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Santa Clara Law School Graduation

Graduation was better than I expected. I didn?t go to my undergrad graduation because generally graduations are long and boring and I didn?t want to subject myself nor my loved ones to more than one of those, and since I knew I was going to law school, I figured I?d postpone emergence from the formal educational womb until I finished law school. I?m still awaiting some of the pictures to be e-mailed to me, but here are some pics that I do have from the Santa Clara University School of Law graduation of 2008:

My wife, my parents and brothers Kevin and Jake (and his spouse Meredith) all made the trip from southern California and Arizona respectively. We had a family dinner at Maggiano's and great food and a great time were had by all. I actually ate here a few weeks ago for a trial team dinner, which was also a blast. It was at that dinner that I fell in love with the Maggiano lemon cookie, which I had for dessert again on Friday. (Hat tip to Dan).

What would a graduation celebration be without my beloved parents? They're pretty stretched right now as they attempt to sell their house in this rocky market, yet they still made the trip. It's always great to see them. Here are the proud parents at Maggiano's the night before the graduation.

Jake and Meredith also made the trip. They also were able to go camping in Pismo on the way back to Southern California.

The graduates met at 8:30 a.m. in front of Bergin to get help in putting on their robes and sashes, which was no easy feat. From there, we had to line up in order of our assigned seats, which was a lot like herding cats for those poor administrators stuck doing that job. A lot of folks picked up their robes that morning which caused an unfortunate number of graduates to wear completely wrinkled regalia. Also, there were a lot of people who wore flip flops and shorts under their robes, which is kind of hip I guess, but, given that this was a celebration of completion of a professional degree, it seemed out of place. But given the heat of the day, who could blame them? As we milled, one of the popular topics revolved around those few who had graduated a semester early and took the February bar. Apparently, most of them did pretty well, but the one person I knew well did not pass. It wasn't a surprise given this student's previous academic performances, but it was still a little depressing to hear that someone I know in my graduating class failed the bar. Statistically, close to 20% of us will fail on our first try. Let's hope that does not include me.

We had less than 300 graduates and yet I was a bit surprised by how few of the people I actually knew, but in retrospect, it shouldn't have been surprising at all. Law school, like most things, is very clique-ish. Law school classes belie participation, so you don't really get to know anyone through class. Most social cliques were formed by joining groups of either similar interests (ex: ACLU, Amnesty International, etc.), religion (Christian Law Society, Jewish Law Society) skin color (ex: Black Law Student Association, La Raza, SALSA, MELSA), or sexual orientation (BGLAd). In fact, I know a girl who graduated who is 1/3 black, Asian, Latino and 100% lesbian who had to be, at least based on minority group identification, the most popular girl on campus. While I did participate in many wonderful activities that were of interest to me (moot court, trial team, law center), there wasn't much of a sustained social aspect in them for the most part. Therefore, because I didn't participate in many of the more socially oriented groups, I seriously had no idea who probably 80% of the people were when their names were called. My best friends in law school were two students from the original five person study group that we were assigned in my first semester of law school. I guess the three of us belong to the old married conservative white male group. Talk about an underrepresented minority. Kevin Denton, pictured in the middle, intends to open up his own practice doing criminal defense in San Diego, which I have to say, is probably the coolest job of any of my fellow graduates. What's better than being your own boss? The answer is nothing. John Pettit, on the right, is one of the top students in our graduating class and after turning down offers from many of the top law firms in the country (including Skadden & Aarps), decided to work for Wilmer Hale for some serious coin.
Here is a video of the procession leading to our seats.
I don't know if I mentioned this, but it was HOT. While the ceremony started at 9:30 am, the temperature soared into the 90s and all of us graduates who were not in the shade did our best to try and keep warm.

Our commencement speaker was Judge Phyllis Hamilton, a SCU Law Alumnus. I can imagine that giving a commencement speech is not an easy task; you have an unknown crowd of varied values and experience, so it's impossible to connect with everyone. That being said, the speech was unmemorable, which I suppose is the mark of a good commencement speech. At least as someone sitting in those hot robes, I want the speech to be quick and painless, and it was for the most part. I was a little turned off with an early emphasis on how proud she is to be a judge who happens to have ovaries instead of gonads, but other than that it was okay.

The fellas (Joe, John and Kory) took time off to come to the graduation. They've been my best friends since 9th, 8th, and 4th grade respectively and having friends like that celebrate with my graduation with me really made it special.

The heat chased away my parents and my brother Jake shortly after I received that burgundy thing that acted like a diploma (they won't send the real one for a year). But my brother Kevin stuck around until the end to capture this coveted photo of me in my robes! Seriously, I sweat through those robes, it was so freakin' hot.

Kory's lady Jen (they are engaged to be married next year) also made the trek. Jen's getting her master degree in a couple of weeks.

Joe (and Kory): I want my shorts back! After graduation we ate some lunch and then played some hoops. Can I just say that Joe is looking particularly svelte and was the lightest on his feet as I've ever seen? Successful golf professional, sharp, witty and handsome. How can this man still be single?

Perhaps it was fate that the Lakers clinched a spot in the Western Conference finals the day before my graduation. John and I represented the Lakers in our gear and our unparalleled skills on the court. In fact, we were asked twice by another group of basketball players to run five on five. You can't blame them: you want to be the best, you have to play against the best.

I don't know what it is, but this is my favorite picture of the weekend. Cruiser just looks like he was born to wear a tam.

Full post as published by SoapBox Law on May 19, 2008 (boomark / email).