Spartan Lawyer Summer 2019

Congratulations to the Class of 2019

The Michigan State University College of Law community came together on May 10 to confer degrees upon our newest Spartan lawyers – the Class of 2019. We celebrated with their parents, partners, children, faculty, and friends, recognizing three years of hard work and resilience, and commemorating their entry into the MSU Law alumni community.

The Honorable David W. McKeague delivered the keynote address. Judge McKeague’s distinguished career has taken him to the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit where he has been a judge for 13 years. He also teaches as an adjunct professor in the Geoffrey N. Fieger Trial Practice Institute, and has served on MSU Law’s Board of Trustees for 13 years.

Inspired by his passion for distance running, Judge McKeague encouraged MSU Law graduates to approach their careers as they would training for and running a marathon: “It can be difficult, but the rewards are great, and your success is your own.” He impressed upon graduates the importance of integrity, collegiality, and building experience through a lifelong pursuit of the law.

Donald Nystrom, ’00, chair of MSU Law’s Board of Trustees, welcomed the graduates into the ranks of MSU Law alumni (which also includes his father and his uncle).

Ronald Deneweth, ’77, was awarded the Honorable George N. Bashara, Jr. Class of ’61 Distinguished Alumni Award for his leadership in the legal profession and his embodiment of the ideals of the Law College.

You need to know when to encourage your clients to litigate harder and when to tell them that it’s time to settle. You need to know how to tell them that they have a losing case or when a winning case might not be worth the collateral damage of litigation. When acting as a counselor, there is no substitute for experience. And the only way you will obtain the requisite experience is to immerse yourself in the profession for the next five, ten, fifteen years, and beyond.

Today you become part of the rich legacy and tradition dating back to 1891 that makes MSU Law so unique. And after today, as you disperse around the state and across the country, wherever you go, for the rest of your lives, as MSU Law alumni you will remain members of a single family – a community of kindred spirits. And those of us who you leave behind will continue to work very hard to make all of you as proud of us in the future as we are of you today.

Congratulations to the