Class Day 2021

As this academic year comes to a close, graduating J.D.s and LL.M.s reflect on their law school experience and share their hopes for the future.

Paul Garvin was recognized by the Class of 2021 for her warmth, encouragement, and going “above and beyond to make Harvard Law School feel more like home.”

Nikolas Bowie ’14, the winner of the Sacks-Freund teaching award, imparts lessons he learned from another great teacher — his mother.

In her Class Day speech, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren congratulated graduating students and implored them to use their power to work for change because ‘the world needs you.’

Harvard Law students — 91 percent the Class of 2021 participated in at least one law school clinic — provide hundreds of thousands of hours of free legal services to clients across the country and the world each year. This year was no exception.

Brooke Davies ’21 and Daniel Oyolu ’21 have been awarded the 2021 Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award.

A selection of Harvard Law students from the Class of 2021 will be recognized for their contributions during the virtual Class Day ceremony on May 26.

Navy veteran Sean Quirk found a home for his interest in U.S.-China relations as a student at HLS — while one of its clinics supported his wife Sue's immigration process.

Linda Heeyoung Park ’21 and Benjamin Antillon Fernandez ’21 are joint recipients of the 2021 David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award.

The winner of Harvard Law School's inaugural Gants Access to Justice Award is Dennis Ojogho ’21.

As Chinelo Krystal Okonkwo ’21 knows, there’s the family you’re born into and the family you forge; she credits both with helping her navigate Harvard Law.

Health law has become especially timely in this year of COVID-19 vaccines and revitalized Obamacare. But for graduating student Phebe Hong ’21, it’s a passion that began in high school.

Growing up with a father in the Air Force, Mark Gillespie ’21 moved around a lot as a child. But far from this being a negative, Gillespie says it gave him the sense that life’s possibilities were endless.

For Iqra Saleem Khan LL.M. ’21, the journey to Harvard Law School has been filled with significant obstacles. But overcoming tough challenges is second nature for Khan, a resilience for which she credits her fiercest champion: her mother.

Zachary Weinstein ’21 didn’t always want to be a lawyer. In fact, for most of his life, he was more likely to be found in front of a camera than in front of a judge.

If all the world’s a stage, Frankie Troncoso ’21 has an outsized role to play.

The Last Lecture Series at Harvard Law School, sponsored annually by the 3L and LL.M. class marshals, is an HLS tradition in which selected faculty members impart insight, advice, and final words of wisdom to the graduating class.

Like artists, lawyers must interpret and decipher the world around them, said Andrew Manuel Crespo ’08, Professor of Law, during his Last Lecture for graduating Harvard Law School students.