418 graduate at USC Gould Commencement 2013
By Lori Craig
On a day when graduates, family and friends looked ahead to what awaits the USC Gould School of Law Class of 2013, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye asked them to look back instead.
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| California Chief Justice Tani Cantil- Sakauye addresses grads |
“The way we have achieved equal access to justice, as you know in your three years of study, is we look at history,” Cantil-Sakauye said at the May 17 USC Gould Commencement ceremony. “It is through history that precedent is set, that stare decisis is honored. And you know through our history, some of what we perceive as birthright has come through case law.”
Speaking to 238 J.D. graduates and 173 foreign lawyers receiving master’s degrees in law, Cantil-Sakauye mentioned the historic Supreme Court cases of Brown v. Board of Education and Gideon v. Wainright. She pointed out that Brown, decided 59 years to the day earlier, renounced “separate but equal,” while Gideon, decided 50 years ago, guaranteed legal representation for criminal defendants, including those who cannot pay for it.
“Does that talk to you about the value of your services as a lawyer, of an accessible courtroom and courthouse?” said Cantil-Sakauye, who has served in her current post since 2011. “There are many lessons that continue to show from Gideon and Brown, [and] many more cases across the spectrum. They were moments of societal upheaval reversed. … You are agents of change. And that change comes from understanding history, testing it and moving forward.”
She encouraged the graduates to test every rule — especially the unspoken rules.
“The rule of law is meant to be tested,” she said.“That’s how it is developed, and you will be looking at developing the rule of law in as-yet not fully explored areas of social media privacy, of water law, land use, of intellectual property -- many, many areas that, soon, based upon how you shape the law, will become taken for granted in our birthright the same as Brown and Gideon.”
She recounted a personal experience with testing an unspoken rule, describing standing up in a judges’ meeting of primarily male judges and asking for maternity leave, knowing no such leave policy existed. She called on the graduates to challenge the tenets of the profession that stand in the way of obtaining a professional/personal life balance, “that it is accepted and it is supported [that] the whole self of you can be part of this profession and flourish.”
Cantil-Sakauye also imparted advice she said would be helpful to graduates at all times in their careers: live by the golden rule, be professional, and maintain strong ethics.
“I know in the years of my career that when you are up for advancement or a promotion or office or a judgeship, people don’t remember the case you tried with them; they don’t remember if you won or lost; they don’t remember the million-dollar judgments,” she said. “What they remember is the kind of person you are.”
The commencement ceremony, held in USC’s Founders Park, also featured student speakers Dilveer Vahali ’14, who is pursuing a joint J.D./MBA degree, and Shizhou Zhu ’13, an LL.M. graduate from China.
Zhu spoke on behalf of USC Gould’s foreign graduate students, who came from 28 different countries to earn 171 Master of Law degrees and two Master of Comparative Law degrees. He said the experience of studying alongside foreign professionals and a diverse class of J.D. students “advanced our studies beyond explanation.
“We were able to learn and compare different legal languages, different legal cultures, different patterns of legal thinking and ways of studying,” Zhu said. “We all have learned that the spirit of our law school, the spirit of USC is that we will never stop fighting on, and I think this will stay with us for the rest of our lives.”
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| Dilveer Vahali J.D./MBA '14 |
Vahali, who during his time at USC Gould worked in the Immigration Clinic, served as a member of the champion National Transactional LawMeet Competition team, volunteered as a Peer Mentor and participated in the 3L Class Gift program, admired the camaraderie of the student body.
“This cohesiveness led us to achieve amazing feats,” Vahali said. “We both created and participated in organizations which have helped those displaced by war and other tragedies find a new home, advocated for those who have not been able to advocate for themselves, cleaned up cities devastated by hurricanes, worked to preserve international human rights, educated the youth of our surrounding community and developed relationships with local and national officials, to name a few.
“We possess the skill set, passion and drive to make a lasting contribution no matter what area of law we may practice. … Never should you disregard the actual power that your degree gives you — just think back to what we have done as law students and how much more we can do as full-fledged attorneys.”
Dean Robert K. Rasmussen told the graduates that, while they came to USC Gould from many different paths, they became one community as the Class of 2013. Among the class’s many accomplishments were founding the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, Business Law Society and Government Law Organization. Students reinvigorated the Entertainment Law Society and Sports Law Society. Through the Public Interest Law Foundation, they again logged thousands of hours in pro bono work and raised thousands of dollars to support students’ public service efforts. They also raised funds to endow a scholarship through OUTlaw and honed their advocacy skills in the Hale Moot Court Honors Program.
“In these activities and in many more, the passion and determination that you displayed came not from an understanding of the rules of law, but rather from an understanding of the power of law,” Rasmussen said. “You recognized how the knowledge and skills that you developed could be deployed and make a difference.
“As you leave us, I know that you are ready to set the world ablaze.”
Watch the 2013 Commencement webcast at http://weblaw.usc.edu/events/commencement/webcast.cfm
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