Convocation Review: University of Arizona Law Class of 2024
University of Arizona Law 2024 graduates gathered at Centennial Hall for convocation on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Dean Marc Miller welcomed graduates from the Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Policy Studies (MPS), Master of Legal Studies (MLS), Graduate Certificates and Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) programs, along with their family and friends in attendance.
Miller began by recognizing the many backgrounds of graduating students and praising their ability to come together over common ground.
“You're not just graduating at any moment, but at a point at which many places and countries and communities and colleges and collectives are grappling with conflict. Free speech, not only in thought, but in action and foundational principles of democracy, equality, autonomy, and indeed of law itself are not just the focus of classroom conversations and scholarly papers but have as at other moments in our history become defining issues that demand to be confronted,” Miller remarked.
“The conflict in the Middle East has sparked significant demonstrations across the country and the world including right here at the University of Arizona and within our college. We hear and respect the many voices speaking – and speaking with conviction – at these times also raise profound questions for you in light of your legal training. Will you embrace your role, whether as counsel, commentator or community member, to help bring reason as we work through these and other of our most difficult issues?”
In closing, Miller encouraged graduates to insist on the search for truth, demand the ends of justice, and stay engaged.
Nicole Ong Coyler (’08), Law College Association (LCA) president, followed by encouraging graduates to be open to opportunities and stay hopeful in adversity. She told graduates to stay connected and to build their reputations with respectful interactions.
Outgoing Student Bar Association President Kyran Brown presented the class gift of new couches in the lobby as well as new study tables and chairs in the library to enhance and modernize the law school experience for future students.
“I remember arriving at the law school and seeing many classmates sitting on the lobby couches waiting for classes to start including evidence. I remember leaving the law school late, even at 2am in the morning, and seeing my classmates still anxiously engaged in their studies,” said Brown “Entering the legal profession can be costly. However, we are about to enter this profession and have the opportunity to leave Arizona Law better than we found it.”
Elected student speakers Shadi Shirazi (LLM), Belen Sanchez (MLS), Dumonde “Slam” Dunkley (JD) and Mia Francesca Burcham (JD) reflected on their time at University of Arizona Law. They shared their experiences while also speaking about resilience, service, community and the challenge of promoting justice.
Dunkley urged classmates to “join the generation of leaders fighting to create a radically different future.” He concluded, “If you have the guts to stand up for something – anything – outside of yourself and continuously ask the basic question of how can I serve, then through trials and tribulations hurled, we’ll be empowered to change the world.”
Regents Professor and Dean Emerita Toni Massaro delivered the keynote address on how to maintain what she called “legal hope.” She told graduates not to give up hope, but also to center hope in the facts. “You have to face the facts, because false hopes are no good,” she said. “So you're going to have to have hope that takes seriously the fact that losing is part of law. It's part of lawyering. And it's part of living.”
She also noted that history can help frame the right questions and approaches, and that hope is a practice that takes a lot of work. By, she said, hope is the right path.
Massaro noted that, “My parents taught me try to keep good company. They said, seek out professional colleagues, mentors, friends and life team members who model the virtues that you want to develop in yourselves.” She called upon students to embrace the common good and build bridges.
“May you be present in what you do,” Massaro concluded. “May you never become lost in bland absences. May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams and possibilities and promises. And may evening find you gracious and fulfilled.”
Massaro is retiring from work as a full-time professor. After her keynote, Miller acknowledged Massaro’s own “graduation” of sorts. “To put it simply,” he noted, “Toni’s impact on Arizona Law is beyond measure.”
Miller also recognized the retirement of Milton O. Riepe Professor of Law Emeritus Thomas Mauet. “In addition to being a nationally renowned expert on trial advocacy and evidence, Tom has been a treasured member of our community for many decades,” Miller said. “It is a mark of his ability and reputation as a teacher that so many students … chose to attend his class at 8 a.m. four days a week, year after year.”