Addressing the Boston College Law School Class of 2026, David J. Barron, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, challenged graduates on two fronts: to look inward and find the type of legal work that makes them feel most professionally alive, and to look outward, recognizing that their choices as lawyers will be judged not only in the present but by generations to come.
“If you want to do legal work that matters, the key question is a more personal one—when do you feel, professionally, most alive to the task?” Barron asked. He urged graduates to resist the temptation to chase the “objectively right” next job, and instead to find work that matches their own character, skills, and circumstances. “You are most likely to make that difference if you can find a way to match your own personality and your own personal situation to the actual work you are doing. It is when there is that match that you are most likely to be alive to the task at hand—and when you are alive to it, you are most likely to do it well, in the way that you—and not some objective actor—uniquely can.”
Barron also challenged graduates to think beyond themselves, reminding them that history continually passes judgment on the choices lawyers make. “The history of American law is a history of change—a history of learning to see things anew,” he said. “Those who come after us will see and judge our choices as well. We, in making them now, are accountable to that future.”
He concluded with an ancient teaching that he said lawyers today would do well to hold close: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?” His final words to the graduating class: “Congratulations! Go and make yourselves and the future proud.”
Barron, who was appointed to the First Circuit in 2014 and became Chief Judge in 2022, brought a personal connection to the occasion: his godfather, Sanford Katz, was a legendary BC Law professor for nearly half a century. Before joining the bench, Barron served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice. He previously taught at Harvard Law School, where he continues to serve as the Louis D. Brandeis Visiting Professor of Law, and clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the author of Waging War: The Clash Between Presidents and Congress, 1776 to ISIS, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute.
In her Commencement address, BC Law Dean Odette Lienau marked the profound shift graduates face as they leave the classroom. “Today is the moment when you cross from studying the law to being truly responsible for it,” she said. “When you sit across from your client, when you stand before a judge—or become one yourself—when you advise an organization or advocate for a community, you are the system. You become—for those people and in their lives—the rule of law personified.”
Dean Lienau addressed a defining professional challenge of their generation, urging graduates to guard against surrendering their judgment to artificial intelligence. “You will be the ones to truly define how the legal profession lives alongside AI,” she said. “And you also will be the generation that decides what we gain or lose within it. Take care to protect the space for your own independent thinking. Harness the power of new technologies. But do not let a machine – or anyone else – dim your capacity to reason.”
She closed with a challenge rooted in BC Law’s Jesuit mission: “Protect and nourish that drive to make the world a better and more just place, for your communities and for those coming up behind you. Bring your critical minds, and your willingness to act. Use every tool available to you—but never let a tool replace your wisdom or your conscience.”
Two hundred and four J.D. graduates received degrees at the Law School’s 92nd Commencement exercises, along with one graduate who completed degree requirements last December. Thirteen LL.M. students also received degrees, as did one student in the Law School’s newly launched Master of Legal Studies (MLS) Cybersecurity program. At the ceremony, Caroline Robertson received the Attorney Michael A. Flanagan Award, which honors the student for ranking highest in the graduating class. Three other awards were given out, including the St. Thomas More Award to Minaldy Cadet, which recognizes a student who exemplifies the intellectual, spiritual, and moral qualities of St. Thomas More; the Susan Grant Desmarais Award to Audrey Vila, which recognizes a student for public service achievement and leadership; and the Philip Joseph Privitera ’95 Commencement Award to Anna Guzman, which honors a student for exceptional contributions through outstanding scholarship and commitment to service as well as to the work of the law.
Other awards, given at the Law School’s Commencement Eve Celebration on May 21, included:
The Pedro Arrupe, SJ Award — Noah Francois
Recognizes a student who has made outstanding contributions to community and belonging in the life of the law school.
The Law School Awards for Experiential Learning — Michael Keating, Natalie Reysa, and Samantha Schatten
Recognizes students who have done outstanding work in our clinical and externship programs.
The Lewis S. Gurwitz Award — BC Defenders Clinic (Minaldy Cadet, Elias Massion, Samantha Raymond, Natalie Reysa, Isabelle Thorpe, and Audrey Vila)
Honors a commitment to the defense of those without the resources to defend themselves.
The Richard G. Huber Award — Sarah Kaplan
Honors a student for scholarship and leadership in extra- and co-curricular activities.
The Richard S. Sullivan Award — Joshua Little
Honors a student for overall contribution to the Law School community, service to the community, and outstanding school spirit.
The Law School Award for Service and Leadership by a Group — Women’s Law Coalition (Jayna Robotham and G. Nicole Veru)
Honors one student organization each year for outstanding service and leadership in our law school community.
The Aviam Soifer Award — Samantha Raymond
Honors a student for public service achievement and leadership.
The LLM Leadership Award — Denise Baguma Ingabire
Honors an LLM student who serves as an ambassador of the LLM Program with our faculty, staff, Visiting Scholars, JD/LLM, and exchange students.
The Cornelius J. Moynihan Awards — Haley Cole, Samantha Lester, and Sara Womble
Recognizes students who have done outstanding editorial work on publications.
The Dean Dennis A. Dooley Award — Shawn Sullivan
Honors a student for outstanding scholarship average, for ranking second highest in the graduating class, our salutatorian.
The William J. O’Keefe Award — Sangeeta Kishore
Honors a student for outstanding contribution to the law school.
The John D. O’Reilly, Jr. Award — Keyond Rostamnezhad
Honors a student’s outstanding contribution to the law school community through service to its students.
More information on the Boston College Law School Commencement is available at the school’s website.