Left: Dean Martha Minow addressed the graduating class on May 26. Right: 2011 Class Marshals, [L-R] Sameer Birring, Sakisha Jackson, Megan Jeans and Paul Ray, led the class to Harvard Yard.
Class Day Speaker and award-winning actor Alec Baldwin (left) told the Class of 2011 that if he could do it all over again, he would choose differently. “I would trade places with you,” he said. “There is truly no limit to what each of you can do in order to change the quality of people’s lives.”
The inaugural William J. Stuntz Memorial Award for Justice, Human Dignity and Compassion, created in honor of the late Professor William J. Stuntz, was awarded to Sarah Min ’11 (left) for her compassionate work throughout the world. The graduating class chose Professor Jon Hanson (far right) as this year’s recipient of the Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence.
Harvard Law School graduation festivities began on Class Day, Wednesday, May 25, and continued through Commencement on Thursday, May 26. This year, the law school conferred a total of 790 degrees—585 J.D.s, 195 LL.M.s and 10 S.J.D.s. The Class of 2011 surpassed the HLS record for pro bono hours, performing a total of 366,204 hours, an average of 628 hours per J.D. student. Elizabeth “Libby” Benton ’11 received the 2011 Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Service Award, after performing more than 2,300 hours of free legal services while at HLS.