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[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHEERING]
SPEAKER: At this time, we acknowledge and thank the Cornell Law School faculty and administrators who are next in the procession. They are led by George Hay, the Charles Frank Reavis Senior Professor of Law, and Muna Ndulo, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
[APPLAUSE]
CHANTAL THOMAS: Welcome, welcome, graduates and families. Before we hear from our speakers, we'll begin the ceremony by reading the Indigenous Land Acknowledgement. Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogoho:no Nation, the Cayuga Nation. The Gayogoho:no are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign nations with an historic and contemporary presence on this land.
The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell university, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogoho:no dispossession and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogoho:no people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
Please be seated. It is my privilege to introduce our presider Jens David Ohlin, the Allen R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Law.
[APPLAUSE]
JENS DAVID OHLIN: Thank you. Welcome, faculty, friends, family, and graduates to this celebration in honor of the amazing and talented Cornell Law School class of 2024.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
This is a gathering like no other. Indeed, we do not assemble as a community at any other time in the year with faculty and attendance and the entire graduating class. We invite friends and relatives to join us because the Cornell community is a wider family, one committed to deeper principles, fellowship, and mutual respect.
As some of you know, I've developed a tradition in my young deanship of alternating my graduation speeches year to year between funny and serious. So one year off the wall, funny, sometimes very off the wall, and counterbalanced the next year with careful introspection. Well, I regret to inform you that last year's speech was the funny one.
It's fitting that we celebrate with your families on this Mother's Day weekend. To the mothers in the audience. Thank you for your ongoing support. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for your emotional and intellectual nurturing over many decades.
While today's graduates have certainly earned their own accomplishments, it is no exaggeration to say that their lives today bear the marks of their greatest influences. And you certainly count as the highest among them. Parents, please take pride in your child's accomplishment. And graduates, let's say a collective thank you and give your parents a hearty round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
Let me turn to you, the class of 2024, and speak to you directly and personally. In your time with us, you have worked hard. You have carried heavy case books and heavier burdens. You have survived cold calls and even colder days. You have congratulated each other in triumph and consoled each other in sorrow.
You have researched thorny legal topics, drafted creative legal solutions. You've argued before judges in moot court and real courts and served clients in our clinics and practicums. You have worked in isolation. You have studied in groups. You have charted your own path to a legal career, but you have not done so in solitary fashion. You have collaborated in teams and debated legal principles with each other and with outsiders.
You forged agreement and commonality, but also navigated difference. And in so doing, you've done the hard work of the law, because the law is not always about agreement, and smiles, and sunshine, and roses. No, sir. Indeed, the law finds its highest calling when human impulses are at their worst.
Each of you have earned the degree that will be conferred when you cross this stage and shake my hand. But in addition to your individual accomplishment, we are truly celebrating a collective achievement. As a group, you've come to the end of your academic training and now embark on a career in the legal profession.
Each of you may now turn in a different direction, moving to diverse cities and faraway countries, practicing in different areas of the law. And some of you might not even practice law at all, choosing instead an impact in business, or in politics, or in the arts. But whatever direction fate and agency take you in the future, your paths have intersected here at Cornell in a profound way.
And like it or not, who you are is a product not just of your own choices and actions, but also the imprint of those beside you and how you interacted with each other as students, as lawyers, and as human beings. And this is why it is important for us to celebrate this day in common as a collective milestone rather than an aggregation of mere individual effort.
We come together to recognize our participation in a common endeavor, a noble purpose, and that is the pursuit of the law. And it is one to which you have already devoted a substantial portion of your young lives. Whether you are receiving a JD, LLM, JSD, or MSLS degree from Cornell Law School, your education here represents time, energy, sacrifice, and devotion that you could have directed towards other passions.
But instead of pursuing one of many other notable goals, you came here to Ithaca to toil for hours in the majestic Gould Reading Room of our library, the culmination of all knowledge, where you spent hours drinking Copper Horse Coffee to stay up all night, reading line after line of cases, statutes, and regulations, practice depositions, and simulated corporate deals.
