To the Class of 2020:

Congratulations on your graduation and all that you have accomplished during your time at law school. I have got to know and work with many of you in classes such as international law, international human rights, transnational law and lawyering, and our new comparative constitutional democracy colloquium and environmental justice LTP. I have worked with several of you on the Maryland Journal of International Law, our Jessup International Law Moot team, and International Law Society. In that time, our world has changed in many remarkable and unforeseen ways. You are graduating at a time of unprecedented challenges for the worlds of legal practice and protection of basic human rights. In all that lies ahead, I wish you luck and all good things. In so doing, I am reminded of a wonderful and moving graduation speech delivered by the current Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, to the students of Cardigan Mountain School in New Hampshire. To my amazement, Chief Justice Roberts ends his remarks by reciting in full the lyrics of a song written almost fifty years ago by one of my (and apparently his) favorite American songwriters and poets, Bob Dylan. So as the winds of changes do indeed shift around us, I too wish each of you stay forever young.

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young

Peter G. Danchin
Professor of Law
Director, International and Comparative Law Program