Community comes together at UCLA Law’s 74th commencement ceremony
Optimism and joy filled UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on May 16, as more than 1,000 people gathered for UCLA School of Law’s 74th commencement ceremony. The classmates, colleagues, family, friends, and mentors joined together in celebration of the law school’s Class of 2025.
Graduates delivered inspiring speeches and projected broad smiles as they walked across the stage to accept their diplomas and embark on their careers as outstanding attorneys and global difference makers. They included 338 who earned juris doctor (J.D.) degrees, 214 who earned master of laws (LL.M.) degrees, 49 who earned master of legal studies (M.L.S.) degrees, and 2 who earned doctor of juridical science (S.J.D.) degrees.
Dean Michael Waterstone was the event’s emcee. “What a great day!” he said at the start of the program. He encouraged the graduates to find in the crowd people who supported them on their journeys through law school and to take a mental picture of what the ceremony looked and felt like. He also commended their loved ones for their significant and ongoing support. “No one gets anywhere in life alone,” he said. “Thank you for being there for them.”
Waterstone emphasized that the law school was celebrating the 75th anniversary of its opening and that the graduates were part of an incredible history of dedication and excellence. “We were founded as the first public law school in Southern California, with a mission of serving the community and offering a top legal education to people from all backgrounds,” he said.
“I’m here because of you. You are a remarkable group. You came here from a remarkable array of backgrounds and experiences, as leaders, collaborators, creators, public servants, and scholars. And remarkable as you are, you have also weathered a series of remarkable events.”
“Seventy-five years later, we are living that dream.” This included the hundreds of hours of pro bono work that the graduates undertook, such as helping their neighbors recover from the devastating wildfires that swept through parts of Los Angeles earlier in the year. “Today’s graduates: You are the ones who are carrying on our tremendous legacy,” he said.
Other speakers included graduating students Ania Korpanty, on behalf of the J.D. class; Torge Urbanski, for the LL.M. grads; Kevin Bataclan Cunanan, for the M.L.S. class; and Nicole Wassef Morgan, the 3L class president. Terrence Li, a J.D. graduate, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Justice Leondra Kruger of the Supreme Court of California delivered the keynote address. “Congratulations! What a privilege and honor it is to have this chance to celebrate with you,” she said to the graduates.
“I’m here because of you. You are a remarkable group. You came here from a remarkable array of backgrounds and experiences, as leaders, collaborators, creators, public servants, and scholars. And remarkable as you are, you have also weathered a series of remarkable events.” She noted that their time in law school started in the COVID-19 pandemic and ended shortly after the fires. “In the midst of so much uncertainty and fear, you came together in support of one another and to lend a helping hand to all those affected by the destruction. Your kindness and care for each other and for your community attests to the remarkable people you are.”
Kruger stressed that an array of possibilities arise with the degrees that the graduates had earned, and she traced her own journey from law student to advocate in the U.S. Supreme Court. “With each of these experiences, I remember being bowled over again and again by the extraordinary opportunities we have as lawyers to counsel people facing life’s most challenging circumstances, to give voice to their claims to justice under the law, to be active participants in resolving some of the most pressing questions affecting our communities and our country.”
With a nod to current social and political uncertainty and divisions, she offered “one small piece of practical advice: In a profession that is known for being full of big talkers, there is a practical and moral value to listening.” The best lawyers, she said, are “ones who can sit at a table full of people with different points of view and find a way to navigate the disagreements in a way that brings others along instead of turning them away.”
In reiterating the challenges of the moment, she said, “This is also a time when our communities need people who are able to bridge differences, who work to unite rather than divide. I know that’s no small task, and the burden certainly does not fall to you alone, but I submit to you that one first and important step in that direction is to try to model in your work and in your life what it means to listen to other perspectives respectfully, to speak with civility, and to treat others with dignity. … On the road ahead, I wish you both the courage to speak out and the humility to listen.”
Watch the full commencement below and read more about the event.