David Weissbrodt

Transcription

[ Music ] [ Applause ] [ Background Sounds ] >> Good morning, I'm David Wippman, Dean of the University of Minnesota, Law School and I want to welcome all of you to the Law School's 2015 Commencement Ceremony. Graduates of the Class of 2015 you are the 127th class to complete a legal education here and we have gathered here to congratulate you as you commence your careers in the law. We are pleased that all of you could join us for this celebration today. Welcome graduates, family members and friends. Many people have been and will be important to the Class of 2015 and some of them are on stage with me today. I want to recognize our special guests and thank them for being here. First I'd like to recognize our distinguished guest and keynote speaker, Justice Alan Page. [ Applause ] I will introduce him more fully later in the ceremonies. I'd also like to welcome Darrin Rosha, a member of the University of Minnesota, Board of Regents who will later confer degrees on our graduates. Darrin is general manager and corporate counsel for Crutchfield Dermatology. He's also a Lieutenant Colonel in the Minnesota Army National Guard, currently serving as a military judge. Previously he clerked for Judge Gerald Heaney on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and was an attorney at Briggs and Morgan before becoming a founding partner in the Rosha Legal Group. He deployed to Iraq as Chief of Operational Law with the 34th Infantry Division "Red Bulls" from 2009 to 2010. He received his J.D. from the University of Minnesota, Law School and this year marks the 19th anniversary of his own graduation. [ Applause ] It is also my pleasure to introduce vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, Allen Levine who is here today on behalf of the central administration. He coordinates tenure and promotion processes and facilitates faculty development and leadership activities, university teaching awards and the student rating of teaching used by most instructors at the university. He is also director of the Minnesota Obesity Center, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition and the former dean of the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences. Thanks to all of you. [ Applause ] Two groups here today merit special attention and are very important in the lives of our students. First are the people who have helped our graduates through law school with their love, attention, support and care. Spouses, partners and children of those in the graduating class please stand and be recognized by all of us but most especially by the graduates themselves. [ Applause and Cheering ] Next are the parents of those who shortly will become lawyers, for the support and sacrifices you have made for your children, for the example and guidance you have provided to them and for ready access to your check books please stand be recognized. [ Applause and Cheering ] Now to introduce the faculty of the Law School, families and friends of today's graduates these are some of the many people you have heard about over the past three years. One of them may be the professor that asked your student that first terrifying Socratic question. Another may be the one that came up with that complex, or who knows, even amusing exam or assignment. Now you can put faces with some of the names you have heard. Please hold your applause until everyone has been introduced. As I name the faculty please stand and remain standing until everyone has been introduced. John Howland, Carol Chomsky, Steven Befort, Sharon Reich Paulson, Norah Klaphake, Jean Sanderson, June Carbone, starting at the back and to my left David Weissbrodt, Carl Warren, Bob Stein, Chris Soper, Bruce Shnider, Dan Schwarz, Chris Roberts, Hari Osofsky, Ruth Okediji, JaneAnne Murray, Fred Morrison, Perry Moriearty, Brett McDonnell, Bill McGeveran, Karen Lundquist, Maury Landsman, Alex Klass, Brad Parkinnon [assumed spelling], Neha Jain, Kristin Hickman, Jennie Green, Kate Evans. And to my right Khary Hornsby, Erin Keyes, Chris Frank, Brad Clary, Laura Thomas, Brian Bix, Ann Burkhart, Susanna Blumenthal, Ben Casper, Linas Chan, Jessica Clarke, Minna Grans and Laura Cooper. [ Applause ] You may be seated. Before we continue I thought I should offer a few words of my own to the graduates seated here today. In doing so I am mindful of Garry Trudeau's observation that commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated. Commencement speeches seem inevitably to call forth the sort of advice that Polonius gave to Laertes in Hamlet "This above all to thine own self be true". This is no doubt very good advice or it would be if only we could figure out what it means in time to do us any good. Of course Polonius also suggested "Neither a borrower nor a lender be", oh well, too late for that [laughter]. If you listen to commencement speeches you will soon know the standard themes by heart, believe in yourself, don't fear uncertainty, find your passion, take chances on yourself, make bold decisions, dare to dream big, find a way to make the world a better place. To this is usually added please turn off your cell phones which at least has the merit of being concrete and readily achievable. Occasionally though commencement calls forth some interesting insights. I've stolen three. The first is from Eric Idle of "Monty Python" fame who told graduating students at Whitman College, learn to trust yourself. This is vital, just stand with yourself. Remember in his lifetime Van Gogh sold only two paintings, I personally sold even fewer. Idle's advice may not mean much to you now, after all you got here because you achieved a series of successes, one after another over 20 or more years of academic endeavor. But no one wins every case or surmounts every challenge. Success however you define it may not happen overnight. That's okay just keep going, trust yourself. The next piece of advice comes from Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who told the graduating class at Harvard Law School "Your focus should be always being the person who does his job whether you're an associate, a law clerk, an assistant D.A., a public defender or anything else. Nothing else matters but doing your job and doing it well every day even when it's hard, even when it's tedious, even when it's dull, even when the work seems small and beneath your brand-name schooling and your God-given talent. It means being the person who does the job even when no one is looking and on one will know the good ideas came from you. If you do that the next job and your career will take care of itself". The last piece of advice from Salman Khan at the 2012 MIT Commencement Address, "Imagine yourself in 50 years. You're in your 70s. You're at the end of your career. You're sitting on your couch having just watched the holographic State of the Union by President Kardashian. You begin to ponder your life and start to think about all the things you wished you had done a little bit differently. You wish you had spent more time with your children, that you could have even one more chance to hug your parents and tell them how much you appreciate them before they passed, that you could have smiled more, laughed more, danced more and created more, that you better use the gifts you were given to empower others and make the world a better place". Now you may have noticed that those last two pieces of advice are somewhat contradictory. We like to call that arguing in the alternative. We call it that because we don't really know the answers but we do know that at the end of the day striking the right balance is up to you. Now before you get started striking that balance let's pause just a moment. Graduates, look to your left, look to your right. All of you will graduate [laughter]. [ Applause ] Seated next to you are future leaders of the bench and bar, of government, business and non-profits. In all likelihood you will be one of those leaders. We trust your education has prepared you well and that you will use it well and we wish you every success in the years ahead. It's now my honor to present the Faculty Awards. Stanley Kinyon graduated from the Law School in 1933 and was on the faculty for 40 years. He was a recognized scholar in the field of commercial law and a friend to students inside the classroom and out. In his honor his friends and family endowed the Stanley Kinyon Awards in Teaching which provide a cash award for excellence. I will ask each of the honorees to come forward to be recognized after I name them. The Stanly Kinyon Tenured Teacher of the Year Award goes to Professor Ann Burkhart. [ Applause and Cheering ] Professor Burkhart is a nationally-recognized expert in real estate law. She teaches property, real estate finance and development, land use planning and comparative property. She has received the Stanley Kinyon Teaching and Counselling Award four times. Professor Burkhart joined the faculty in 1982 and holds the Curtis Bradbury Kellar Chair. The Stanley Kinyon Clinical Teacher of the Year Award goes to Professor Prentiss Cox. [ Applause and Cheering ] Professor Cox is a widely-recognized expert in consumer protection law, public civil law enforcement and legal practice skills. He's co-director of Law in Practice which is a