The incoming class includes 381 full-time J.D. students and 33 students in the extended four-year J.D. program. The LL.M. program welcomed 11 new students from seven countries: Albania, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, Romania, Russia, and Spain. The incoming class arrives after graduating from 174 colleges and universities, and brings an impressive breadth of previous experience—45 have postgraduate degrees, and many have held positions at major law firms, corporations, nonprofits, and all levels of government.
Pasquale, who joined the faculty in the fall of 2020 after serving as a visiting professor (see p. 25), opened the ceremony by acknowledging the extraordinary circumstances of the students’ first semester of law school taking place during a global pandemic.
“We stand at a crossroads where much of our law and policy must be fundamentally rebuilt, and proven structures of the past must be better known and invigorated,” Pasquale said. “That’s where law school comes in.”
Cahill welcomed the students with a message of hope and optimism about the legal profession, saying, “I think right now is a great time to go to law school. Our fundamental mission as lawyers is to promote and pursue justice. As lawyers, we see a lack of justice not as cause for despair, but as a call to action.”
