Law School Holds 27th Annual Diploma and Hooding Ceremony
The Law School held its 27th Annual Diploma and Hooding Ceremony at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on Saturday, June 7, welcoming 300 graduates to the ranks of its alumni. A total of 215 JD students, 82 LLM students, and 3 JSD students were awarded degrees, at the event, which followed the University of Chicago Convocation.
Dean Thomas J. Miles, the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics, who concludes his ten-year tenure as dean on June 30, delivered the introductory remarks. The other speakers were Ajit V. Pai, ’97, president and CEO of CTIA, partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, and the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); and Alison L. LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law and an associate member of the Department of History.
“More than the content of the law itself, you learned how to think about legal questions, even the thorniest [ones],” Miles told the graduates. “Still, more than that, you developed habits of mind. You acquired a particular intellectual disposition … of questioning and discussion. You developed the courage to think independently, to reach conclusions that are different from others. This disciplined way of thinking is characteristically Chicago, and now you, too, possess Chicago’s penchant for rigor of thought and a joy in examining ideas.”
The Law School honored Pai with its 2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award, recognizing a career that has spanned private practice, business leadership, and public service—including roles in all three branches of government and as head of an independent federal agency.
In his remarks, Pai spoke about “disruptive innovation”—a principle drawn from the world of technology that he applied to personal growth.
“Don’t be afraid to disrupt yourself,” he told graduates. “I’ve lived this principle. In fact, change has been the only constant in my career. … Do not let others’ expectations about what you should be doing with this degree, or your own perception of others’ expectations, obscure the path to your own personal happiness.”
Pai also offered a reminder about integrity in the profession.
“Doing what is right may come at a cost. Your client may not like it. Your co-workers may criticize you. … I hope that in those moments, you do what you think is right—even when, especially when, it’s hard. [In doing this], you will retain possession of the only asset that really matters, when you think about it: your integrity.”
Miles then introduced LaCroix, a legal historian and acclaimed teacher, noting that students often describe her as a “Con law icon.” In her address, she shared a story from the spring of 1861, when West Point cadets petitioned to graduate “now”—emphatically underlined—so they could join the Union Army in the wake of the Civil War’s outbreak.
“So, what does this brief excursion into 1861 have to do with us, here, in 2025?” LaCroix asked.
A law school, she explained, serves not only an academic function but also a public one: to educate the people who will wield—and restrain—the power of government.
Four members of the faculty hooded the graduates: Aziz Huq, the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law; Genevieve Lakier, Professor of Law and the Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar; Tom Ginsburg, the Leo Spitz Distinguished Service Professor of International Law and Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar; and LaCroix.
Read the Speeches From the 2025 Ceremony
Ajit V. Pai, ’97: “Don’t be Afraid to Disrupt Yourself”
Alison L. LaCroix: “The Classes of 1861 and 2025”