When Dean Terence Lau L’98 stepped to the podium at the College’s 131st Convocation ceremony in Hendricks Chapel, he had a case worth making: Syracuse University College of Law had just enrolled the most academically qualified class in the school’s history, chosen from the largest and most competitive applicant pool the College has seen in more than a decade.
It’s a case backed by numbers, reflecting median LSAT and GPA scores that climbed year over year, and an applicant pool that grew by nearly 20 percent. The story of this incoming class, however, is really about who showed up in Dineen Hall: veterans and physicians, paralegals and entrepreneurs, first-generation college graduates and the children of Syracuse Law alumni, all arriving with their own reasons for choosing the law.
“You are welcome here, not despite your differences, but because of them,” Lau told the new arrivals. “The law serves everyone, and those who practice it must reflect the richness of the society it serves.”
That theme carried throughout the week. Nearly 90 percent of incoming J.D. students are the first in their family to attend law school. Dozens are veterans or active-duty service members. Others already hold graduate degrees in medicine, engineering, or business, and are trading one career for another, or, in the case of the hybrid online JDinteractive students, learning to hold both at once.
The convocation address was delivered by the Honorable Rodney Thompson G’93, L’93, presiding judge of the Family Division of the New Jersey Superior Court, who offered new students advice for the years ahead.
“Over the course of your three years here at Syracuse, you will likely experience all the highs and lows of life,” Thompson said. “But when confronted with the challenges inside and outside of school, it will be important for you to remember what brought you to law school in the first place, remembering your why.”
On-Campus J.D. and LL.M. Orientation Programming
For the incoming on-campus J.D. and LL.M. classes, welcome week was less about paperwork and more about preparation. New students worked through sessions on case briefing, a mock class, and outlining, alongside introductions to the law library, career services, and the path to bar licensure. The week also included a welcome reception for veteran and military-connected students, a Student Organization Fair at the JMA Dome, and a resource fair connecting students to campus life beyond Dineen Hall.
JDinteractive Legal Foundations Residency
The incoming JDi class spent the week on campus for its mandatory Legal Foundations residency, one of the in-person components of the program before the cohort begins their coursework from wherever they live and work. This year’s group includes physicians, law enforcement officers, active-duty military, and small business owners. Their diverse professional backgrounds reflect the program’s design to accommodate working professionals seeking legal education.
JDi residency week closed with four alumni panels featuring graduates now practicing across the country, including George McGuire ’91, L’96, chairman of Bond, Schoeneck & King; Erin Markey Clarkson L’94, associate director of legal operations at Carrier Global; and Colleen Gibbons L’17, associate law clerk to the Hon. Danielle M. Fogel L’04 of the New York State Supreme Court, offering a glimpse of where a Syracuse Law degree can lead.
With orientation and residency behind them, the new students now join the broader Syracuse Law community and begin the work that brought them here.
