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Congratulations GW Law Class of 2025! As you prepare to cross the stage, we are excited to celebrate your hard work, dedication, and achievements — this is just the beginning of your journey.

GW Commencement on the National Mall is Sunday, May 18 at 10:30 am.

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Sterling Professor of International Law and Former Dean, Yale Law School

Professor Koh is a leading expert in public and private international law, national security law, and human rights. For his human rights work, Professor Koh has received 18 honorary degrees and more than 30 awards, including awards from Columbia and Duke Law Schools and the American Bar Association International Law Section for his lifetime achievements in international law.

More Information on Professor Koh

I am overjoyed to celebrate this momentous day with you. I know that you and your loved ones have looked forward to this day for a long time. Yours is a very special class to me. Throughout our years together, I’ve personally witnessed your passionate commitment to making an impact for good through the law that you have studied at GW Law. Now, more than ever, the world needs lawyers who are dedicated to advancing the rule of law, protecting democracy, and creating a more just society. There is no right way to stand for these bedrock principles. You will each find your voice and choose the way you can bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice.  I am confident that you will do just that.

As a group, you are academically gifted, passionate, articulate, and service oriented. It has been my great privilege to serve as your Dean. You are leaving here as professionals with the power to protect the principles of equality, liberty, and freedom, and we look to you to help build a better world for us all. Now it’s time for you to craft your own pathway to practice—the options are limitless. The world’s most pressing challenges require the problem-solving skills with which your study of the law has equipped you. I charge you, by paraphrasing John Wesley, to use those skills to do all the good in the world that you can, at all the times that you can, to all the people that you can, for as long as ever you can.

Today, you join GW Law’s worldwide alumni community of 33,000 graduates, with whom you now share a transformative experience. You will find among the GW Law alumni network a vast number of preeminent leaders in all sectors of the economy and society—across the United States and around the globe. I encourage you to take advantage of this unique and powerful gift of belonging and make your fellow alumni a part of your journey for the rest of your professional lives.

Please keep in touch and come back and visit us often. We cannot wait to see your future achievements. Congratulations again on reaching this significant milestone and my very best wishes to each of you for good health, great happiness, and many successes.

Sincerely, 

Dayna Bowen Matthew
Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law

As your time at GW Law concludes, your legacy is just beginning. Let's leave an imprint not just in memories but in tangible support for those who follow behind. Contribute and let the Class of 2025 forever resonate in the halls of GW Law.

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