"We are proud to honor these extraordinary alumni," Dean and President of New York Law School Richard A. Matasar said. "Each of the three honorees serves as a role model for our current students and is a stellar example of living New York Law School's philosophy: Learn law. Take action. Steven Pegalis devotes his career to obtaining justice for seriously injured people. Kathleen Grimm serves New York City as a leader in revolutionizing the education of our children in the largest school district in the country. Charles Phillips helps to run one of the world's foremost technology companies, whose mission is to advance education, promote diversity, enrich communities, and protect the environment."

Steven E. Pegalis '65 is a founding member and senior partner of Pegalis & Erickson, LLC. For 40 years, he has primarily been a trial attorney representing seriously injured individuals, winning precedent-setting jury awards for $116 million in 1998 and $111 million in 2004. He is the author of what is currently the 3rd edition of the three-volume American Law of Medical Malpractice.

A 1962 graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York, Pegalis holds L.L.B. (1965) and J.D. (1979) degrees from New York Law School. He has been a member of the New York Law School Board of Trustees since 1995 and is a member of the School's adjunct faculty.

Kathleen Grimm '80 has served as Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration at the New York City Department of Education since August 2002. As a key member of Chancellor Joel Klein's team, Grimm has helped shepherd the groundbreaking Children First reforms initiated in 2003 that have improved student test scores and graduation rates. She provides for the integrated delivery of business, operations, and related special education services to schools, as well as overseeing central functions such as food, transportation, safety, facilities, health, guidance, and the School Construction Authority.

Before joining the DOE, Grimm spent nearly five years at the Office of the State Comptroller, where she was the Deputy Comptroller for New York City assisting H. Carl McCall in monitoring the City of New York and related agencies (including the Board of Education). For more than 10 years, she has been an adjunct professor at New York Law School. Grimm holds a B.A. from Manhattanville College in Westchester and an L.L.M. (Tax) from New York University. She is a cum laude graduate of New York Law School and is a member of the Board of Trustees, where she serves as Chair of the Budget and Audit Committee.

Charles E. Phillips Jr. '93 is President of Oracle Corporation, the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest independent software company. He is responsible for global field operations including consulting, marketing, sales, alliances and channels, and customer programs, as well as corporate strategy. Phillips is also a member of the Oracle Board of Directors. Oracle, which has 70,000 employees and operates in 145 countries, is the first software company to develop and deploy 100 percent Internet-enabled enterprise software across its entire product line: database, business applications, and application development and decision support tools.

From 1986 to 1994, Phillips worked at various investment banking firms on Wall Street. Prior to that, he served as a captain in the United States Marine Corps, 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines, an artillery unit. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the United States Air Force Academy and an M.B.A. from Hampton University. He joined the Board of Trustees of New York Law School in 2003. He also serves on the boards of Viacom Inc., Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Morgan Stanley, and the American Museum of Natural History.

The Breaking New Ground. Again. Gala marks the inauguration of the public phase of New York Law School's Capital Campaign. At the center of this campaign are the construction of the School's new state-of-the-art academic building, the creation of exciting programs to inhabit this facility, and the installation of the cutting-edge technology that will drive all of the programmatic changes.

About New York Law School
Founded in 1891, New York Law School is an independent law school located in lower Manhattan near the city's centers of law, government, and finance. New York Law School's renowned faculty of prolific scholars has built the School's strength in such areas as constitutional law, civil and human rights, labor and employment law, media and information law, urban legal studies, international and comparative law, and a number of interdisciplinary fields. The School is noted for its seven academic centers: Center for International Law, Center for New York City Law, Center for Professional Values and Practice, Center for Real Estate Studies, Center on Business Law and Policy, Institute for Information Law and Policy, and Justice Action Center. New York Law School has more than 13,000 graduates and enrolls some 1,500 students in its full- and part-time J.D. program and its Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation program. www.nyls.edu