“You Belong Here” – At 2024 Convocation, New Students Take Oaths of Professionalism and Receive Warm Welcome

At 2024 Convocation, New Students Take Oaths of Professionalism and Receive Warm Welcome

The Brooklyn Law School journey has begun for more than 400 new students who received a hearty welcome and words of wisdom from the school’s leadership, faculty, and alumni at a Convocation ceremony at the U.S. District Courthouse for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) on Aug. 19.

The incoming class for the fall semester includes 391 J.D. students, with 353 in the three-year program and 38 in the four-year program, as well as eight transfer students to the second-year (2L) class, and 10 LL.M. students. The first speaker to welcome them was Professor Yuvraj Joshi, who joked that as a second-year professor at Brooklyn Law, he felt like a “2L” himself and his nerves were a bit jangled when the dean asked him to give a speech offering advice to incoming law students.

“Then I remembered a crucial lesson: I don’t have to do this alone. BLS is a community, and we can lean on one another as we face new challenges,” Joshi said. In that spirit, he went on to share advice gleaned from his faculty colleagues and former students.

“The most important thing to remember is this: You belong here,” Joshi said. “I say this as a queer immigrant of color, who grew up without parents, and had to work to support his studies. Not only did I face many obstacles on my path to law school, but once I got there, I didn’t immediately excel. It took me a minute to figure out what these law people wanted from me. And even after that, I still felt like an outsider in a profession dominated by people whose life experiences were vastly different from mine. And so, I understand how easy it is to question your place in law school and the legal world. But in those times of doubt, I want you to remember this: each of you has earned your place in this class. Your presence here is not an accident or a mistake. You absolutely belong here.”

President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer told students that they will be part of an institution that is nearly 125 years old, and “has been a beacon of excellence and an engine of social mobility and transformation for generations of our graduates and their families,” and one with a long history of inclusiveness.

“You will be taught by faculty who are at the forefront of their fields as scholars,” Meyer added. “Just this morning, I'm very proud to say that a significant national ranking of scholarly impact among all U.S. law schools ranked our faculty 29th in the nation. But those same faculty, besides their prowess and scholarship and the impact they have through their research, are equally passionate as teachers and mentors and are available to you, both inside and outside the classroom.”

He will be just as available to students, now and in the future, Meyer added. “You are always welcome to reach out to me if I can help you in your studies or your careers and in the years ahead,” he said.

Vice Dean and Centennial Professor of Law Miriam Baer congratulated the incoming class, noting that the first-year J.D. class alone includes students whose birthplaces span 5 continents and 23 countries, while 20 percent are first-generation Americans. As a class, they speak 24 languages and dialects other than English, including Azerbaijani, Burmese, Haitian Creole, Farsi, Kiswahili, and Shanghainese. Prior to the start of law school, 52 students were already Brooklynites, and 25 students boast family members among the school's more than 23,000 alumni.

Students join from a range of professions, including a former pastry chef at a Michelin-star restaurant, an acclaimed music producer, an administrative coordinator for the heart transplant program at NYU Langone Health, a firefighter, a special education teacher, and two U.S. military veterans from the Coast Guard and Navy. Others pursued intellectual endeavors including fellowships in places such as Geneva and Rwanda, and research into areas such as the CIA’s declassified files on its assassination program and how facial composites shape jury decision-making. “You are among an accomplished, diverse, and inspiring group of students, and we have no doubt that you're going to enhance our profession and legal community with your dedication, your passion, and your mission,” Baer said.

Two alumni shared stories of their law school journeys and professional experiences, including Hon. Ramon Reyes Jr. ’92, U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of New York and a Brooklyn Law School Board of Trustees member. Reyes administered an oath of professionalism, which students rose to their feet to recite in unison. Also speaking was Erica Carter ’15, a senior counsel of legal and business affairs at Epic Games and a member of the Brooklyn Law School Alumni Board.

Reyes, who said he has been part of the “Brooklyn Law School family” for many years, added that it is “a family that has played a such an important role in my life and my professional career.” He pointed to other alumni, and his colleagues whose portraits hung on the walls of the courthouse, including the Hon. David G. Trager, a former dean of the Law School from whom Reyes secured his first clerkship at the EDNY from 1994 to 1995.

“My clerkship with Judge Trager literally changed my path of my professional career. I had interviewed my third year at Brooklyn Law School with 15 federal judges and did not get a courtship. And I was a pretty decent student at Brooklyn Law School, and I was devastated,” said Reyes, who was appointed to his current role as a federal district court judge by President Joe Biden and confirmed last year.

“You are preceded by a host of dedicated and notable alumni, faculty, and administrators who care deeply about the success of Brooklyn Law School and its students,” Reyes said.

Carter advised students to work hard, but also to have fun and thrive on all the experiences at Brooklyn Law, where she found a community of students who supported and cared about one another.

“Everyone sitting next to you feels like a stranger, feels like a peer, but they're going to be the people who show up for you in the good and bad moments now and in the future, you're going to wind up being colleagues, friends, coworkers,” Carter said. While working in-house at Sesame Workshop, Carter brought in two Brooklyn Law School student interns who became “the greatest lawyers I’ve ever experienced because they came from Brooklyn Law School, and now they're stuck with me. Not only did they intern with me at Sesame, but they also now work with me at Epic, and everyone calls us Sesame seeds.”

School will be challenging, but there is room for everyone, she said. “Yes, you should study and try to make good grades. But the reality is, we're not all going to be at the top of our class. I wasn't,” Carter said. “If you don't reach the pinnacle or the top, you're going to figure out other ways to go about this journey.”

For Carter that meant forgoing the usual path to a law firm, and instead taking a position as in-house counsel. While many alumni do go into Big Law, many others go into public service, become judges, or even do something outside the law. “The great thing about this field is there are countless possibilities,” Carter said.

To see photos from Convocation 2024, click here.