required 1L course that teaches integrated doctrinal and professional skills. Professor Cox couldn't be here today so I have chosen to donate his cash award to the Dean's Discretionary Fund [laughter]. [ Applause ] The Stanley Kinyon Adjunct Teacher of the Year Award goes to Professor JaneAnne Murray. [ Applause and Cheering ] Professor JaneAnne Murray joined the Law School in August 2011 as Practitioner in Residence. She specializes in criminal law and government investigations and teaches criminal procedure. Her research interests include the 4th Amendment, prosecutorial discretion and federal sentencing. [ Applause ] Many student awards, honors and recognitions will not be addressed from the podium today but they are listed in the commencement booklet. Participation in one of the journals, in moot court or in many other activities takes tremendous effort and time on the part of the students named. Now I'm pleased to introduce our Chair of the Student Commencement Committee, Jenny Warfield. She will present two awards to outstanding students who have been selected by their classmates. She will present the Most Outstanding Contribution Award and The Excellence in Public Service Award. And she will share news about the 2015 class gift. Jenny served on Law Council as a 3L representative and event coordinator. She worked to promote student engagement and organized efforts to enhance wellbeing and mental health for all law students. As a 2L she was president of the Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association, a legal writing instructor, the lead web content editor of the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science and Technology and a featured singer in the TORT musical. During the summers she worked as a summer associate at Linquist & Vennum. She was also a recipient of Target Corporation's Diversity Scholarship and for her top grades, leadership qualities and service to the community. Just recently she was honored with the Mondale Hall Engagement Award for enriching law school through student initiatives, activities, mentorship and service to her peers. After graduation she will continue at Linquist & Vennum as an associate in the merges in practice group. Please join me in welcoming her to the podium. [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Thank you Dean Wippman. I am honored to be here today to present these awards to my classmates. The Outstanding Contribution Award honors the student who contributed the most to the graduating class through class participation, involvement in academic programs, leadership and extracurricular activities and enhancement of the law school experience. I am pleased to introduce the recipient of the Class of 2015 Most Outstanding Contribution Award, Lauren Roso. [ Applause and Cheering ] Lauren came to Minnesota from Tulsa, Oklahoma to receive her undergraduate degree from Macalester College. From the start of her law school career Lauren has distinguished herself as a thoughtful and respectful contributor in the classroom. She spent her 1L year fostering class cohesiveness as her section's unofficial social coordinator and volunteered her time educating Twin Cities' youth on their legal rights and responsibilities through the Minnesota Justice Foundation's Street Law Program. She continued to serve the community's younger population during her 1L summer as a law clerk with the Hennepin County Attorney's Office Child Protection Division. In 2L year Lauren assumed a leadership role as a legal writing instructor, a managing research editor on the Minnesota Law Review and a co-chair of the Journal Petitions Committee. She spent the following summer at Dorsey & Whitney as a summer associate balancing firm work with representing detainees and at bond hearings through the Detainees Rights Clinic. This year she has been busy planning journal banquets, fielding questions as an ever-popular [inaudible] representative and serving as an active member of the Class of 2015 Commencement Committee. Throughout she has drawn on her experience overcoming personal loss to provide love and support to peers going through difficult times. On top of these notable achievements Lauren is proud of the small things that she has done to enhance the class's experience, whether that be prepping the Maltrel [phonetic] team for competitions, having cookies delivered to the library during finals for her friend's birthday or providing a couch for someone to crash on. After graduation Lauren will go on to clerk for Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea before starting a career in civil litigation at Dorsey & Whitney. She would like to sincerely thank everyone for sharing the past three years with her and is looking forward to seeing what else the Class of 2015 will go on to accomplish. Please join me in congratulating Lauren as she comes forward to accept her award. [ Applause and Cheering ] The Excellence in Public Service Award honors the student who most exemplified a commitment to public service during Law School through participation and formal and informal public service roles in the Law School and in the legal community. I'm pleased to introduce the recipient of the Class of 2015 Excellence in Public Service Award Evan Gelles. [ Applause and Cheering ] Inequality is what motivated Evan to attend law school. Before law school Evan gained experience at a variety of public service organizations. He interned at organizations that promote diversity in the legal profession and advocate on behalf of Muslims who suffer discrimination for their religious beliefs. These experiences encouraged Evan to attend law school to use this degree to make a difference. As a law student Evan remained a committed, he remained committed to public service. He served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Law and Inequality, a journal that examines the impact of law on disadvantaged people. During law school Evan developed a passion for public defence. He represented disadvantaged juvenile clients as a certified student attorney at the Legal Rights Center, a non-profit, poverty criminal defence law firm. Evan also represented low-income, diverse clients in criminal defence hearings as a certified student attorney. Evan takes great pride in advocating on behalf of those in need and demonstrating to the court and greater community that his clients are more than just a number in the criminal justice system. In addition to his criminal defence background Evan also interned at the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. At the Lawyers' Committee Evan researched and drafted memoranda related to current inequities in Chicago. His research and writing informed staff attorneys about how to best preserve affordable housing, reduce exclusionary disciplinary practices in Chicago charter schools and promote greater access and opportunity for communities of color. Evan looks forward to his career as an advocate for the disadvantaged. He feels fortunate to receive this award and would like to dedicate this award to his grandfather Edward Kalskie [phonetic]. Please join me in congratulating Evan as he comes forward to accept his award. [ Applause and Cheering ] Congratulations. >> Thank you. [ Applause ] >> We also want to thank those who participated in the class gift of 2015. We were able to get 103 classmates to make a donation to the Law School. Because of the generosity of the class, one classmate will receive a $5000 fellowship allowing him or her to do public interest work they might not otherwise have been able to do. Since the class was so close to its 50% goal we are pleased to announce that over the summer facilities will be installing a whiteboard in the student area of the sub-plaza in Mondale Hall. Thanks to everyone who made that possible, my thanks to Jennifer and the Class of 2015 for their generosity and thoughtfulness. Another special student honor is awarded by a faculty committee, the William B. Lockhart Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Leadership and Service. William Lockhart was the fifth dean of the Law School from 1956 to 1972. During his 28 years on the faculty he shared his gift for teaching with countless students. The Lockhart Award was established in his honor. I am pleased to present the 2015 Lockhart Award to Caitlinrose Fisher. [ Applause and Cheering ] Caitlinrose's law school achievements place her in that rare category of people who actually fulfill the sometimes lofty goals of a law school admissions essay. She has been a leader and mentor to her fellow students as a legal writing instructor, lead articles editor of the Minnesota Law Review, a Minnesota Justice Foundation student board member, events coordinator for the Women's Law Student Association and a passionate advocate for student balance and wellness. She has also earned top grades and numerous book awards, publishing a note in the Minnesota Law Review and serving as a research assistant for no fewer than four professors on topics ranging from employment discrimination to the rule of law. Most notably she contributed to the Center for New Americans Supreme Court Brief on the case of Mulluly [phonetic] v. Holder. After interning this summer with the Department of Justice's Office of the Solicitor General