You did it all because your commitment to the law was an authentic expression of your personal answer to that most existential of questions-- what shall I do with my life? As students and as practicing attorneys, your path through the law represents one of the most fundamental attributes of our species-- the desire to come together and collaborate in all endeavors, whether economic or artistic, whether scientific or social.
But in many places today, the bonds between human beings are frayed and the ties between nations no less so. The 17th century jurist Hugo Grotius once referred to the great society of nations that existed on the globe. Grotius is often considered the father of our international legal system, in part because he believed that this great society served as the foundation for all relations between nation states.
That great society was only made possible, Grotius believed, because nation states share the same fundamental characteristic as individual human beings-- a disposition towards sociability, meaning a tendency to come together in need or in fellowship rather than coming apart in anger or in hate. This need to collaborate to accomplish things was a function not just of nations, but of all human beings.
Indeed, Grotius even believed that before nation states existed, the human beings that roamed the Earth were part of a common society because they shared that social disposition-- an impulse that triggered the formation of families, small communities, cities, and eventually countries. But in the beginning there were just human beings and their impulse to be together.
And according to Grotius, that original global society was never extinguished. It persists to this day, even though human beings are now divided across so many arbitrary lines-- identities that can provide powerful meaning to our lives, but can also divide and alienate us.
This notion that all human beings are drawn together as social animals, this wasn't just a mere quirk of Grotius' view of the law. It became a foundational principle that was borrowed by Pufendorf, Wolf, and Vatel, and the other great legal theorists of the 18th and 19th century. They adopted-- some might say plagiarized-- the Grotian conception of human nature and used it to construct their own theories of the law.
We are now living through an age where our common status as human beings is too often tested and compromised. And this is true whether we talk of individuals or countries. The recognition of our collective humanity is easy to forget, but we do so at our own peril.
When I walk across this campus, I often linger in front of my favorite stone bench near the main humanities building and stare at the words that are etched elegantly into its stone. It says, "Above all nations is humanity." Recognizing our common humanity and seeing the other as a human being is not just a philosophical precept. It's also a way of life.
You should always remember that the people that you encounter in life are human beings just like yourself-- maybe not just like yourself, but certainly sharing a common core. Remember as you disagree with someone about matters trivial or profound that your interlocutor is a human being. See each other as human beings. As a lawyer, see your client as a human being. See your opposing counsel as a human being and recognize that their client is one, too.
Your new vocation, the law, can sometimes pit people against each other and estrange them from their common humanity. But law is also the structure that allows disagreements to be resolved and mediated in a civilized way. It's become unfashionable in academic circles to talk of law's humanizing impulses. But I still believe that the law is an expression of our better angels. And I hope you believe that, too. Cynicism is trendy but ultimately self-defeating because it cannot generate a coherent life plan.
In April, my wife and I sat down for dinner with several students after the Langfan Moot Court Competition. After a final oral argument with great powers of persuasion on full display, our dinner conversation turned to more social topics.
At our table was Judge Lavenski Smith of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. One of us asked him why he decided to study law and whether he knew as a youngster that he would become a lawyer and one day a judge. He said no, but mentioned that as an undergraduate, he studied political philosophy.
He then used a fascinating phrase to describe the law. He called it technology. He explained that just as engineering is the technology that brings physics into reality in the form of buildings, and bridges, and other creations, so, too, law was the technology that brought the ideas of political philosophy to fruition.
Technology sometimes gets a bad name because people think of technocrats as uninspired. But real magic happens when the lawyers get into the room. We're inclined to think of physicians and healers as having a magical touch, but we sometimes forget that what we do as lawyers is just as sacred.
Of course, much of what you will do in your jobs is technical, but there are other aspects that will defy description. Through alchemy you'll take wrong and make right. You will take unforgivable and render it forgiven. You will see disagreement and discord, but bring consensus. You are lawyers now, and there is quiet nobility in that.
