Record-Setting Reunion Highlights the Enduring Bonds of Law School
When Christopher L. May, ’01, talks about his Law School classmates, people are sometimes astonished to hear how much he knows about them 15 years later.
Colleagues are often “really surprised when I say I’m coming back for Reunion, and I can (list) off all of these people, and I’ve talked to them recently,” May said. “I know what’s going on in their lives, and with their families. I don’t think you get that at other places. The smallness of (the Law School) makes it so you really do develop relationships with pretty much everybody.”
This year’s Law School Reunion, which drew an unprecedented 1,075 alumni, faculty, students, and other guests, underscored the value of these enduring bonds. Over and over, alumni described the ways in which their classmates had influenced, inspired, and supported them, and many singled out these relationships as a cherished signature of their Law School experience.
“We came from a lot of different backgrounds, and we were all thrown into the deep end of the pool here,” said May, an intellectual property litigator in Washington, DC. “Gradually, we helped each other learn to swim. Some of us learned faster than others, but nobody really got left behind. And we’ve all really stayed close together, even through the years — and it’s been 15 years since we graduated.”
Eleven classes celebrated reunions this year, including the Class of 1955, which gathered for a rare 60th reunion. Nearly 45 percent of reunion-year alumni made a gift to the school, and the Class of 1975 raised the most money, with a class gift of more than $700,000. This year’s reunion events set a few other records, too:
- Ninety-seven LLM alumni and their guests attended the Friday evening dinner, a record for the program, which caters to international students;
- Nearly three-quarters of 1965 graduates contributed to their class gift, setting a new participation record;
- There was unprecedented student involvement, with 110 students attending events such as the Black Law Students Association Alumni Recognition Dinner; the OutLaw 30th Anniversary Luncheon, and the Law Journals Reception.
“The enthusiasm and engagement we saw among our alumni at Reunion speaks volumes about their dedication to the Law School, which we know is driven by the experiences they had during their time as students,” said Senior Director of Alumni Relations Alison Coppelman. “We are so grateful for their support, and so pleased to know how much the Law School, and their fellow classmates, mean to them.”
Some alumni said they recognized the warmth and supportiveness the first time they visited the Law School.
“I remember coming for Admitted Students Weekend and just feeling the collegiality among the students and with the professors,” said Andrew Abrams, ’00, an attorney in Chicago. It was still the case when he arrived as a student. “There was a spirit of, ‘We’re all in this together. I remember the feeling of going to lunch in the Green Lounge, and you always had someone to sit with. There was a feeling among our class – there was such a range of people, and you could find a connection with anybody.”
That diversity was a special part of the Law School experience, several alumni said, noting that opposing viewpoints and varying perspectives were embraced. After all, distinct perspectives made for stimulating and intriguing debates.
"I really appreciated exposure to my classmates' diverse backgrounds and points of view," said Kate Roin, '10. "Although we are now scattered across the country, the relationships I built while a student continue to influence my professional and personal life and, thanks to social media, I can easily keep up with the varying careers my classmates pursued. It was great to see everyone in person at Reunion and hear more about everyone's updates, and it was amazing how quickly the sense of community and camaraderie we felt in the Green Lounge permeated the restaurant where we held our class dinner."
Many remembered being inspired by the excellence that surrounded them. Vanessa Countryman, ’05, Chief Counsel of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, remembers a classmate challenging the professor in “a really interesting way.” The student’s comment opened up a fascinating exchange about constitutional interpretation.
Charles Senatore, ’80, an executive vice president for Fidelity Investments in Boston, remembers feeling that it was an “incredible privilege” to learn from both the faculty and his fellow students.
“I still marvel at how much I learned from them,” he said. “And the faculty speaks for itself. Walking down the hall here and seeing the portraits of people that taught me and the impact that they made — it was really a humbling experience to be among people of that caliber.”
Stanley Pierre-Louis, ’95, an attorney with Viacom in New York, said he realized as a law student that “a lot of the learning actually happens outside of class by engaging in the Green Lounge, in the dorm rooms, at the gym.”
Now, he bumps into University of Chicago classmates “in every walk of what I do. It is always a reminder of where we’ve come from, but also a reminder of how much we’re achieving,” he said. “Currently, in the Obama administration several classmates are doing quite well, whether at the Justice Department or the White House or the Department of Transportation – people are giving back in so many ways.”
For many, the collegiality was strengthened by the support they received from their classmates as they navigated the rigorous curriculum together.
A big part of it was “knowing you weren’t in it alone. Knowing that there was a community that had your back,” May said. “Sometimes it did get lonely when you were trying to work through something particularly difficult, or maybe when you were in (On Campus Interviewing) and things weren’t working out for you exactly the way you had hoped. But you knew that eventually, because you had so much support here, you’d get through it.”