she will move on to a 9th Circuit Clerkship with Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas and then an 8th Circuit Clerkship with Judge Diana Murphy. We congratulate her on her many accomplishments and wish her well. Caitlin? [ Applause and Cheering ] It's now my pleasure to introduce Sanaa Assa who will present the 2015 LL.M. Class Graduation Address. Miss Assa is an LL.M. student from The Netherlands. She received her Master's degree in International and European Public Law from Tilburg University. At the Law School she has focused on environmental and energy law and was an LL.M. representative for the Minnesota Justice Foundation Student Chapter. She hopes to continue volunteering at non-profit organizations while sustaining a career in law. Sanaa? [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Thank you Dean Wippman, the Law faculty, family members, friends and everyone who was not able to be here today but is watching the commencement ceremony from across the globe. Thank you for supporting each and every one of us who can call themselves the Class of 2015. I very much appreciate the opportunity to represent LL.M. students and to be able to speak on their behalf. We have come a long way since we first stepped nervous but excited into the prestigious University of Minnesota Law School on August 7th of 2014. I knew that at the end of the year we all would have gained 53 beloved friends coming from five different continents and 18 different countries and as usual I was right. While we were wondering around in the empty Mondale Hall during our orientation in August absorbing this stream of information from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and enjoying the free lunches little did we know that real life in law school was yet to start. We were informed by reliable sources that our three weeks of orientation were soon to turn into lots of cold calling, outlining, readings and free pizza. I guess I'm not the only one who's always right. Despite those facts we still tried to make the most of the rare Minnesota summer whether it was through eating buckets filled with warm chocolate chip cookies at the State Fair or by exploring Minneapolis while it was still snow-free. On a serious note we all came here to start this amazing journey with an open mind. We were excited to be united with talented lawyers or lawyers-to-be from all over the world. It is one thing to study law but another to do such surrounded by people with different traditions and upbringings. You learn from each other and due to our open minds we did not judge but accept. We were not afraid to ask questions and to answer them. You could see this was not only among the LL.M. students from also between the LL.M. students and the JD students. It was nice to see that Americans were interested in our different backgrounds. We were not treated as LL.M. students who just leave every year, we were treated as friends and because of that we felt part of the Law School and most of all we felt at home. That I can really appreciate. As a law student you learn to analyze endlessly but as human beings we have learned the value of respect. I am happy to have seen it here in practice during our time at the University of Minnesota, Law School. It is interesting to see that while we are different in our own ways yet we still formed one solid group. We relied on each other for notes, outlines and sharing overpriced books. Despite the sense of competition we were never reluctant to help each other out whenever someone was in need, whether it was for a grammar and spelling check or what to wear to a party you were never turned down and also that, I can really appreciate. I started out thinking that studying law in the U.S. would leave me locked up in my room without any free time at all, that I would be buried in readings and that even when I'm sleeping I would have nightmares about the cold calling. I am very glad I was wrong this time. Law students do actually have a social life next to their studies. They say education brings people together because you share the same goals, homework and amount of stress but what made us so close is the time we spent together outside the Law School or even outside of Minnesota or the United States. Most of us however, bonded by the locally-held events, the birthday celebrations, the many randomly-held barbecues at 7 West, Thanksgiving, the Malpractice Ball and casual evening hangouts on couches. Another thing I found myself mistaken on is when it comes to the amount of time American law students and Americans in general spend volunteering. I had no idea it was considered an obvious thing to dedicate your already precious time as a law student working for free. When volunteering myself I realized that it was not for free, the amount of appreciation and happy faces you receive back is a compensation you more gladly accept than a check. This is something I hope to bring back home so that our society may learn from yours. Clearly there would be no Law School without professors that teach and so I would like to take a moment to thank them as well. Thank you for teaching us every corner of American law, for understanding our sometimes thick accents and for making most of the finals an open book one [laughter]. It is thanks to you passing down your knowledge to us we can call ourselves LL.Ms today. You taught with great understanding of the subject matters and with an answer to every question asked. I was pleased to see that you all showed passion in your teaching and had a sincere belief that we could learn and pass. Of course our experience would not have been the same, in fact impossible, without the International Graduate Program. Without the parental guidance of Khary Hornsby, Dorothy Schlesselman, Maren Stoddart, Karen Lindquist and Katie Johnson we would have been as lost as a broken compass. Thank you for making sure we remained sane throughout the year and thank you for answering all the emails. You made guiding 53 lawyers towards and through an LL.M. program look easy while in fact we all know that staying patient and organized while juggling different responsibilities is a tough one. The new stream of LL.M. students is lucky to have you to turn to. Special apologies to Khary Hornsby for the excessive emailing, it won't happen anymore, at least not by me. Who we turn to with real problems and big achievements are our parents and family members. They're the ones who we always stay in contact with and who we can always turn to. They are the ones who stay patient while we fulfill our dreams and become legal professionals. And they are the ones who still feed us even when we're thousands of miles away. I remember the smile on my face when I first received my food package from home. Never forget the irregular times we made them Skype call with us or how sincere their silly worries were. Again, thank you to the family members and friends who flew all the way over to attend this important day. The people who are watching the ceremony from home soon we'll all return and we will tell you how fast time went by, while it lasted a lifetime of waiting for you. Thank you for your tremendous amount of patience and your love. Personally my gratitude is to my parents who have to deal with my addiction to travelling and my stubborn wishes in life. So Class of 2015 we can continue to strive for more knowledge and experience, more study abroad or actual jobs, whatever you will do after today and wherever you will be at home, here or somewhere else on planet earth know that we can all be very, very proud of ourselves. Not only did we make it through winter we made to LL.M.s and JDs. Congratulations to us. Thank you. [ Applause ] >> Thank you Sanaa. Now I'd like to introduce the member of the Class of 2015 who will present the JD Graduation Address, Sushmitha Rajeevan. Sush is a 2012 graduate of the George Washington University. Before coming to law school she studied biomedical engineering. She decided to study law to find out if Justice Scalia's opinions really are as interesting as circuit design [laughter]. In college Sush was a part of the University Honors Program, developed a wearable, wireless human health monitor with her Capstone team and scoped out the best brunch spots in D.C. She's been a member of Law Council for three years, serving this past year as Law Council president. She's also served on the boards of the American Constitution Society and the South Asian Law Students Association. She was student director and competition team member in the Intellectual Property Moot Court bringing home the Minnesota Intellectual Property Law Association Cup this year with her partner. She worked as a legal intern at Boston Scientific, clerked at Faegre Baker Daniels and was a summer associate at Shumaker & Sieffert. This fall she will be returning to Shumaker & Sieffert and is looking forward to becoming an official Minnesotan. Sush? [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Thank you Dean Wippman. Good morning parents, administrators, professors, friends, classmates and all you other brave tributes here today. Can you believe it's been three years? It feels like we were just at orientation yesterday discussing the age-old question of skirts versus pants and