346-3887.

—30—

#T-4084/Local,PDX