LANSING, Mich. – Graduates of Cooley Law School’s Lansing campus were honored during a commencement ceremony at the MSU Wharton Center Pasant Theatre in East Lansing on Dec. 12.
Forty-eight juris doctor degrees were presented to members of Cooley Law School’s William Henry Moody Class and Mahlon Pitney Class.
Chosen by his peers, Hussein Sobh gave the class farewell remarks. Cooley alumnus and professor, and partner at the civil justice law firm, Goethel and Engelhart PLLC, Chad Englehardt delivered the keynote speech.
“These years have stretched us, exhausted us, and revealed our strengths. Together, we learn more than the law. Together, we learn service, and we show up for one another,” Sobh said during the ceremony. “Together we learn justice because we fought to understand it. And together we learn community because this place and these people became ours.”
In his keynote address, Englehardt spoke about his experience as both a professor and student at Cooley Law School, as well as the future of the legal profession.
“You’ve learned to exercise what professional judgement means,” he said to the graduating class. “You’ve discovered that the law is not just a framework, it holds the basis of fairness, dignity, and the tool of accountability, and the world that you’re entering right now needs you. It needs your intelligence, it needs your conscious, and it needs your willingness, bravery, and courage to stand up for what’s right.
“Never forget that the facts aren’t the facts in a casebook,” Englehardt continued. “The facts live in human experience. And you will be in a position to help shape that – to be ministers of justice.”
Each Cooley Law School class is named for a distinguished member of the legal profession. The commencement ceremony for Cooley’s winter graduating classes honored U.S. Supreme Court Justice Mahlon R. Pitney and Justice William H. Moody.
Justice Moody graduated from Harvard University with honors in 1876. His formal legal education consisted of only one term of lectures at Harvard Law School. After passing the bar exam, he opened his own law office in Haverhill, Mass. In 1890, Moody was elected as district attorney for the eastern district of Massachusetts. Five years later, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and served four terms. During this period, Moody met and befriended future president Theodore Roosevelt. Shortly after Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1901, he appointed Moody as secretary of the Navy. When Attorney General Philander Knox resigned in 1904, Roosevelt asked Moody to replace him, becoming a key player in the antitrust campaigns of early 1900s. He personally argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In June 1906, Roosevelt appointed Moody to the U.S. Supreme Court. During his four years on the bench, Justice Moody wrote 67 opinions, including five dissents.
Justice Pitney graduated from College of New Jersey (now named Princeton) in 1879. He then proceeded to study law with his father, a well-known attorney and judge. In 1882, he passed the New Jersey Bar and practiced law for 12 years. In 1894, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. After two terms, Pitney returned to New Jersey and was elected as a New Jersey state senator and quickly became the New Jersey senate president. Pitney had planned to run for governor, but was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court. After seven years, Pitney was appointed to the position of chancellor, the then-highest position in New Jersey’s court system. He remained in this position until 1912 when President William Taft nominated Pitney for the U.S. Supreme Court. During his 10 years on the Supreme Court, Pitney consistently supported worker rights, such as workers’ compensation, and minimum wage laws.
Graduates of Cooley Law School’s Lansing campus were honored during a commencement ceremony at the MSU Wharton Center Pasant Theatre in East Lansing on Dec. 12.
Cooley Law School alumnus and professor Chad Englehardt delivers the keynote speech during the law school’s commencement ceremony for its Lansing campus at the MSU Wharton Center Pasant Theatre in East Lansing on Dec. 12.
Cooley Law School President and Dean James McGrath welcomes attendees during the law school’s commencement ceremony for its Lansing campus at the MSU Wharton Center Pasant Theatre in East Lansing on Dec. 12.
Chosen by his peers, Hussein Sobh gives the class farewell remarks during Cooley Law School’s commencement ceremony for its Lansing campus at the MSU Wharton Center Pasant Theatre in East Lansing on Dec. 12.