Who Would Be the Ultimate Law School Graduation Speaker?

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Who Would Be the Ultimate Law School Graduation Speaker?

Posted May 22, 2008, 10:14 am CDT
By Sarah Randag

In spite of a flurry of petitions and e-mails sent by students in protest, Jerry Springer took the podium at Northwestern University School of Law’s graduation last week and left students with a final thought:

"I am not superior to the people on my show—and you are not superior to the people you will represent," Springer said. "That is not an insult. It is merely an understanding derived from a life spent on the front lines of human interaction.”

By some accounts, he won the audience over.

And this week, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey will give the commencement address at Boston College in spite of law professors’ request to Mukasey that he bow out.

The number of law students and professors not getting what they expected got us thinking …

Who would be the ultimate law school graduation speaker? And what would you expect his or her message to be?

Answer in the comments below.

Read last week’s question and answers about readers' ideal career paths outside the law.

Our favorite answer from last week:

Posted by Diana: “Until Feb. 5, I practiced full time. On Feb. 6 this year I closed the deal on a yarn, knitting and fibers store. After practicing uncivil litigation for almost 20 years, I was fed up with the state of the profession, the lack of civility among attorneys and the power trip that many judges are on.

"I now control my schedule. If I need to bring the kids to the shop, I do. And there is no such thing as a life-threatening knitting emergency. I have never been happier. While I will keep my license active, I doubt I will ever practice law again.

"I’m not making nearly as much money, but I sleep well at night and am very, very happy."

Comments

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Posted by msg - 1 month, 1 week, 5 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes ago

Antoni Scalia or Mark Levin
Posted by msg - 1 month, 1 week, 5 days, 19 hours, 45 minutes ago

or Rush Limbaugh
Posted by 3L - 1 month, 1 week, 5 days, 17 hours, 11 minutes ago

Ex Atty Gen. Gonzales ... I’d expect him to talk about working under circumstances as were his in the Justice Dept and the ability to maintain professional integrity and judgment in light of what the “higher ups” require of the position.
Posted by Singapore Lawyer - 1 month, 1 week, 5 days, 1 hour, 31 minutes ago

The dean of the Chengdu University Law School in China - to tell US law graduates how lucky they are that they will earn in their first year at work, more than the top lawyers in Chengdu will earn in a few lifetimes. And to remind US lawyers to be that while they look forward to building on their dreams, the people of Chengdu in China can only look forward to the day when they can finally dare to dream.
Posted by Phil Halley - 1 month, 1 week, 5 days, 1 hour, 31 minutes ago

Were I graduating today (I’m not; for me it was many years ago, and I cannot remember who spoke at graduation, so he/she made a non-lasting impresson), I would want David Sedaris. No, he is not a lawyer, but so what. There will be plenty of opporutnities for graduatesto hear lawyers and judges drone on. What they need after three long years of law school, to be followed by many years without semester breaks, is some seriously good humor, and Sedaris would provide that.
Posted by Steve Perkins - 1 month, 1 week, 5 days, 12 minutes ago

Sadly enough, I would have to say anyone who has no substantial relation to the political or even legal arena at all. When Clarence Thomas was asked to speak at the University of Georgia graduation this year, a contraversy erupted over the “outrageousness” of the decision (Thomas is even a Georgia native, by the way). Unfortunately, the academic world has a hard time seperating “notable” from “in-line with favored political or ideological dogma”.
Posted by Kent Kluver - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 23 hours, 18 minutes ago

Garrison Keillor, who actually was our graduation speaker in 1981. His talk was thoughtful, funny, and short.
Posted by WebberDC - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 23 hours, 7 minutes ago

Jan Crawford Greenburg.

She know the law and the Court better than anyone, and she is Divalicious! Mrs. Greenburg will definately keep everyone awake.
Posted by Linus Chen - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 23 hours, 6 minutes ago

CJ John Marshall (there was no limit that the speaker be alive). Maybe his speech would describe how he would pull a “Marbury” in Bush v. Gore.
Posted by Nicole C - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 23 hours, 3 minutes ago

Clarence Thomas
Posted by Matthew E. Munson - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 23 hours, 2 minutes ago

The plaintiff from Hawkins v. McGee (Hairy Hands). To put a face to what is perhaps the most famous contracts case would be more interesting than listening to some yahoo who practiced law for five years before becoming a politician. My second choice would be Mrs. Palsgraf.
Posted by Umich Grad - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 23 hours ago

When i graduated from Umich (undergrad) David E. Davis spoke. I had never heard of him (he’s an automotive journalist) and fully expected that the eviscerating articles written about the choice of speakers and published in the student paper would be right on. On the contrary, his is the only speech I have ever heard that I can recall.

He was genuinely funny and invited us to, if we didn’t care for his speech, to go down the road the following week to hear Condoleezza Rice (speaking at Mich. St. that year) who would be “knocking them dead,” or to head over to Ave Maria Law School, where Clarence Thomas would have them “rolling in the aisles.”