What unites you as students and graduates of this great university? What is our common cause as Cornellians? We are all committed to the cause of justice, and it is justice that you are now pledged to pursue for the rest of your lives. Justice is your destination. And while we may disagree about how to get there, we walk the path together.
That path may be long and winding, and it may take surprising turns. But I hope that it keeps you connected with each other and with this great institution where your journey began. And maybe someday, our paths will cross again in Ithaca. Who knows? Maybe you can even drop by next year and listen to the funny speech.
To the great class of 2024, we say to you with admiration in our hearts, you are the future, and we expect great things from you. Congratulations, and now go out and change the world. Thank you and good luck.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
I'm now pleased to introduce our amazing student speakers selected by their fellow graduates to offer words of reflection, wisdom, and inspiration on this special day. Our JD speaker Merrick Black, graduates from Cornell Law School as a Charles Evans Hughes scholar, a Myron Taylor scholar, a member of the dean's list and a recipient of the Russo Public Interest Fellowship, the Rosenzweig Public Interest Fellowship, and the Freeman Award for Civil Human Rights Activities, as well as a leader in numerous student organizations at the law school.
While a student at Cornell, Merrick completed summer internships with the US Department of Justice Human Trafficking Unit and the International Refugee Assistance Project. After graduation, she'll embark on a federal district court clerkship with the honorable Margo Brody of the Eastern District of New York. Please welcome Merrick.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
MERRICK BLACK: Thank you, Dean Ohlin, for that wonderful introduction. And more importantly, thank you, class, for choosing me as your speaker. I am honored to be here and I will cherish this moment just as much as I have cherished the last few years with all of you.
First, I want to honor Konner Robison. Not only has Konner left a legacy here through the Veteran's Law Practicum, but Konner has always showed up for us with a warm smile and giving nature. Can we please have a moment of silence for him? Thank you.
I also want to thank my mom for all she sacrificed to get me here and my husband for all the times he listened to me rant about the Erie doctrine or, as he calls it, the Irey doctrine. It truly takes a village, and I know I speak for everyone here when I say that. So I just want to take a moment to thank all of the friends, family, and professors in the audience. Can we please rise and give a round of applause for them?
[APPLAUSE]
To the class of 2024, we've faced many tribulations and trials, both metaphorically and literally, during our time here. We apply to law school during one of the most competitive application cycles, only to be launched into an on-campus world of hand sanitizer and weekly nose swabs. We witnessed humanity's post-pandemic comeback and we mourned the end of karaoke at Kilpatrick's.
Reflecting on our collective time together, I can't help but think of the African concept of Ubuntu. I first encountered this concept in my interfaith support group in college and I encountered it in the International Human Rights Clinic Fighting to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Roughly translated from Zulu, this word means "community," or, "I am because we are." As I look at every classmate, every professor, and every family member in the audience today, that couldn't be more true. We are who we are because of the community surrounding us today.
By the time I had arrived in Cornell's maze of halls, I had long lost hope that the law would be fair. I had seen how easily it failed me as a child in family court and how it continued to fail victims of employment discrimination as adults. But gradually, because of you all, I began to hope.
It was more than seeing my clinic colleagues fight to end our clients in solitary confinement or advocate for post-conviction relief. It was the spirited debates on whether teeth are dangerous weapons or whether Pepsi was legally obligated to give a Harrier fighter jet as a prize. It was the discussions on jury bias, public policy considerations in contracts, and, of course, the rule against perpetuities.
Regardless of the topic, my classmates always shared their views in earnest. The diverse perspectives from my peers not only challenged the black-letter law, but challenged me to engage more deeply with the law itself. The theme Cornell chose for this year, The Year of Freedom of Expression, is particularly apt. We have achieved so much because of the free exchange of ideas and vigorous debates.
