“Your formal education may end today, but you are not done learning,” urged Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, L’79, H’24, in his address to Georgetown Law’s class of 2024. More than 1,100 spring graduates — including 641 J.D. candidates as well as 516 master of laws and 8 doctor of juridical science candidates — gathered on Georgetown University’s historic Hilltop campus to celebrate commencement on Sunday, May 19.
Some 1,200 Georgetown Law students celebrated commencement on Sunday, May 19, joining the community of more than 51,000 Law Center alumni around the world. Below, nine J.D. and LL.M. graduates reflect on their time on campus and share their future plans — which span environmental law, electoral politics, public service and more.
Identical triplets Nicholas, Zachary and Benjamin Osborne, G'20, L'24, remember how they felt when they first found out they had been admitted to Georgetown Law. "When we got the acceptance letter, it was saying welcome home," Nicholas says. Having moved to Washington, D.C. to earn master's degrees in economics from Georgetown in 2020 and enjoyed their first round as Hoyas, the 29-year-old North Carolina natives say that getting into the Law Center was the sign they needed that the nation’s capital had become home.
Former United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch called upon students, alumni and faculty to remember the power of the law to protect people and secure justice at The Georgetown Law Journal’s 11th annual alumni banquet on April 24. Living up to the ideals of justice, she said, “is our highest and best purpose as lawyers — and in my view, as citizens.”
Having beat out some 70 competitors, four finalists faced a panel of real-life judges and practitioners as they made their arguments in the last round of the 73rd annual Robert J. Beaudry Moot Court Competition on April 3. The competition is held each spring and offers first-year students the chance to practice their written and oral advocacy skills — with top performers earning an invitation to join the Appellate Advocacy Division of Georgetown Law’s Barristers’ Council.
The 37th annual Home Court charity basketball game, held March 28 at the Gonzaga College High School gym, was a fast-paced match between students, faculty and staff from Georgetown Law (the Hoya Lawyas) and from the George Washington University Law School…
For most law students, a chance to see a Supreme Court argument live and in person is thrilling. But the chance to see two professors from your own school argue opposing sides of a case is an even rarer treat.
“We have people who have traveled with the president on Air Force One, people who have been in the intelligence community – there's just a million different people who have had serious careers, and now they're in class with you.”- Maurice Roberson, L’25
"The sentence is not grossly disproportionate to the crime committed." That was the argument guiding Camryn Simmons, L'26, as she approached the bench for a mock terrorist extradition hearing in which she represented the United States before the European Court of Human Rights. Simmons was arguing in favor of the extradition of a suspected terrorist facing the possibility of a life sentence without parole — an argument complicated not only by the intricacies of international human rights law, but also by the fact that the hypothetical suspect was 19 years old and pregnant.
As 2023 draws to a close, we're looking back at the past year at Georgetown Law, from headline-grabbing guest speakers to innovative student and faculty achievements. Join us in reflecting on this year's memorable moments below.