what a gunner is and then we blinked. During these past three years we survived classes in the Hogwarts dungeon, cold calls on promissory estoppel and multiple minus 40 degree-days. More importantly we fought for and won marriage equality in this state. We continue to fight against. [ Applause and Cheering ] We continue to fight against racial discrimination and strive toward gender equality. We have represented countless clients through the clinics, served our community in numerous ways and have taken our fight for justice to the Supreme Court. Not to mention we straight up partied with Notorius RBG. I mean we had a very serious discussion with Justice Ginsberg. Throw in the fact that we've mastered the art of knowing when we've had just enough coffee to get our work done but not enough to make our hearts explode and I'd say we've had a pretty successful three years. Now if we could only kick that Netflix addiction, we could take over the world. As we raced forward these past three years we did so without losing sight of ourselves. Just as our past benefited and enriched our lives during Law School it will continue to shape our work in the future. No matter what we end up doing one thing is certain, our work matters. It's important to never lose that perspective. That is the core of who we are as a class. That is how we have carried ourselves thus far and how we will carry ourselves into the future. We have carried our humanity, our vision for a better world as we tackled and solved messy, human problems and created a better tomorrow. It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does and we have shown every day that what we do will be a force for good. These past three years have taught me a great deal. Cite checking should probably fall under the Supreme Court's definition of cruel and unusual punishment. Professor Clary's classes are harder to get into than the Oval Office [cheering] and we will only get a Starbucks in Mondale Hall when Justice Thomas finally asks a question during oral arguments. I also learned our parents were right, we are special snowflakes, each with own story and our own journey. We are Minnesotans and New Yorkers and Koreans and even a few elusive Canadians. We are engineers, philosophers, journalists, daredevils and do-gooders. We have shared meals with teachers in Malawi, aid workers in Cambodia and our families in suburban America. We are here today because of these journeys, epic and mundane, arduous and easy, long and short. We carry these narratives with us and we're better people and will be better lawyers for it. I'm grateful for the journeys we've all had. We're nerds and weirdos and in a few months we will be lawyers because our human and super-human stories have inevitably led us here. I may not always remember the difference between Palsgraf and Pennoyer but I will always remember the brilliance and talent of this class. We worked to get here. We fought to get here and we will continue to fight with the same drive and the same passion to make a difference in this world. We may not be gladiators in suits because let's be serious after these last three years we can't afford food much less suits [laughter] but we are gladiators. There is no question that not only will we handle it, we will own it. We will have access to power and privilege in ways that we could never have imagined. One amongst us could be the next president or the next Supreme Court justice or even the person that definitively proves that moot courts rule and journals drool. One day we may be total bosses but the spirit of this Law School will stay with us. These past few years we have been a family of sorts, a strange sometimes dysfunctional family with lovable sibling rivalries. I'm looking at you Sections B and C [laughter] but we were a family nevertheless. We did not turn on each other. We did not tear one another down. We were kind and genuinely compassionate. That will not change once we leave here today. We carry one another with us on the road forward. Even as we are busy saving the world always remember what's important in life, friends, waffles, work or waffles, friends, work, it doesn't matter but work is third. Remember that there's no greater thank you than giving time to those that truly matter and those that have stood by you. Take the time to thank your friends beside you today for putting up with you, for making sure you retained your sanity during finals, for sending you notes when you were sick and for indulging your major 3L itis. Our friends got us here today and together we can do anything, whether it's getting aid to people in need, dealing with entrenched conflicts or improving lives near and far. All we need to do is ask the Avengers to assemble. And take a moment to thank your family no matter how busy you are, call home. Reach out to your parents, your sister, your uncle, your grandparents, your cat or dog, not just when you're sick and you want some soup. Call them to say hello and I love you because no matter what they were always there for you during these past few years and when you were at your lowest your families reminded you that you were the best macaroni artist of all time and that is some serious street cred. We made it through Law School because our wonderful, selfless, sometimes naïve but always supportive families stood by our side. Our families may not have understood why we were nerding out over Hobby Lobby or why Rule 12.b.6 was so important to remember but they certainly tried, totally fell asleep and we talked to no one for an hour, but I digress. The important part is our families tried and for that we owe them everything. We wouldn't have made it here today if it weren't for them. Make sure you thank them today and every day for the rest of eternity. Looking at this class it's clear that we have travelled long and hard to get to this day. So many here only know themselves, what it means to have gotten this far. Every day, take a moment, a single breath even to express gratitude for the bounty in your life, gratitude to your loved ones for the support they've given you, gratitude to your community for the opportunities extended to you, gratitude to your teachers for your education and gratitude to yourself for having the courage to pursue your goals. Nothing we do will have meaning if we forget that we can see farther today because we stand on the shoulders of giants that came before us. We leave a mark in this world one step, one gesture, one person at a time. We did it, all of us together, parents, partners, friends, professors, graduates, thank you for getting me to the finish line, thank you for being my friends and partners in crime, thank you for being my greatest inspiration. Congratulations Class of 2015, it's time to put on our capes and go and save the world. [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Thank you Sush. Our commencement speaker today is one of those rare people who genuinely needs no introduction. Certainly he needs no introduction here in Minnesota so naturally I will introduce him anyway [laughter]. Justice Alan Page has reached the pinnacle of not one but two professions, law and football which on the surface at least may appear rather different. Some of us of a certain age will remember his days as one of the greatest defensive lineman ever to play football. [ Applause and Cheering ] An all-American at Notre Dame, Justice Page played 11 years for the Minnesota Vikings and three years for the Chicago Bears for a total of 218 consecutive games. [ Applause and Cheering ] He was selected for nine consecutive Pro Bowls and voted all-conference 11 times. He was the first defensive player ever named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, an honor that has since gone to only one other defensive player. Naturally I attribute his extraordinary success on the field to the training he received at the University of Minnesota, Law School [laughter]. It's possible the chronology on that isn't perfect [laughter] but let's not get bogged down in details. For the students here who have found law school taxing let me remind them Justice Page excelled in law school while playing full-time for the Minnesota Vikings. Apparently he engaged opposing quarterbacks in a Socratic dialogue [laughter] which mostly ended with their getting knocked down. After graduating from law school in 1978 he began a legal career every bit as remarkable as his football career and it is his legal career for which we honor him today. After graduation he worked for Linquist & Vennum and then became an assistant attorney general. In 1992 he was elected to an open seat as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, becoming the first African-American ever to serve on that court. He was re-elected in 1998 with the highest vote total in Minnesota history, again in 2004 and for a final time in 2010. As a justice on the court he has served the community, the state and the country with great distinction. In 1988 he was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He used that occasion to create the Page Education Foundation together with his wife Diane. The Foundation has since supported over 6000 students of color in pursuing their education. Since leaving the NFL he has proven perhaps the best