Judge Johnnie B. Rawlinson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, offers remarks on behalf of federal, state, and international jurists completing Duke Law's two-year Master of Judicial Studies program. Judge Rawlinson spoke to Duke Law's Class of 2016 during their hooding ceremony.

Richard Lin '16 speaks to Duke Law's Class of 2016 at their hooding ceremony.

Dai Tajima LLM '16 offers remarks on behalf of the students graduating from Duke Law's International LLM Program. Tajima addressed the Class of 2016 during their hooding ceremony.

Christopher Hood '15 offers remarks on behalf of the graduating 2015 JD students.

Hood said that a law degree conferred the power to make positive change. “Our legal education is our superpower,” he said. “We have a duty to do everything we can to help the powerless… Whatever it is that you are passionate about: That’s your burning building. Find your burning building. Save it.”

More at: https://law.duke.edu/news/hooding-2015-koh-tells-graduates-live-your-va…

Yoshiyuki Kambayashi LLM '15 offers remarks on behalf of the graduating 2015 LLM students.

Kambayashi, a lawyer from Japan, said that he and the other international LLM students were eager to “bring all that we have learned back to our home countries.” He acknowledged the support and sacrifice of their relatives, many of whom traveled from the 42 countries represented by the 2015 LLM class. The graduates included Duke Law’s first students from Afghanistan, Belize, Kosovo, and Oman.

Harold Hongju Koh offers remarks to the Duke Law's Class of 2015.

Koh, the son of Korean immigrants and former dean of Yale Law School, told the graduates to embrace international law and global interconnection. These are not threats, he said, but one of America’s greatest strengths.

Currently the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, Koh served as Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State from 2009 to 2013, and served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor during the Clinton administration.

Speaking on behalf of graduates of the LLM in Law and Entrepreneurship program, Andrew Walton listed ways in which their year at Duke Law added value to their law degrees -- and some MBAs -- beyond the skills they learned in class and through practicum placements. In addition to fortitude and the integrity to succeed "with excellence, greatness, and honor," he said they got lessons in the self-motivation and drive that characteristically propel entrepreneurs.

JD speaker Ruben Henriquez focused his remarks on the close and collegial student culture he found at Duke Law. "That will be what I'm most fortunate to take away from Duke Law, the fact that we got the chance to experience the last three years of life, in all its ups and downs, with each other," he said. "At Duke Law our classmates are our friends, not just our colleagues. ... Sharing the last three years with each other made them that much more special."

Retired Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson of the North Carolina Supreme Court offered remarks on behalf of the first jurists to receive Duke Law School's Master's of Judicial Studies. The judges benefited from a unique and rigorous educational experience, she said, learning both from leading scholars and from one another.

Tolga Ozek, a lawyer from Turkey, asked his LLM classmates and the other graduates to think about how distinguished lawyers throughout history -- like Jefferson, Gandhi, and Mandela -- have used their knowledge of law to solve societal problems. "At Duke Law, I have once again found a reason to affirm that I don't believe in races or ethnic separations or any other similar barriers among humans," he said. "I believe the only difference that makes us distinguishable is our good will and conscience to develop our systems of law and ease the life of our peoples.

Recorded on May 13, 2006.

Appearing: Speaker: David Gergen.

Hooding Ceremony for the Duke Law 2011 Graduates.

See more at: http://law.duke.edu/news/6481

Please join Duke Law School as we celebrate graduating JD and LLM students in the Class of 2020 at this special recognition event in Page Auditorium. We're proud of all the students' hard work and look forward to celebrating this milestone.

Please join Duke Law School as we celebrate graduating LLM students in the Class of 2021. We're proud of all the students' hard work and look forward to celebrating this milestone.