Summer 2003 – Issue 66 - Stanford Lawyer - Stanford University

28 GRADUATIO" 1 2003SUMMER2003WHAT HAPPENED ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, TO THE ROLE OF THE LAWVER IN OUR DEMOCRACV?In this year's graduation address, Law Professor George Fisher [above) consideredthat question, and recalled how on that u·agic day he sat with one eye on his televisionand the other on his computer screen, ttying to prepare for an evidence lectureand wondering whether he could persuade his students that "evidence lawremained somehow relevant" as "the world came undone."The next day, as Fisher and his students struggled to push aside the shock andfocus on their class, he felt a nagging fear that a fundamental change had occurred."I worried that lawyers and law could never again claim their central role in guidingand shaping culture," he said.Almost two years after that class, many of those same students were in the audjenceon May 18 in Memorial Auditorium, wearing black gowns and mortarboardsand ready to enter the legal profession. vVhoops and screams came from the crowdof 1,600, when graduates from the Class of 2003 crossed the stage one by one toshake Dean Kathleen M. Sullivan's hand. Among those participating in the ceremonywere 188 candidates for the degree of Doctor of]urisprudence aD); 18 forthe degree of LLM, with 9 focusing in the area of Corporate Governance &Practice and 9 in Law, Science & Technology; 14 for the degree of Master of theScience of Law aSM); and 5 for the degree of Doctor of the Science of Law aSD).For many, it was a moment to celebrate the end of three intense years-champagne,focaccia sandwiches, and strawberries and cre~lm were served in the courtyardbeneath Hoover Tower. But the joy did not overshadow the seriousness of the