Dear Friends,

On Saturday, May 23rd, we held our 115th Commencement Ceremony, celebrating 225 graduates who have been shaped by Santa Clara Law’s mission to pursue justice and lead with a commitment to excellence, ethics, and the common good. 

Our 2026 Commencement Speaker was the Honorable Judge Risë Pichon (’73, J.D. ’76, Hon. ’20), who served as a revered judge on the Superior Court and Municipal Court of Santa Clara County for 35 years. An award winning public servant and highly acclaimed dispute resolution expert, Judge Pichon has devoted countless hours of service to our university community, as a member of the Board of Trustees, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Regents, a member of the Presidential Blue-Ribbon Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, a member of our Law School’s Advisory Board, and as the Law School’s Distinguished Jurist in Residence.  

In her remarks, Judge Pichon drew from her personal experience to empower our graduates, challenging them to trust in their purpose, talents, and the knowledge they have acquired—and not to fall prey to the limitations imposed upon them by others. She reminded us all that we each have an individual “walkway" in life that is uniquely ours. Her beautiful words of wisdom will continue to inspire our graduates as they move forward on their own walkways toward careers of prominence and purpose. 

Leading up to our commencement ceremony, our law school came together in a series of celebrations honoring our graduates and their supportive loved ones. We celebrated our wonderful first generation students and their families at their graduation gathering; we honored our international program graduates at our Center for Global Law and Policy luncheon; we lifted up our faculty, graduates, continuing students, and alumni for their work to promote access to justice at our Center for Social Justice and Public Service’s graduation celebration, specially honoring Professor Lynette Parker, who received the Nancy Wright Social Justice Award, and the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, who received the Social Justice Community Champion Award; we gathered to recognize our graduates who excelled in the fields of intellectual property and tech law at our Datta Center for High Tech Law’s rousing graduation celebration; we honored sixteen exemplary student leaders who have made remarkable contributions to our law school through their scholarship, academic achievement, and service to both their peers and the wider community; we gathered with our graduates and their guests in the Mission Church for our annual Law Commencement Liturgy at which Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J. delivered a moving homily, stirring us to find joy in the work of using our legal training to pursue justice and serve others, rooted in our enduring Jesuit values and ethic of loving kindness, and we rejoiced at the Latinx Law Student Association’s graduation festivities. 

Although each one of our graduates has traveled their law school journey on a wonderfully unique walkway, they all have in common the experience of a transformative Santa Clara Law education. Therefore, as Pope Leo XIV envisions in his Encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas, On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” they all have learned, in a loving law school community knit together by “trustworthy relationships” to: “connect information with deeper knowledge”; to “maintain a sense of purpose” through ”rhythms that incorporate silence, in-depth study, reading and judicious analysis”; to “engage positively with new technologies,... to use them responsibly, critically and creatively”; and “to seek and love the truth, to reflect on the meaning of life and to recognize the dignity of every person.” Magnifica Humanitas, The Central Role of Schools, Paragraphs 143-147.  

All of our graduates have developed these life long habits of mind and heart with the wrap-around support of our faculty, staff-educators, administrators, and alumni, who have made possible their profound professional formation. And so many of those same staff-educators, faculty, administrators, and alumni joined with our continuing students and volunteers to make possible all of our many, wonderful graduation celebrations. Thank you to each one of you! 

I especially want to express our collective thanks to our amazing Dean of Students, Nicole Maxwell and her terrific team, who devoted tremendous time, talent, and tenderness to ensure that all of our graduation events were just right! 

Congratulations to our extraordinary graduates on their momentous achievements and thanks to all of you for being a vital part of the fabric of our beloved community.

With warm regards and tremendous gratitude,  

 

Michael J. Kaufman
Dean and Professor of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law