UMass Law Class of 2024 Commencement is in the books! Below is the full text of the portion of my remarks to our amazing graduates that is referenced in the article.
"My second and final charge to you today is a deceptively simple one. Rather than further exhort you to do great and good things in the world with your law degrees, I instead offer a seemingly more prosaic charge, but one I argue is equally profound and capable, if executed, of creating tremendous good in the world.
Here it is: Offer the grace to others that you would want offered to you.
Grace is hands down my favorite word in the English language, connoting as it does forbearance, understanding, mutuality, and kindness. Four elemental human needs that are sorely lacking in our social, political, and legal conversations and interactions today.
Extending grace to others, like lawyering, is a lifelong practice that is never perfected. And that is what gives it its heft and its beauty.
This practice begins with the grace you give yourself as a new lawyer to make mistakes and to seek guidance from others without shame or spiraling into negative self-talk. The learning curve is steep as a new lawyer, meaning you will often be unsure of what to do and feel overmatched and overwhelmed.
There is deep satisfaction to be found in lawyering, I promise, but not all at once and not right away. You will have to work hard to climb that learning curve. I ask that you be kind to yourself on the journey up.
This practice of grace giving extends to the grace you offer to others by assuming good faith in their words and actions and that simple human frailty and not a bad nature is the root cause of their shortcomings, as it is for each of us.
Grace is a superpower, like X-ray vision, that reveals the simple yet profound truth that we are all – each of us – imperfect works in progress, and all the more wonderful for being so.
Class of 2024, we live in extraordinary times. I speak on behalf of the UMass Law faculty and staff in saying that we are thrilled that you are poised to pursue justice in your communities. We have never needed you more."
#PursueJustice
On Friday, May 17, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law conferred 112 Juris Doctor degrees to the Class of 2024.
Family, friends, and faculty gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduates of the Commonwealth's only public law school.
"There is deep satisfaction in lawyering, I promise, but not all at once and not right away. You will have to work hard to climb that learning curve. I ask that you be kind to yourself on the way up," said Dean Sam Panarella during his first Commencement as Dean of the School of Law.
More on the ceremony highlights below. Congratulations, Graduates!
https://lnkd.in/e5YZB_gM
![UMass Law Class of 2024 graduates ready to pursue justice]()
UMass Law Class of 2024 graduates ready to pursue justice
umassd.edu
Aspiring Business Administration Student at North Carolina Central University, Home Free- USA Center for Financial Achievement Scholar, National Society of Leadership and Success Scholar
2moGood work Aaliyah!