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Words and tones sweeter than those of any oral argument will bid farewell Saturday to graduating law students at the University of California, Davis.

Lawcappella, an a cappella group of about 15 law students that has performed at school events and serenaded for hire on Valentine's Day, will sing two selections during the commencement.

Dean Rex Perschbacher, proud to be the group's biggest fan, has been thinking about wearing his Lawcappella T-shirt under his academic robe. "Lawcappella is just terrific," he said. "They're a wonderful counterpart to the seriousness and dryness of the law. They remind you of art and beauty and finer things that shouldn't be forgotten."

Also featured during the ceremony will be guest speaker Tom Campbell, director of the California Department of Finance. He serves as the chief budget adviser to Gov. Schwarzenegger.

Lawcappella sings a range of music from medieval madrigals to pop music and songs that spoof the travails of law school. But at the commencement, the group will perform "Helplessly Hoping," by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and "You are the New Day," made popular by the King's Singers.

Joanna Silverman and Graham Brownstein helped found Lawcappella in 2002 when they started law school. "I sang all through high school and college, and I started looking for a group that was already formed," Silverman said. Later, she discovered Brownstein and another avid singer, and the group was born.

"Lawcappella is a beautiful reminder of how well-rounded our students are -- how much more they are than LSAT scores," Perschbacher said.

Silverman, Brownstein and a few other members are among those to whom the law school will award degrees on Saturday. In all, the law school will award 11 Master of Laws degrees and 175 Juris Doctor degrees. The commencement will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the ARC Pavilion, formerly Recreation Hall, on campus.

The commencement will be the first of 12 ceremonies at which the university will confer a total of about 6,000 degrees through June 19. Other ceremonies will be held as follows:

• School of Medicine -- 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 11, Mondavi Center;
• School of Education -- 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, Freeborn Hall;
• Graduate Studies -- 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, ARC Pavilion;
• Division of Biological Sciences -- 10 a.m. on Friday, June 17, ARC Pavilion;
• College of Engineering -- 3 p.m. on Friday, June 17, ARC Pavilion;
• School of Veterinary Medicine -- 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 17, ARC Pavilion;
• College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences -- 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 18, ARC Pavilion;
• Graduate School of Management -- 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, Freeborn Hall; and
• College of Letters and Science -- 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 19, ARC Pavilion.