In August, the Jacksonville University College of Law welcomed our second 1L class, as I proudly refer to as our class of “26 Mega Picks.”
In our convocation ceremony at the Duval County Courthouse, I was able to address them just before they started their law school studies.
You’ll likely be seeing them at JBA events and around town, and I hope you’re able to get to know each one of our phenomenal Class of 2026.
Here is a snippet of the words I shared with them:
There are 26 letters in the alphabet. Every one of the 26 characters in our new class is an Alpha Bet.
Never let anyone get away with saying we waste any time getting our students into courtrooms. In fact, our law students may tell people they began their legal education in a courtroom. Some of you were even in this gorgeous courtroom last night witnessing a 4th Circuit double milestone:
It was the first time Chief Judge Lance Day presided over a 4th Circuit ceremony as its leader, and the occasion of the dedication of the portrait of Judge Karen Cole, a distinguished and beloved jurist who we are proud to note is a much-honored Jacksonville University alumnae.
We can think of no better role model for them to follow.
Today we formally introduce Jacksonville University’s 26 Mega Picks. They are 13 women and 13 men who have earned a place against stiff competition to join the Jacksonville University Law Class of ’26.
We are immensely proud that these fine people have chosen to study law with us. Almost 60% of the small number of applicants who were admitted said yes.
As we are getting to know them, I believe that among the big reasons they chose us is because they want to use law to make a difference, and because they are excited about the opportunity to help build a successful new law school.
They have more than a little dash of entrepreneurial and pioneering spirit in them.
What you 26 new students will be learning and experiencing together during the long days and short three years of the formal part of your lifelong legal education matters.
That is because universities and especially law schools are the field hospitals of wounded democracies and injured, suffering people. They are workshops for tuning and supercharging engines of economic opportunity and growth, to overcome disparity, want, and poverty.
And they are the studios and creative centers for designing how, because of our differences, we can live better together than apart, peacefully and justly, while protecting the well-being of all people and the natural world we share.
A lawyer’s job is much more than being popular, and much more than winning or losing.
Beyond doing well, you are expected to do good. Good, socially responsible and engaged lawyers are needed as much as ever in history.
New generations of new lawyers can use the power of law to good effect in the harsh, disruptive, existential struggles playing out every day before our eyes and ears.
Four decades, and a lot more than seven pounds ago, I rowed for my Oxford College team. For me, the toughest part of rowing was not the hard work of training, which was tough, or the burning muscles and lungs as the finish line approached.
No, it was the anxious moment, the athlete’s Garden of Gethsemane moment of frightful anticipation, just before the crack of the starter’s gun.
So, we understand and want you to know that it is to be expected, and even healthy and normal, to be both exhilarated and a little nervous just before classes start. Soon you will be blessedly busy with your studies and have less time to worry.
We also understand that adding to the weight of your thoughts, because you are all highly intelligent, perceptive, responsible people, it is natural for you to be aware and concerned about all the tumult and uncertainty in our daily lives and the world around us.
Trust me, have faith, we get it.
For example, growing up (in medieval times) my wife Marla and I also were students in a difficult period of U.S. history. We lived through the heartbreaking assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., unrest and violence over the pursuit of civil rights, fighting racial and gender discrimination, and the gut-wrenching Vietnam War.
We lived through energy and financial crises, the birth of modern terrorism, hijackings and hostage takings.
And somehow, we survived fashion fads like fishnet stockings, platform shoes, Nehru jackets, peace medallions and big hair…and that was just the guys.
So please, remember this:
The path to your J.D., for each of you 26 Alpha Bets, is like a 26-mile marathon, not a sprint.
To successfully complete the academic program, you do not have to be, and should not be, all consumed by work. Treat your studies like a job. Take care of yourself and your family and neighbors, have fun, fall and be in love, exercise, rest and repeat as needed.
You do not have to go it alone. Your law teachers and your able, talented, caring law school and university administrators will support you and help you along the way.
As will the Jacksonville bench and Bar, as you just heard from the chief judge and the spokesperson for the Jacksonville Bar Association.
Do not take for granted, and make sure to express thanks for, the support you will get along the way from your family and friends.
If I have not yet convinced you that success is your only option, if you apply yourself and life does not throw you a curve ball, as it sometimes does, here is what I tell myself when I am about to do something new and unimaginable, daunting new things like leaving home or the United States for the first time, getting married, having children, buying a house, giving a good short speech… you know, doing the impossible.
I just make myself think about how many other people have somehow managed to do the same thing.
One more thing to reflect on if you feel stressed, tired, stumped or begin to wonder whether the effort to earn your J.D. is worthwhile: Just think about all the people outside these walls who admire and respect what you are doing and wish they could be in your shoes. They envy the opportunity you have.
You hear people say: “America does not make anything anymore.”
Well, we still make the best lawyers in the world. That is our ambition, nothing less. We aim to help you wonderful 26 aspiring lawyers become the very best in our honorable profession.
Make us as proud of you tomorrow, and every tomorrow, as we are today.