educated person here. He has received nine honorary doctorates and over 45 awards including most recently the Minnesota Lawyers 2015 Outstanding Service to the Profession Award and just two days ago he was the honoree at the Legal Aid Society Annual Dinner. Please join me in welcoming our keynote speaker, Justice Alan Page. [ Applause ] >> Dean Wippman, Regent Rosha, family and friends of the graduates, Class of 2015 thank you for the warmth of your welcome and thank you also for allowing me to share my thoughts with you this morning. Certainly 37 years ago when I was sitting as a graduate it wouldn't have exactly occurred to anybody that one day I might be the commencement speaker at this great Law School. But like the path that brought me to this moment the path that each of you takes will provide an opportunity for you to accomplish that which no one thought possible. The key to whatever success I've had can be found in the unwillingness to be satisfied with playing to the level of the competition, a willingness to push beyond my own self-perceived limitations, a willingness to be involved in the community around me and in preparation. Now thinking about preparation I'm reminded of my law school experience during which I learned some pretty important lessons about preparation in my first year contracts class. Now I will tell you that that class was not here at the university. I was, I spent a little time my first summer of law school at the University of Texas and I had this professor who instead of lecturing believed strongly in the Socratic method which as you graduates know entails asking questions of those of us who are under-enlightened to help lead us to a little bit of enlightenment. That includes maybe just a little bit of intimidation along the way. I have vivid memories of one of the guys in the class being brought to tears. Now even though I always came to class relatively well prepared and had performed as a football player in front of hundreds of thousands of people I was panicked that the professor would call on me. Making myself small and inconspicuous however was not one of the choices [laughter]. What could I do? Well, after surviving the first few days without being called on I noticed that the professor only called on those who looked afraid and he never called on anyone who raised their hand so I started raising my hand [laughter] and for a while that tactic was rewarded. But then eventually one day I raised my hand and as luck would have it he called on me. Without thinking I stood up to answer the question and my mind went blank and it stayed blank [laughter]. As I scrambled for a cohesive thought I had momentary empathy for all those quarterbacks I'd been chasing for a living. Then somehow it hit me. I had to say something, that anything, anything was better than silence. So I started speaking and whatever I said must have been okay but the experience taught me three important lessons. First that preparation is critical to success and while good preparation in that context meant coming to class with my assignments done it also means being able to size up a situation and respond appropriately. Second I learned that we sometimes create our own greatest obstacles, that our fears rather than the actual situation is what limits us and third and maybe most important, that even when our fears cause us to stumble good preparation will allow us to pick ourselves back up. To the Class of 2015 let me say congratulations for a job well done. Your preparation and hard work have paid off and you should be proud. What a wonderful gift you have given yourselves. I can appreciate the conflicting emotions that you may be feeling at the moment, from the relief of having no more lectures, finals or tuition to the anticipation coupled with I suspect a little fear that comes with new beginnings to the sense of accomplishment and pride that we all feel here this morning and the fear that your graduation speaker will drone on forever [laughter] saying nothing of particular relevance and prolonging the moment until the real celebration begins. Indeed it occurs to me that some of you may be asking yourselves, wait a minute, what's wrong with this picture? After all that tuition I've got a football player as a commencement speaker? How is it that this football player is our commencement speaker? After all we know that football players are really nothing more than dumb jocks and that defensive linemen have all been hit in the head at least one too many times [laughter]. The simple fact is that long before I was a football player my parents who knew and understood the importance of education made sure that I understood it. I was lucky. They made it clear to me by word and deed that if I was going to have a better life than they had I would have to be educated and also be a good citizen. They also instilled in me the notion of seeking excellence in all that you do. I can hear their voices even now saying, whatever you do in life, do it as well as you can. If you're going to be a garbage collector, be the best garbage collector you can be. If you're going to be a lawyer be the best lawyer that you can be. Now I took that to mean more than simply being better than the competition or scoring more points than the opponent. I took it to mean that if you hope to achieve your highest potential you have to push beyond your perceived limitations and others' limited expectations and seek to find your highest self. If you do you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. Now recognizing that what I say this morning may well not be long remembered what I would like to do is talk at least for a moment about the future, about hope and ultimately the role that each of us can play in making the future better and brighter. Important to that discussion are issues of character and issues of race. As you leave this great Law School travelling your chosen paths your character will be challenged. Now the American Heritage Dictionary defines character as moral or ethical strength, integrity, fortitude. In a sense character is who we are at our core. It's what determines what we believe and how we choose to respond to a given situation. Character is not something that we're born with nor does it develop automatically. It must be consciously developed. Nor is it something that is static whether we're 50 or 15, 5 or 75, whether we're a graduate of the Law School, a graduate's family member or a friend or a Supreme Court justice we will be forced to re-evaluate and renew our character again and again. To resist the pressures and temptations that seduce us, to make the easy choices rather than the right choices, to be a person of character takes a strong person. Now I don't mean strong in the physical sense where physical stature really has nothing to do with character. I do mean strong in the sense of believing that each one of us has an obligation to act in ways that builds rather than diminishes our character and the character of those around us. That means we must be honest and trustworthy, saying what we mean and meaning what we say. It means keeping our promises. It means avoiding the arrogance of power, playing fairly, telling the truth, making decisions with others in mind, always treating people with respect and respecting ourselves. It means working to figure out the difference between right and wrong and then acting accordingly. The fact that I was once considered to be a great football player or that I am a Supreme Court justice doesn't by itself mean that I am a man of good character. The fact that the color of my skin may be different from yours doesn't mean that I'm not a man of good character. The fact that your language or religion may be different from mine doesn't make either one of our characters better or worse. The outward differences that identify us as individuals do not define the content of our character. Along life's path you will also be confronted with issues of race. Now I recognize that discussions of race can be extremely uncomfortable and are never easy. That is so in part because what some, one person sees as innocent conduct, another may see as racially motivated. Moreover even innocent conduct can have a negative effect when it comes to issues of race. Sometimes the race card is openly and blatantly played. Sometimes its use is more subtle. And sometimes the card being played isn't the race card at all but the effect is such that there is a racial impact. Clearly things have changed for the better since the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s. We have done away with the whites only and colored only signs which were once clear symbols of state-sponsored apartheid. The Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown versus the Board of Education which was issued 61 years ago announced the death knell for segregation as we knew it. Yet in many respects we are still a segregated society. An area of particular concern to me is our criminal justice system which at times seems more interested in putting people of color in jail than in helping them succeed. Shortly after I was sworn into the court our court issued a report from a task force examining racial bias in our judicial system. The task force found that everything else being equal