This past weekend, 3Ls, LLMs and SJDs from Yale, Boston College and Columbia University, graduated from their respective law schools in ceremonies that included a few surprises. Chief among these was the presence of Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton `73 at YLS’s commencement on Memorial Day, who was there to receive an honorary degree from her alma mater. In accordance with Yale’s tradition of keeping secret the names of each year’s honorary degree recipients until the day of the commencement ceremony, neither students nor media outlets were informed of the decision to honor Secretary Clinton until the day before commencement when the Yale Daily News quietly broke the news, and Clinton was welcomed with raucous cheers from the graduating students when she was introduced. She spoke briefly during the afternoon ceremony, reminiscing about her experience at YLS and encouraging YLS graduates to enter public service.
At Boston College Law School on Friday, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Ben Bernanke delivered the commencement address, choosing to talk about unpredictability in life and the necessity of maintaining an optimistic outlook throughout the good times and the bad. He reassured his audience that their legal education makes them highly employable in several popular job sectors, including at the Federal Reserve, and they have much to look forward to once the U.S. economy emerges from the recession. Former California Governor Joseph “Gray” Davis spoke at Columbia Law School’s 148th graduation ceremony on Thursday May 21.
Graduating NYU School of Law students attended commencement exercises at Yankee Stadium on May 13, where they graduated alongside all other graduate students at NYU. A more intimate law school convocation and reception followed on May 15. Also on May 15, commencement was held at William & Mary and USC Gould law schools. Robert E. Scott, who is currently the Alfred McCormack Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, delivered the commencement speech at W&M, a fitting choice given his long history with the school. Mr. Scott was editor-in-chief of the William & Mary Law Review while a student there in the late 1960s, and briefly taught at the law school before taking a tenure-track position at the University of Virginia Law School in 1974. Gould’s commencement exercises included speeches by Dean Robert K. Rasmussen, who encouraged students to live up to the school’s core values of public service and a lifelong passion for learning, and third-year Class President Paula Mayeda, who celebrated the perseverance demonstrated by her classmates during their three years of law school. The commencement address was given by California Attorney General and former Governor of California, Edmund “Jerry” Brown, Jr., who called on the graduating students to use the critical thinking skills gained through their legal education to remake a broken society.
In the coming weeks, Harvard Law School, the University of Chicago Law School and many others will hold their commencement exercises and bid adieu to the class of 2009.
