It was “no ordinary class,” said Dean James Hackney about the almost 300 students who graduated on Friday, May 12, 2023, in Matthews Arena. The JD class of 2023 began law school at the height of the pandemic, and Hackney told the class, “You were brave. Not only willing, but also embracing a journey that started under a dark cloud. Yet you put on your rose-colored Ray-Bans and moved toward the light. And light you found — in law courses that challenged your assumptions, tested your ideas about right and wrong, and engaged you in thinking about not only how laws are shaped, but also how they can be reshaped when we fight for what is right and fair and just.”

Corey Thomas, CEO and chairman of the board of directors of Rapid7, a leading cybersecurity solutions company, delivered the commencement address. “Today more than ever, we need stewards of connections and menders of institutions. We need those who stretch boundaries, expand relationships, negotiate and reconcile contrasting ideas. We need those who are deeply invested in building our institutional capacity so that it may carry the ideas, programs and policies of others. These are the champions that we need. This is the opportunity we have together,” said Thomas, who serves as chair of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, among other appointments.

>> View photos and watch the commencement ceremony.