people of color are arrested more often, charged more often, given higher bail, tougher plea bargains, less fair trials and far longer sentences. These findings were consistent with the findings of the 30 or so other states that conducted such studies. They are also consistent sadly with the findings of the Kerner Report issued in 1968. Unfortunately in my time on the court we have not eliminated those disparities. Emma Lazarus, the poet who penned the words "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free" also wrote these words "Until we are all free we are none of us free". I would simply say with apologies to Emma Lazarus, until we all receive justice we will none of us receive justice. There is something fundamentally wrong when our judicial system, the one branch of our government designed to protect individual rights consistently denies equal justice to our communities of color. Now given the disparities that we see in ours and other criminal justice systems across the country we should not be particularly surprised that there appears to be a disparity in the number of unarmed people of color who end up dying in police custody. What I find both surprising and also a little disturbing is the suggestion that comes from some quarters that simply because these people allegedly committed some crime they somehow deserved what happened to them and that those who protest what happened to them, support crime and criminals. The lack of empathy and understanding embodied in those views is dangerous to our democracy because those who hold such views do not believe in equal justice under law. Moreover as Thomas Paine once said "An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty". It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Now does all this mean that there is active prejudice at work? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, some of the policies and practices that lead to our overrepresentation lead to overrepresentation in our prison system and underrepresentation virtually everywhere else for people of color stem from well-intentioned if naïve efforts to demonstrate that our society is color blind. Other policies and practices seem to result more from indifference than from outright prejudice. But whatever the reason the outcome remains the same. While we may be better at covering up our biases making bias harder to detect is not the same as making it go away. And living in a colorblind society should not require that we live in a society that is blind to racial injustice. But what, you know what can we do to address the issues of race that confront us? Identifying the problem and complaining about it is not enough. Rhetoric without action is self-defeating. Lashing out in anger in the streets is both ineffective and counterproductive. But one thing we can all do is examine our own biases and set aside our prejudices based on stereotypical views of people who are different from us. In the context of race too often the word different is really just a euphemism for inferior. We see people who are different or alike as good and who are different from us as bad. We need to make sure that our feelings about other people are based on the individual rather than some perceived characteristic of disfavored racial group. In the end what does all this mean to you the graduates? As graduates of this great Law School we are among the privileged few. As such I believe we have some obligation to work to improve the lot of others who are less fortunate. Grabbing what we want for ourselves and ignoring everyone else is simply not acceptable. I believe we have an obligation to use that privilege to do good. For me that has meant assisting children and understanding the importance of education, motivating in them and their educational pursuits and working to provide educational opportunity. But what can you, aspiring future lawyers with crushing student loan debt and uncertain job prospects do? Because the problems facing us are complex we tend to think in terms of complex solutions or think it's someone else's problem. As a result individual effort seems insignificant. But I believe that the steps we take individually are significant. Ultimately the problems we face are people problems and the solutions will be found in people like you and people like me. Whether it's providing pro bono legal services for those in need and for which there is a great need or spending time working with children as I do, whatever it may be you have the power to change the future. Our destiny is inextricably linked with your willingness to give of yourselves. Some would say no the problems that we face are too big, too complex for one person to impact. I believe that those people are wrong. You don't need to be a hero or even a Supreme Court justice to make change happen. Everyone here and I emphasize, everyone here has the ability, the opportunity and I believe the obligation to make this world a better place. All we have to do is act and act we must. When we put our hearts, our minds and our bodies to the task, when we act we can improve the lives of those less fortunate, change our character in ways that make us better individually and collectively and begin to address the seemingly intractable problems of race. In the process we can change the future. As Dr. Seuss said in "The Lorax" unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better. It is not. Thank you and again congratulations. [ Applause and Cheering ] >> And now the moment you have all been waiting for, the conferring of your degree. Regent Rosha, would you please step forward and join me at the podium for this momentous occasion. Will the candidates for the Juris Doctor degree please rise. Regent Rosha on behalf of the Faculty of Law I recommend that you confer the degree of Juris Doctor on these candidates who have met the requirements for that degree. >> Thank you Dean Wippman. Upon the recommendation of the Dean and Faculty of Law and by the authority of the Board of Regents delegated to me I now confer upon you the degree of Juris Doctor. [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Congratulations Doctors of Law, you may now move the tassels on your mortarboard to signify your accomplishment. [ Applause and Cheering ] You can now be seated. Will the candidates for the LL.M. degree please rise. [ Applause and Cheering ] Regent Rosha on behalf of the Faculty of Law I recommend that you confer the degree of Master's of Law on these candidates who have met the requirements for that degree. >> Upon the recommendation of the Dean and Faculty of Law and by the authority of the Board of Regents delegated to me I now confer upon you the degree of Master's of Law. [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Congratulations Master's of Law, you may now move the tassels on your mortarboard to signify your accomplishment. [ Applause ] Please be seated. Will the candidates for the Master's of Science in Patent Law degree please rise. [ Applause ] Regent Rosha on behalf of the Faculty of Law I recommend that you confer the degree of Master of Science in Patent Law on these candidates who have met the requirements for that degree. >> Upon the recommendation of the Dean and Faculty of Law and by the authority of the Board of Regents delegated to me I now confer upon you the degree of Master of Science in Patent Law. [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Congratulations Masters of Science in Patent Law, you may now move the tassels on your mortarboard to signify your accomplishment. [ Applause ] Please be seated. Faculty family and friends please join me in congratulating these graduates and the newest alumni of the Law School. [ Applause and Cheering ] The Juris Doctor Class of 2015 has selected Professors Brad Clary and Laura Thomas to present their class. Khary Hornsby, Director of International and Graduate Programs will present the LL.M. Class and Chris Frank will present the Master of Science in Patent Law Class. [ Background Sounds ] >> Marguerite Ahmann [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Walid Amad [phonetic] [ Applause ] >> Jai He An [phonetic] [ Applause ] >> Annie Su Yon An [phonetic] [ Applause ] >> George Ashamacher [phonetic] [ Aplause and Cheering ] >> Galen Asfeld [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Courtney Elizabeth Baker [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Eric Bold [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Will Baldwin [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Lin Andrew Boldus [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Maya L. Batress [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Shane Baumgardner [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Peter Edward Bermes [ Applause and Cheering ] >> David Plevins [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Emily Bodtke [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Samuel Duncan Bolstad [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Briana Boon [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Abigail Breagleman [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ryan Thomas Bravo [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Brant Warren Bryan [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Michael T. Burke [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Adam Camlan [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Morgan E. Carlson [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Marco Carvijal [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Laura Pflumm Cerezo [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Lun Yin Chang [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jaion Cho [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Katy Hei Mei Choy [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Eric Jai Choy [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Dewan Chung [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Bryan L. Coe [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> David J. Court [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Yaima Couso [ Applause and Cheering ] >> See Yai Dai [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Aaron M. Danroe [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Tom Davis [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Caitlin L. Dennis [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Mikaela Devine [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Kent Dean Dolphay Jr. [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alison E. Don [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Aziz Juriev [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Francois Arnaud Inclesias [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Mary C. Erler [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ian Farbman [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Laura Ann Farley [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Laura Felker [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Anna K.B. Finstrom [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Caitlinrose Fisher [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Veronica Fitzpatrick [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Karen Fleury [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jordon Foshee [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Rebecca C. Ferdek [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Evan Gelles [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Julian J. Gim [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ashee Michele Glastetter [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Sidney Goodhand [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Connor Gordon [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jordan Calvert Greenley [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> George Byron (Geordie) Griffiths [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Sophia Rose Grotkin [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Cho Qui Gu [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Locees Gust [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Matthew Hagen [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alexander M. Hackstrum [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> William Frank Hamilton [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Sonya E. Hanson [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Justin Hoschild [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Michael Martin Hyack [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Elizabeth Ann Dosemegen Henley [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Dan Hickson [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jordan James Hagness [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Dr. Kelly Lee Holsepfal [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Tracy Ann Hoyos-Lopez [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Wak Sun Wei Shrim Hiang [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Bethany Hurd [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Rebecca L. Hutting [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Benjamin Irwin [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Mayura I. Yeard [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Anu Jaswal [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ruben Jayasurea [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Kristen M. Johnson [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Benjamin Jones [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Karianne Jones [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Dushan Kanazir [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Catherine M. Carhala-Curtis [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Aaron Cairns [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> James Keable [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Karen Keller [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Brian Kennedy [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Taylor Kestie [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alison Key [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ryan J. Keith [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Bobay Kim [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Daniel Kim [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Sushira Kohther [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Andrew Charles Kuettel [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Catherine Lackiner [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Soren Lagaard [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ethan Lanby [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> John Blain Lawless [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ryan M. Lawrence [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Eric Lee [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Grace Inhe Lee [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Robin Laininger [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Matthew D. Lison [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Andrew Michael Letourneau [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Noah Lewellen [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Leah Leyendecker [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Nathan Luagi [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Dewan Lu [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Benjamin N. Luers [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jacob Lunborg [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> David Madison [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Kelly Magnus [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Cornelius D. Mahoney [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Caitlin May Lee [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Matthew D. Mason [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Julie L. Matacheski [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Michael McBride [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Peter J. McGelligot [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Meredith McKinney [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Danielle Meinhardt [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Brandon Meshbesher [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Max Lextroff [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Andrea Miller [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Nathan Miller [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Armeen Firoz Mistry [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Brittany S. Mitchell [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Kelly Molloy [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jennifer Monson Miller [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Justin Moore [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Thomas George Moran [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Matthew L. Morrison [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ann E. Motl [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Sarah Myrom Essenwin [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Austin Neese [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Daniel Metecky [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Eric Neer [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Hakeem Anafuakin Jr. [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Abdul Wahid Oussman [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Paul A. Overby [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> James Owens [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> David H. Pabien [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alicia J. Paller [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Su Mi Park [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Roma Patel [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Spencer J. Peck [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Brandon Jeffery Pellerin [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Chad Pennington [ Applause and Cheering ] >> John Purpich [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Christina A. Peters [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Michael J. Petre [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Lahan T. Fam [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jeffrey