When we value the voices in our community as much as we value our own, there is hope for our profession, our laws, and our communities to change. Since then, I've witnessed our class use their voices to change lives. I saw students in the Gender Justice Clinic advocate for victims of military sexual assault at the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva.
I read the transnational dispute clinic's amicus brief to the Supreme Court advocating for migrant rights in the US. And I felt the joy of my peers who secured habeas relief for our client fleeing cartel attacks in Mexico. While our professors taught us what the law is, you each taught me what the law can be.
Because of you, I'm a better advocate, a better person, and filled with hope for our profession. Already, you have made such a profound impact not only on me, but our clients, too. And you've done so so early in our careers. After all, we haven't even finished graduating yet.
As we scatter across the globe, I ask you to remember what the Cornell community has given you. We might not be gossiping in the same hallways or swiping one too many scones during the weekly perk, but the lessons learned from our classmates and professors live on in each of us.
Whether we're walking through the halls of Myron Taylor High or the halls of a courthouse, we already have the tools to tackle any challenge, open any door, and most critically, to build a community like the one we've shared here for the last three years. It may be the end of our law school career, but it is not the end of us-- not by far. So congratulations for all that you've already achieved, and I cannot wait to see what more we all will do. Goodbye, class of 2024, and hello, Cornell Law alumni.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
JENS DAVID OHLIN: Thank you, Merrick, for those lovely and inspiring remarks. I could see how meaningful they were to your fellow students. Our LLM Speaker Jung Xiu joined Cornell Law School, having received his first degree in law from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China, where Jung distinguished himself as a merit scholar, president of the law school debate team, and best oralist in the 13th Annual Shanghai International Debate Competition on Humanitarian Issues.
While at Cornell Law School, Jung served as a research assistant for Professor Yun-chien Chang, researching empirical legal studies and the sociology of legal knowledge. Jung plans to continue his studies and pursue a JSD in sociology and philosophy of law. Please welcome Jung Xiu.
[APPLAUSE]
JUNG XIU: Thank you, Dean. Dear professors, staff, colleagues, families, we are all at Cornell Law School. It's my honor to give a speech here on behalf of the LLM class of 2024. Thank you so much, my colleagues, for choosing me as your speaker.
Before giving my speech, I would like to express my gratitude to all faculty and staff at Cornell. Thank you for your dedication in the past year to support our life and learning. Additionally, I would like to extend my special thanks to my family. It's your constant loves that guide me here. Please join me in giving a big round of applause to our families and loved ones.
[APPLAUSE]
One year ago, as a stupid student fresh out of college, I would never imagine that I could stand here. At that time, I had no idea about what my future would be like until I came here. Cornell provides the opportunity to immerse ourselves in various courses, lectures, activities, and to explore every possibility of legal professions.
It is in this year that I ultimately discover who I am and what to pursue for my life. Cornell Law School taught me two valuable lessons. I humbly wish to share them with you.
The first lesson was from Professor Mitchel Lasser in the Research Colloquium. In one class, Professor Lasser talked about how those top scholars gave amazing presentations. He said, "The secret is quite simple. They have just recited every single word they prepared. Preparation is all you need when facing a difficult task." I apologize that I still need these notes today.
The second lesson was from Professor Yun-chien Chang. In a Q&A session during a lecture, I asked Professor Chang how to become a talented scholar like you. He said he does not have much talent-- too humble. The biggest talent he has is the persistence to train himself again, and again, and again. People who we think of as talented are just those who never gave up.
Preparation and persistence, these two words have influenced me so much in the past year. I spent most of my time in the library stack, too. People who know me well, think I almost live there. Now I can properly say that I'm better prepared to pursue my dreams. Thank you for your great lessons, professors. Thank you, Cornell Law School.
Reflecting on the past year, our LLM students have truly formed a strong community with diverse cultures. I would like to review those memorable moments here. You guys and the girls still remember the food we shared from your home countries and the presentations you made to introduce your legal systems.
