Pro Slo’s “Altar-Ego”
March 2, 2012
Professor Bill Slomanson – “Pro Slo” to his students – is not just the King of Civil Procedure, but he is also in demand for the most important of all civil procedures – performing weddings.
You might say he has an “altar-ego.”
Over the past few years he has officiated at the weddings of several TJSL students and alumni, including Alex Pal and Tricia Lemons, Ryan Ciriaco and Samantha Massau both 3Ls, and most recently, Chris Albut ’11 and his bride Kimberly.
Writes Albut: “My wedding day was truly the most happy and special day of my life. I was very excited about spending the rest of my life with the woman I loved. I was honored to have Professor Slomanson be the officiant at my wedding. I was his student in state and federal Civil Procedure, and then his research assistant for two years. Professor Slomanson is not only a really good professor, but also a great person with whom to work. I knew that ProSlo—aka RevSlo—had officiated at a number of other TJSL weddings. So, it was only natural that I would ask him to be an important part of my wedding day!
I could not have asked for a better day or setting. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day. The wedding took place at the Sheraton Hotel & Marina, overlooking the marina and airport. Air Force One added an unexpected spark during the presidential flyby at the start of the wedding! (It pays to have a good wedding planner 🙂 Next, my beautiful bride Kimberly walked down the aisle. Needless to say, it looked like Professor Slomanson would have difficult time topping everything that had just happened. But he did. He broke the ice with a few jokes, conducted the ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance one could hope for in a wedding, then ended it with an incredibly touching speech about life and marriage.
I was very happy to have Professor Slomanson and other students from Thomas Jefferson participate in our very special day! TheTJSL alums in the wedding party, or in attendance, were Bryce Tomlin, Michael Huynh, Michael Zuniga, Michael Depetrocellis, and Spencer Nyman—and current TJSL 2L, Melissa Markos.”
“This magical leg of my TJSL journey began in December 2008 when I officiated my first wedding — the day after our really new grads Trisha Lemons & Alex Pal walked down the first of two aisles on the same weekend,” said Professor Slomanson. “When they first asked me to officiate, I thought they were joking. I’ve always thought of myself as too irreverent to make the change from ProSlo to RevSlo. They obviously felt differently, and must have gotten it right, given my now having done so for a total of seven students and grads in the last three years. I have done this only for TJSL students, as I am not ordained and would not have done so but for Alex and Trisha—with whom I shared three classes.”
Professor Slomanson has placed pictures and stories penned by our students and graduates of the weddings he’s performed on his website. (Scroll down the left frame Index to TJSL Weddings.)