Lind Phillips [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ariel A. Pitner [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Spencer D. Ptacek [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Dillon J. Quinn [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Sushmitha Rajeevan [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Anjelica Diana Ramirez [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Cameron Riley [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Britney Ann Reshe [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Gina S. Ree [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Stella Rim [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alexander Adams Rich [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Joseph Gran Reimer [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Meredith A. Reef [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Lauren O. Roso [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Dulrie Samat [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Anthony Schalbeer [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alex Schoephoerster [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Daniel Sullivan Shupert [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Travis Schultsie [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Andy Scwick [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ethan Scrivner [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Joseph P. Serge [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Homie Sharif [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Harpred Singh [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alexander Stopflet [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> James B. Stray [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Veng Chiah Sun [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Kelsey Ann Swagger [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Peter Ericson Tegland [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> River Tealan [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Maxine Schvinsky [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Kirk Tissure [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Guy Topaz [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Rebecca Treksler [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jenna Trimboli [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Crystal Sai [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Samuel Tunheim [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Gabriel Ulman [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Kyle L. Vick [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Daniel Vigillius [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Carla J. Virlee [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Alexander Voulisatis [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Briana S. Walling [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Michael L. Walls [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Yi Wang [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jennifer Mayu Warfield [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Leon Kiwells 4th [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Christine J. Welsh [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Catherine Ellen Wendt [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jeremy Wheeler [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Allison Mareen Wheland [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Zachery B. Wittman [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Galen M. Williams [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ming Lee Woo [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Chu Shing Chang [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Fan Yong [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> In Hyuk Yu [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Ryan Young [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Jah Leen Zheng [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Lone Dra [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Zaning Zhu [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Gretchen Ziska [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Oumar Zolkanain [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Julia Diane Zwack [ Applause and Cheering ] >> The LL.M. Class of 2015. Abdul Aziz Amoghera [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Miriam Al Hindi [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Somia Omili [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Geena Opilatosari [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Ssnaa Assa [ Applause and Cheering ] Mkai Betana Bhokolo [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Ohali Broh [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Chow Wa Bo [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Nae Gau [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Gee Lon Chin [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Chin Yee [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Sui Hong [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Fan In Sha [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Hirowaki Hara [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Shao Wen Jun [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Abeer Hamoud [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Insaf Jong [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Chia Chi [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Sin Jong [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Jin Jong Jin [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Mernuse Karini Andu [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Oh Jun Kim [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Lee Mei Whah [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Lee Ting E [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Lee E [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Lee Joh [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Edgar Moricio Munio [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Takamasa Nakahara [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Sebastien Nantoy [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Yohai Ototaka [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Sei Yung Pak [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Su Shon Pak [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Wanapan Roroxa [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Gron Ting [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Elon Selz [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Harsvarden Sharma [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Janat Singh [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Xing E Tu [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Xing Jin Song [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Xun Shu Mei [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Moyina Tanaka [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Sarawadee Tong Pun [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Mun Fan Outagegun [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Miguel Vaiaho [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Patara Watanachai [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Ou Chin Yong [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Chu Xi Ching [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Yahdou Yong [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Tamara Sakarajvili [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Chong Mun Lu [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Cho Chin Chin [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> The Masters of Science in Patent Law Graduates of 2015, Brian Banya [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Heather Chedderton [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Susan Hahn [phonetic] [ Applause and Cheering ] Beau Harkonen Miller [ Applause and Cheering ] And Andrew Paul Taylor [assumed spelling] [ Applause and Cheering ] >> Congratulations graduates. As part of your legal education we have gifted you with numerous Latin phrases you can use to impress your clients and mystify your friends. Res ipsa loquitur, subpoena duces tecum, rebus sic stantibus and so many more. Before we end today let me leave you with one final Latin tag phrase ave atque vale, hail and farewell. To conclude this ceremony please join us in singing the Minnesota Anthem led by our TORT singers Jennifer Mayu Warfield Andrea Miller, Tracy Hoyos-Lopez, Robert Laniger [phonetic], Tim Joyce [phonetic], Drew Glasgovitch [phonetic] and Jake Donna [phonetic]. [ Applause ] [ Background Conversations ] [ Music ] [ Applause ] Thank you Jennifer, Andrea, Tracy, Robin, Tim, Drew, Jake and the St. Anthony Brass Quintet and thanks to everyone, distinguished guests, family, friends, everyone who came to help the Class of 2015 commemorate its commencement of a life in law. Please join us for a brief reception here at Northrup. Audience please remain seated as the faculty leads the Class of 2015 out of the auditorium. [ Music ]