Class of 2012 Grads Sworn in as California Lawyers

With hundreds of family, friends, faculty, and staff looking on, the graduates took the state court oath administered by California Court of Appeal Associate Justice Martin Jenkins ’80, and the U.S. district court oath administered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Elena James ’78. 

Dean Jeffrey Brand said the evening was among the most important of the law school’s centennial year.

“This is a very special swearing in ceremony, coinciding as it does with the law school’s centennial celebration,” Brand said. “Indeed, this event, more than any other, is a sacred moment in which everyone reflects on the importance of all the good that the legal profession can bring to the world and our solemn responsibility to abide by that mandate. At other events this year, we remember, we celebrate and we toast.   Tonight we promise. We promise to be ethical, to be vigorous in the pursuit of justice and to serve others in a society that cannot function fairly and equitably without the rule of law. Tonight we do not blow out candles on a cake. Tonight we promise to fan the flames of justice.”