After explaining how he was nearly killed in an racing accident which required countless surgeries and something like two years of recovery, he said this:

“I suddenly understood with great clarity that nothing in life—except death itself—was ever going to kill me. No meeting could ever go that badly. No client would ever be that angry. No business error would ever bring me as close to the brink as I had already been.”

He’s not an attorney, but he had something to stay.

(recount of speech: http://www.ur.umich.edu/0304/May10_04/26.shtml)
Posted by Christopher G. Daniels - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 22 hours, 56 minutes ago

Two speakers I would pay $100,000 and sit through countless lectures on less inspiring topics…

Captain Jerry Lininger (He was on Mir when it tried to fall out of orbit)

Frank Abagnale (Played by Leo DiCaprio in the major motion picture “Catch Me if You Can")

I’ve heard both on two occasions and they consistently left me feeling awed by the human experience. Neither are particularly political, but both have powerful, funny, and downright entertaining messages.

I agree with Steve. It’s an election year. I get it. Set politics aside for a while and think outside team colors for once. There are smart and entertaining people on both sides of the aisle, and on no particular side for that matter.

Also, I have to believe Mahatma Gandhi would have been interesting in his day. Salt tax protests and hunger strikes are timeless…
Posted by Jade - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 22 hours, 36 minutes ago

Dave Chappelle.

Lol.
Posted by Chris Dalton - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes ago

Bill Clinton - Now, granted, he’s riding the lecture circuit pretty hard, and has been a controversial figure. Yeah, he’s a lawyer, he was a state Attorney General, and a former President. But what really sets him apart - and could make for a good lecture on constitutional law - is his nearly-unique status as one of only 2 US Presidents to face an impeachment trial, and is still around to talk about it.
Posted by Jennifer - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 21 hours, 6 minutes ago

Dr. Sarah Weddington, who at 26 years of age, argued Roe v.Wade before the Supreme Court.
Posted by Professor N. I. Fenzitter - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 21 hours, 3 minutes ago

Hank Azaria. He could deliver a substantive observation of today’s society, the decline of Western civilization and the role that lawyers can play in stemming the tide in all of his characters’ voices from The Simpsons.
Posted by Andy the Lawyer - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes ago

Nick Cave—speaking or singing. His bleak, unvarnished and unsentimental view of human existence and relationships would be a cold but clear-eyed and realistic preview of the graduates’ next 40 years in the profession.
Posted by Idealist - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes ago

Gerry Spence - if you want any kind of cut to the chase meaning. Woodstock for lawyers is happening this week in Detroit, where he’ll be doing possibly the last closing arguments of his career - possibly.
Posted by Dean Poirier - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes ago

I believe that Eric Levinson, who graciously left his seat on the North Carolina Court of Appeals to help shape the Judicial System in Iraq, is the sort of self-sacrificing individual graduating law students need to hear from.
Posted by R - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes ago

Barack Obama would give a terrific and inspirational speech.
Posted by Arthur R. Miller - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes ago

He’s so good looking. And I love Weinstein Korn and Miller. Great reading.
Posted by L - 1 month, 1 week, 4 days, 17 hours, 27 minutes ago

Stephen Colbert. He’s not a lawyer, but I’m sure that he would be more insightful (in his own way) than most speakers.
Posted by Edward C Weber - 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 20 hours, 48 minutes ago

The most relevant lawyer today is Barry Sheck he points out the blatant corruption in law enforcement that the public doesn’t want to hear and refused to accept.
Posted by Marcy Adcock - 1 month, 1 week, 22 hours, 13 minutes ago

Albert Gore Jr., Former Vice President of the United States--his message could relate to any number of subjects.....both of his parents were lawyers, he left the second year of law school to run for congress and he could give great advice to new lawyers
Posted by G - 1 month, 1 week, 9 hours, 37 minutes ago

For pure entertainment value and perhaps an incisive insight, I’d go for Stephen Colbert, Seth MacFarlane, Judge Alex Kozinski, or Sean Carter (either the lawyer humorist or the rapper, or both).

For pure inspirational value, I’d go for Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Jerry Springer’s speech wasn’t bad either.
Posted by Barbara Res - 1 month, 4 days, 22 hours, 21 minutes ago

A week ago, I suggested Hillary Clinton.
Somehow, I guess I did not make the cut, eh?
Well, a week later, more than ever, she is the most inspiring person one could encounter.Having attended two college graduations last week, I know that Hillary would not waste students time with stupid jokes or telling them how great she is, Hillary would put the important stuff in
what we need for America to stay America in the future and how students can do that
being a lawyer now is more important than ever and the right speaker at the graduation can be a wonderful influence
BR
Posted by Laz - 1 month, 4 days, 8 hours, 25 minutes ago

Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz. Forget legal credentials, Supreme Court experience, humor, inspiration, etc. What law school grads need more than anything else-- and what most had sorely lacked during their previous three years (at least)-- is PERSPECTIVE.

And few people can deliver that message like Coach Holtz can.

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