Mitchell Hamline School of Law Commencement Address – May 31, 2025

Woo. Well. How you feel? You feel good? [Cheers]

I want to point out for a moment – the rowdiest section is right over here [Cheers]. Whomever the graduate is who has family members who literally have your face on t-shirts – y'all are going the extra mile.

Thank you so much, Dean Davidson, Board Chair Buck, board, faculty, and the staff of Mitchell Hamlin.

As a note of personal privilege, my husband used to work at this law school and he often told me about the many unsung and unknown heroes on staff who really made this place work, so thank you.

I'm grateful for all of the people who have helped these candidates before us today. You all are a product of your environment, and as you walk across the stage, you do so with the support, love, and deep sacrifice of those who've helped you to this moment. Today is not just a celebration of what you've achieved but of the people who stood behind you and lifted you up every step of the way.

So I'm guessing that there have been some previous commencement speakers who started with a lawyer joke. Well, I don't have any lawyer jokes today because I can't think of a time when it has been more important that we have lawyers. So let's hear it for lawyers. [Applause]

What I will do is introduce myself to you in my traditional way. [speaks in Ojibwe]. My name is Peggy Flanigan. My Ojibwe name is Speaks in a Loud and Clear Voice Woman. [Applause]

I'm a member of the White Earth Nation and my family is the Wolf Clan.

And as you all earn your law degrees today, I invite you to become honorary members of the Wolf Clan, because the role of our clan is to ensure that we do not leave anyone behind. [Applause]

Because like it or not, no matter what you end up doing with your law degree, your job, your vocation, is to protect people.

So raise your hand or clap if you ever thought about quitting law school at any time. [Applause] I get it and this is hard stuff and it's probably why I never went to law school.

Okay, now raise your hand if you're a sitting elected official who ever thought about quitting. Guess what—this is also hard stuff. But at the end of the day, it is our vocations that lead us through these tough times.

There is no way that this group of people went through what you went through these past few years if you didn't feel a higher purpose, a purpose to serve others, a purpose to advance the common good.

I see a room of people showing up as their full, beautiful, authentic selves who have dedicated themselves to the idea that we are a nation of laws, laws that are more than just words on a page but the foundation for justice and fairness and order in our lives. A room full of people who live under what John Adams described as, quote, “a government of laws, not of men,” unquote. [Applause]

And you do this even though those laws for many of you and for most of our country's history have failed to recognize your humanity. Why would you do that? I'm Native American. Why would I do that? I think it's because the cornerstone of any belief in us being a nation of laws and not men is that we all get the same fair shot, especially when it comes to the law. At least that is the goal.

You are a group of people driven by an ideal of a nation that can be as well as your desire to know the law so you can use it to protect people and to change it to protect even more people.

I know that we can feel powerless. Believe me, I know. But we are never powerless when it comes to when we choose to speak up, to stand up, and to use the law as a force for good. As a lawyer, you are now entrusted with both professional privilege and the moral duty to speak up and uphold the rule of law, not just for yourself but for the people who are now looking to you in these incredibly tough and uncertain times.

Some of you will work in big firms, some in the public or nonprofit sector. Some of you won't take the bar but you will use your new knowledge to be better at the job that you have now.

The people graduating today do not share all the same politics or vote the same way, but there's no way that you went through what you just went through these past few years if you didn't believe in the fundamental concepts like due process and the rule of law. [Applause]

These, my friends, are basic, fundamental principles that our nation was founded on and generations of lawyers just like you fought hard to protect. You won’t have to put yourself through the rigors of becoming a lawyer if you didn't believe in the rule of law and you didn't believe that it was worth fighting for.

That's why for me it's been really hard to see those ideals chipped away. Supreme Court decisions simply being ignored. People, including U.S. citizens, being disappeared without any due process, thanks in part to Congress passing a law that opened that door. Treaty rights and obligations being ignored. Leaders enriching themselves right before our eyes in clear disregard of the emoluments clause of our Constitution. Congressionally approved appropriations being cancelled illegally but in many ways that organizations can't fight because they don't have the resources for litigation.

Regardless of your personal political opinion, I know that law school has equipped you to understand, to understand why this is actually about fairness. So as graduates, one question you now face in the legal realm is, are we or are we not a nation that believes that every single person in our country should have a fair shot at defending themselves if they are accused of something? [Applause]

It is your job to answer that and to defend it.

So let me conclude by saying with all of my heart and with all of my spirit—thank you. Thank you for being wherever you are in your legal career in these most uncertain of times. Thank you for raising your hand and dedicating yourself to a noble profession with great responsibility that carries the weight of justice, the trust of the public, and the voice of the voiceless.

At the end of the day, a lawyer is someone you seek in your most dire hour of need. The main thing that people need from you is answers, and right now you might not have many answers. Neither do I, but there's one thing that we can all do. It's to make sure that no one is left behind.

So, welcome to the Wolf Clan.

How do we make sure that no one is left behind? By using our loud and clear voices. And loud doesn't just mean speaking at a higher volume. It means saying and doing things that often have the most impact and offers the best chance for people. Some of the loudest people say the quietest things.

If I were to ask you what your next step is, many of you would say the bar exam, and I wish you well. But I would argue that your next step is actually to find your voice. With your law degree, decide who you will use your loud and clear voice for.

All I ask, all I ask of you is this: keep doing the next good thing.

And as you keep doing the next good thing, never forget what or who brings you hope. Because there's no way that any of you got here today without leaning on a lot of people. And that's why you all give me hope.

I know what it's like to feel like you need to give up, to quit, and I think a lot of you do, too, but you're here and you did this thing, y'all. [Applause] After all of these classes, you are all a lot better at answering questions with the frustrating response of, “It depends.” But whether to keep going or to keep being a voice for the voiceless, “it depends” is not a viable option.

And so I'll end my remarks with a modification of one of those lawyer jokes. What do you call a few hundred law students lining up to get their law degrees? A pretty good start. [Applause]

Mitchell Hamline is the largest law school in the state by enrollment, and I would argue that this school and this class looks like Minnesota, looks like this country, looks like this world. And it gives me tremendous, tremendous joy to see all of you and to know that you are going to go out there and you are going to fight the good fight. [Applause]

And so while Mitchell Hamline has these great numbers and great students, it has you, and with you, I like these odds. Congratulations, Class of 2025. You did it. Thank you so much. [Applause]

Mitchell Hamline School of Law. “Mitchell Hamline School of Law - 2025 Commencement Livestream.” YouTube video, 2:23:28. May 31, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5uFLASrYQU