As students crossed the stage at the 2025 Sunflower Ceremony, they ended one phase of life and began another, a meaningful accomplishment appreciated by the family, friends, and faculty in attendance—as well, of course, by the graduates themselves.
Students wore light-colored, summery attire at the Saturday, May 10 ceremony in Gregory Gym on The University of Texas at Austin campus. The Texas Law tradition of wearing such clothing to commencement, dating back more than a century, continued at this year’s event honoring 26 LL.M. students from 12 countries and 305 Juris Doctor graduates.
Elizabeth Bangs, assistant dean for student affairs, had the on-stage honor of bestowing Sunflowers on graduating J.D. students, some of whom were accompanied by their children. “Pinning our students with their sunflowers as they cross the stage is just the final moment in a 1000-day journey,” said Bangs. “They have shared their joy and dreams with us, as well as their worries and setbacks. In the moment they cross the stage, we can celebrate their resilience, perseverance, and how much they have each enriched the law school, and one another.”
Commencement speakers included Texas Law Dean Bobby Chesney, Class of 2025 President Sophie Hess, and Justice Jane Bland ’90.
Faculty Applause
As students entered the gym before the ceremony began, Texas Law faculty gathered to applaud the soon-to-be graduates.
And during and after the ceremony, the faculty continued to celebrate them.
“The Class of 2025 deserves a special sendoff,” said Professor David Sokolow, noting that after college courses spent on Zoom, they were the first cohort of post-pandemic law students, so Texas Law was their opportunity for fully in-person education. “Come to think of it, they may be the first 1L class that actually looked forward to becoming law students! As a result, they were more collegial, more congenial, and more and enthusiastic than usual,” said Sokolow. “May they maintain those qualities throughout their legal careers.”
Other faculty also pointed to the graduates’ enthusiasm. “The Class of 2025 has made the law school such an exciting and energetic place over the past three years,” said Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Susan C. Morse.
“The curriculum and the school are better because of them. I’m thrilled to see them become Texas Law alumni,” Morse added.
Faculty cheered for students they’d known in the classroom. “It’s a special pleasure to see students whom I have taught walk across the stage,” said Professor Lynn Baker, the Frederick M. Baron Chair in Law. “All their hard work, and the support of their families, has prepared them for the next step in their careers—and I am always grateful to have played a small role in their journey.”
Family Celebration
For some families, seeing a child graduate from Texas Law marked the continuation of a tradition.
Dawn Ryan Budner and Craig Budner both ’90, were law student friends from the same Teaching Quizmaster group when Dawn’s father drove them both to their Texas Law commencement ceremony. “Who could have guessed that we would be married a little over two years later,” said Craig, now global strategic growth partner at K&L Gates LLP in Dallas. At reunion in April, the couple celebrated their 33rd anniversary.
With this year’s commencement, their son Ben Budner also became a Texas Law alum. Although their son didn’t plan to follow in his parents’ legal footsteps—and “he racked his brain to find an alternative career path,” said Dawn—Ben’s philosophy studies at Colgate University in New York put him on a familiar trajectory.
“Ben will be an excellent lawyer in his own right, taking the best from each of his parents and multiplying with his unique talents,” said Dawn, principal with the Budner Firm PLLC in Dallas. “We couldn’t be more proud.” Following his graduation, Ben will clerk for U.S. District Judge Alan Albright ’84 of the Western District of Texas.
They had company alongside other Texas Law parents who are also alumni. David Little ’92 recalled that since he joined the U.S. Marine Corps in law school, at his commencement, he accepted a Sunflower by hand, as the traditional pining of the flower would have violated his Marine dress code.
“My Texas Law graduation was special and opened up a new world for me and my family,” Little said. But he discouraged his children from following the same path—for anything other than a love for the law. “It seems my persuading skills are not as good as I thought they were,” because his daughter Ashley Little enrolled at Texas Law and was among the Class of 2025 graduates. “She has probably my mother’s brain, because she did better than me and is set now vocationally for life,” said David, now an attorney with D.E. Little Law Firm PLLC in Dripping Springs, Texas. Ashley, meanwhile, is clerking for one year for Justice Rebeca Huddle ’99 at the Supreme Court of Texas and the next year for U.S. District Judge David Ezra of the Western District of Texas, before then joining Jackson Walker LLP’s Austin office as a litigation associate.