Although we exchanged delicate gifts at Christmas, we gathered together in commerce to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We watched eclipse on slope, though it was actually nothing but only clouds. We listen to the Ted Talks given by six amazing colleagues. [INAUDIBLE] it's such a fortune to meet you, these excellent lawyers from all over the world. And thank you for providing me a strong network.
As we step forward into the future, I hope what we have learned at Cornell will accompany us. Let us carry the torch of justice to advocate for fairness in every corner of our lives. Let us take care of each other, as we are told before exams. As a famous Chinese saying goes, when friends are in heart, distance feel like nothing. I wish you all bright futures and enjoy your great life journeys.
Finally, as a very young man, I have no life lesson to tell you. However, I would like to end my speech by quoting words of wisdom on the benches along the slope. Those words truly gave me the courage to venture into an unpredictable future. I hope it will also bring you power. It writes, "To those who shall sit here rejoicing, to those who shall sit here mourning, sympathy and greeting." So have we done in our time, and love to the [INAUDIBLE] now. Thank you, xie xie. Happy graduation.
[APPLAUSE]
JENS DAVID OHLIN: Thank you, Jung, for your words of wisdom and for delivering such a thoughtful message not only to your LLM class, but to all of us. Now, I'm very pleased to introduce this year's faculty speaker. Professor Maggie Gardner is a renowned scholar of civil procedure and international law and a beloved teacher of civil procedure at Cornell Law School.
Professor Gardner's scholarship on international litigation in US courts has been published in such journals as the Stanford Law Review, NYU Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Virginia. She's also a founding editor of the Transnational Litigation Blog. Before entering academia, Professor Gardner practiced with WilmerHale in Washington, DC and completed clerkships with the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the US District Court for the District of Oregon, as well as a year-long fellowship with the appeals chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Please join me in welcoming Professor Maggie Gardner.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
MAGGIE GARDNER: Well, let me begin with the ending. Congratulations, class of 2024. I am so proud of you. We all are. For me personally, it was a great honor and a joy to teach so many of you during your first year here, especially Konner, who is also foremost in my thoughts today.
On that first day of school, you were so excited and just a little bit terrified. Yet here you are now ready to leave this place a changed person to start the next part of your life because you are a changed person. Now, much of the complaint of one year in particular and law school more generally is that we take all the passion, and the curiosity, and the commitment that you enter this place with and we make you take contracts, and procedure, and to read old cases full of old words, and to argue for positions that you think aren't correct or may be even distasteful.
We force you to talk about the law dispassionately, objectively, until it can start to feel a little like a game. These are just chess pieces I'm moving about on the board. How am I going to get to the outcome that someone else wants me to get to, not that I actually think is right?
So I try to remind students it's OK. It's a good thing if your work makes you feel something because for many of you, your feelings, a sense of moral discomfort with the world is why you came here in the first place. Armed with the law, you hoped maybe you could change something. I want you to hold on to those emotions. You remember that the law involves and affects real people, and that it's a good thing if you feel empathy or you react in a human way to the work that you are setting out to do.
But you are not just 1L's anymore. You are lawyers. And for those of you who entered here already lawyers, you are more powerful lawyers for having added this fancy Ivy League law degree to your already long list of accomplishments. It doesn't matter where you came from or even why you came here. All of you are now part of a powerful, elite, cosmopolitan group of leaders with credibility, and authority, and significant earning capacity.
For you today, I have an additional challenge. It is to be humble. It is to recognize how much you don't know and how much you may never understand. Now, I don't want this to sound like an excuse, or an apology, or worse, complacency. I'm trying to share with you something that I think is really quite beautiful.
It is an ever-growing appreciation of the infinite variety and wonder of our world. Every person you meet each day is a cosmos unto themselves. Each of us and our relationship with every other person is infinitely complex. And when confronted with all of that infinite possibility, how can we think that we alone could hold all the answers?
In encouraging you to hold on to your empathy and to your passion, that's not a call to self-righteousness. It's a call to humanity. So these skills that we have taught you is also a different sort of call to humanity. To dissect objectively, to see alternative arguments, to try on different viewpoints, all of that has given you a new superpower.
