Under sunny and comfortably warm skies, UCLA Law officially welcomed the new students at its annual convocation ceremony, on UCLA’s Dickson Court, on August 23. Speakers included UCLA Law dean Michael Waterstone, Student Bar Association president Scott La Rochelle ’25, and Judge Philip Gutierrez ’84 of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

“You are now members of our community, and we know you will continue to make us better. This is a big moment in your lives. You are about to embark on an incredible adventure,” Waterstone said. “You will figure out how to craft innovative and joyous ways to make a positive impact in the legal profession, your communities, and the world.”

He went on to emphasize that, at UCLA Law, the students will gather skills to help them tackle problems in a society where traits including compassion and reflection seem to be in dwindling supply. “Being a great lawyer means that you have to be able to understand someone else’s point of view – whether it’s your client, a colleague, opposing counsel, or a judge. And you must articulate your own perspective with calm, with clarity, and even with kindness.”

Gutierrez, a law school alumnus and federal judge, administered the Oath of Professionalism and elaborated on the same theme – the importance of developing relationships, maintaining strong ethical behavior, and practicing empathy as a path to success in the law and life.

“Empathy starts really with one thing, and that’s listening,” he said. “You can’t have empathy for somebody else unless you really listen to what that person has said about what they’re going through, how they’re feeling, or what their opinions are.”

The entering J.D. class is 54% women and 62% who identify as students of color. In addition, 18% of the class members are the first in their families to earn a four-year college degree.

Among their many impressive records of accomplishment and service, incoming J.D. students include one Fulbright Award recipient, nine high school valedictorians, and eight people who graduated from UCLA Law’s Law Fellows Program. Four have already earned Ph.D.s, and 26 hold master’s degrees. Many come to law school after having worked at leading companies, law firms, and government offices, including the White House; U.S. Senate and House of Representatives; U.S. Departments of State, Justice, Defense, and Veterans Affairs; FDIC; CIA; and FBI. With many star athletes, artists, businesspeople, published writers, scientists, and teachers, the class includes speakers of at least 28 languages.

New students also come with a longstanding commitment to public service. They have volunteered or worked for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Center for American Progress, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the International Rescue Committee, Kids in Need of Defense, the NAACP, the National Women’s Law Center, and the Peace Corps, as well as a wide array of other organizations that advocate for and protect the rights of people around the country and world. (Read more about this impressive group on the J.D. class profile.)

Several other people who are working toward a J.D. degree have earned a warm welcome to the law school community this year. These include 35 students who came onboard as members of the Class of 2026, now beginning its second year, and six visiting students who will complete their legal education at UCLA Law.

Already lawyers in various areas of practice and work, the new LL.M. students come from 41 countries, having earned their law degrees from leading schools on six continents. A full 60% of the class is made up of female students.

The cohort includes people who have worked at major global law firms and corporations, as well as two Fulbright scholars and people who have served in the Supreme Court of Japan, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance, the Constitutional Court of Korea, the Italian Interior Ministry, the New York Department of Financial Services, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. There are prosecutors from Japan and Korea; judges from Germany, Japan, and Korea; and clerks for the Supreme Court of India and the Higher Regional Court of Vienna. Two students are Health and Human Rights Fellows from Ghana and Russia, and two others, from Ireland and the United States, are Critical Race Studies Fellows.

The law school also welcomed two S.J.D. students: one, from Chile, recently earned an LL.M. degree at UCLA Law and will embark on a project researching the effects of regenerative farming practices on environmental and human outcomes; another, from Nigeria, will conduct a comparative analysis of campaign finance laws in the United States, Canada, and Nigeria. In addition, 11 foreign exchange students join the law school community from partner schools in Austria, China, France, Germany, Israel, and Spain.

Members of the M.L.S. class are accomplished professionals who are attending UCLA Law to earn a degree that allows them to master legal principles and advance their careers but does not qualify them to practice law. This year marks the launch of the program’s online or hybrid model of education, and 45 incoming students are pursuing their degrees online, while 44 have chosen the hybrid option.

For the full incoming M.L.S. class, 71% of the students identify as female, 69% identify as students of color, and their average age is 35. As accomplished professionals and leaders in their fields, 46% are chief executives or vice presidents, 14% are directors or managers, and 43% hold advanced degrees. They work at the highest levels of journalism, nonprofits, business, city government, medicine, community affairs, and emerging technology.

Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former justice of the Supreme Court of California, delivered a keynote address in which he stressed the power of democracy, its fragility and the importance of preserving it.

“Together,” he said, “we can ask a version of the question that John F. Kennedy asked in 1960: not what American democracy can do for us, but what, together, we can do for its cause.”

He elaborated on how the graduates, as lawyers and advocates, have the power to be a positive force in challenging times.

“What is at stake today? What is at stake is the very power to engage in national renewal, to get past where we have been,” he said. “Strengthening our democracy only happens when we understand how fragile it is. That’s where you come in, not just through the clients you are going to serve but through the ideas you are going to protect: guilt requires proof, rules merit respect or revision subject to fair process, effective argument calls for empathy more than emphasis, and progress almost always requires compromise. … Democracy-protecting lawyers, you are going to show the way.”

He continued, “Still, nothing about what I am calling on you to do is too difficult for you. Because I do not think any one of you would trade places with any other generation that has it easier. Because you don’t want to live with regret for what you lost. Because here you learned that power, your power, comes not only from rhetoric or reason but from realizing that democracy lives not just in the headnote of a case but in the chamber of a heart.”

Other speakers included graduating students Abigail Smith, on behalf of the J.D. class; Shreyashi Sharma, for the LL.M. grads; Peter Arceo, for the M.L.S. class; and Sareen Khakh, the 3L class president. Lauren Ahaddian, a J.D. graduate, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Khakh said, “Law school is not easy, even in the best of circumstances, and as a class, we have faced our fair share of challenges. We have risen to these challenges by banding together and demanding better, not just of our university and the legal system, but of the world. We have demanded a world that is just, free and equitable. And we will continue to do so throughout our legal careers.”

“We chose to be here,” Arceo said. “We did it because we had a dream to study law and to make a difference for our communities. Some of us were inspired by leaders in the legal community, and others, the passion to make a positive change for our careers or society. … Those who came before us have shown us the path to success, to be brave, and to help the world become a better place. It is what being a true Bruin is all about.”

“All of us took that leap of faith, to overcome borders, countries, financial hurdles and immigration processes to come together to pursue our passions,” Sharma said. “What is it that has made all of this [our UCLA Law experience] fulfilling for us? It is the human bonds, with all their richness and tension, that we have created in these diverse experiences and learning among each other. … Time immemorial, these bonds have had the power to transform laws, policies and systems.”

“Meeting you made me hope that law school, instead of being torture or, perhaps, alongside it, could actually be fun. The students at UCLA Law are some of the brightest, funniest and most interesting people I’ve ever met,” Smith said. “I can’t imagine what we will achieve over our entire legal careers. … The most important measure of a person is how they treat other people, and this class truly measures up. … I am excited to see what each of us contributes to the legal field and the world at large.”

Watch the full commencement ceremony and read more about the event.