This year’s ceremony was fun, too. “I loved the confetti explosion at the end” of the ceremony, said Donna King, who was visiting from North Carolina to celebrate her son, Josh McClain. “There’s something so satisfying about that feeling of ‘cut loose,’ and then we all just immediately started embarrassing Josh by dancing.”
From her family’s vantage point in the upper balcony, as names were called, they could spot the applauding groups gathered for each graduate. “You can find their ecstatic little clumps of people. It’s so moving there’s people there for that,” King said.
Other families described how Texas Law graduation represented an exciting new chapter for both the students and their loved ones. Dot Young, the mother of Hannah Young, remarked that her daughter “is a first gen law school student, near the top of her class, and Clerk of the Chancellors,” Dot said. “Her amazing work ethic and tenacity are something to behold. I don’t have words for how proud I am of her and how excited I am to see what her future holds!”
For the immediate term, her daughter—who was selected as the 2025 Fifth Circuit Distinguished Bankruptcy Law Student in March— will be clerking for commencement keynote speaker Justice Bland on the Supreme Court of Texas for a year before joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in their Dallas office.
Proud siblings were also in attendance. “We’ve been along for the ride for the past three years and getting updates whenever there were hurdles that she was able to jump over, and all of the school assignments,” said Tobi Fayiga, who was visiting from Waxahachie, Texas to celebrate his sister Temi Fayiga’s graduation. “It was a significant moment for me, as well. So, I can definitely say ‘Well done, Temi.’”
‘Surreal Moment’
Graduating students said reaching commencement represented a lifelong goal.
“Graduating from Texas Law is the fulfillment of a childhood dream and the result of years of hard work,” said Tionna Ryan, who was vice president of Texas Law’s Thurgood Marshall Legal Society, which last spring won an award for the country’s best medium-sized chapter from the National Black Law Students Association. “As a first-generation Black female graduate, I am entering the legal field with a deep commitment to represent those who look like me and pave the way for future generations to come!” Ryan also held a leadership role on the Cadena Society, which last fall won the program’s first-ever food drive.
Other graduating students agreed the moment felt dreamlike. “It still feels very surreal and it’s settling in, but it was a beautiful ceremony and more emotional than I thought it was going to be,” said Temi Fayiga. “The row of professors who applauded you before you walked in the hall was a very cool moment. And just celebrating with classmates, family, and friends,” she added.
As a winning Advocacy Program student, Fayiga earned the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section Award for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy and 2025’s Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Midwest Regional hosted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and was on the Duberstein championship team last year. She will next be clerking for commencement speaker Bland for a year in Austin before working at Haynes Boone in Dallas.
Having faculty there was meaningful for other graduates, too. “It was a beautiful ceremony. One of my favorite things was seeing my old professors there, how proud they were of us, and how many made the effort to come and celebrate us,” said Brandon Charnov, nothing how faculty attendance put a bow on the law school experience. “I thought that was really wonderful, seeing my professors who taught me when I was a 1L now here, celebrating me as I graduated.”
Amid the happiness, there was still a sense of loss. “I’m just going to miss being in such a close community with all my friends right here,” said Charnov, who will spend five weeks working in Beck Redden’s appellate division in Houston before a year clerking for the Texas Supreme Court and then specializing in appeals. “I’ll be staying in touch with a lot of my friends, but it’s going to be different when everybody’s working in different offices. I’ve really loved that every day during the week, I know that I can come here grab lunch with my friends, talk about sports, talk about life, talk about law,” he said. “It’s just really, really fun to build those bonds while everybody’s working really hard in law school.”
The ceremony was streamed live and available to view on YouTube. The
View Sunflower Ceremony 2025 Photos on Flickr
Watch the Ceremony on YouTube
Watch the recorded live stream and follow the live chat replay to witness the excitement in real time from family and friends from across the globe!