Because the superpower of a lawyer is not actually to win the game. The real superpower of a lawyer is the ability to understand the other arguments, even when you don't agree with them. It's the ability to see a problem from multiple angles-- different sides of the cube, as I told some of you 1L year-- to appreciate the nuance. You lean into the ambiguity because remember, the lawyer's favorite answer is, it depends.
We lawyers solve problems not with moral certitude, but in the best of our moments by looking for common ground, by advising people, by listening to our clients and to stakeholders so that we can help them. There's a reason why lawyers have traditionally been understood as the leaders of their communities, all bad lawyer jokes aside.
Your legal training helps you bring people together by being dispassionate, even while your passion keeps you rooted in your community. Your passion helps you remember to care. But your dispassion is what helps you see and navigate moral and legal complexity. Your challenge now is to walk the line between these two halves of yourself, your new split personality as a lawyer.
So my wish for you is that you leave this place both with the passion with which you entered it and also with the lawyerly dispassion that we have tried to grind into you while you were here. Please use both because we need people like you. We need smart, passionate, well-trained lawyers in the best sense who can help us walk through difficult conversations to solve difficult problems.
We are not going to bury our heads in the sand. We are not going to be complacent. In a way small and large, you are going to change the world. So congratulations, class of 2024. I am so proud of you. We all are.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
JENS DAVID OHLIN: Thank you, Professor Gardner. As impressive as all of our speakers have been this afternoon, we now come to what I suspect will be the highlight for most of the folks in this arena, the formal recognition of our graduates. At this time, I'd like to turn these proceedings over to our Vice Dean, Chantal Thomas.
[APPLAUSE]
CHANTAL THOMAS: Thank you, Dean Ohlin. We will begin this afternoon with our candidates for the degree of Master of Science in Legal Studies.
[READING NAMES]
The following are the candidates for Doctor of the Science of Law.
[READING NAMES]
The following are the candidates for the degree of Master of Laws.
[READING NAMES]
The following are the candidates for the degree of Master of Laws in Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.
[READING NAMES]
--present the following candidate for the degree of Doctor of Law and Master of Laws with Honors in International and Comparative Law.
[READING NAMES]
We would like to offer special recognition to Konner Kent Robison, a JD candidate from the class of 2024. Accepting the honor of Konner is Claire Robison.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
The following are the candidates for the degree of Juris Doctor.
[READING NAMES]
Please join me in congratulating the Cornell Law School class of 2024.
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
JENS DAVID OHLIN: Congratulations to all of you. Now you can truly say that you are lawyers in the best sense. For generations, our students have sat in the same place as you at convocation and left here with degrees in hand, ready to make their mark on the world. Like them, you will now leave as Cornell lawyers ready to join a worldwide profession of problem solvers, advocates, counselors, leaders, and global citizens. A professional life of purpose and promise awaits you, and it starts today.
Please stand for the singing of the alma mater. The words appear on the last page of your program. Once we conclude the alma mater, please remain standing while the faculty recesses out of the arena. And then please join us back at the law school for a reception to celebrate our graduates. Along your way back to Myron Taylor Hall, enjoy the chimes concert in honor of our graduates.
["FAR ABOVE CAYUGA'S WATERS" PLAYING] Far above Cayuga's waters
With its waves of blue
Stands our noble alma mater
Glorious to view
Lift the chorus, speed it onward
Loud her praises tell
Hail to thee our alma mater
Hail, all hail Cornell
Far above the busy humming
Of the bustling town
Reared against the arch of heaven
Looks she proudly down
Lift the chorus, speed it onward
Loud her praises tell
Hail to thee our alma mater
Hail, all hail Cornell
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: Distinguished guests, this marks the conclusion of the 137th Cornell Law School Convocation at Cornell University. Thank you for celebrating the class of 2024 with us.
[CHEERING]
