Admissions Dean Natalie Blazer ’08 Welcomes Class of 2027

NATALIE BLAZER: Good morning, class of 2027. Welcome to your first day at Virginia Law. It is so gratifying to see you all here finally.

You're going to hear this a lot today. But, from the second you walked through those doors this morning, you became a member of the legal profession. You're not a lawyer yet-- we're going to get you there; you have to do the whole law school thing first-- but you did officially join the legal profession. That is an awesome power, an awesome responsibility, an awesome role to play in this world. You should be in awe of yourselves and so proud of the hard work that got you to this moment.

As the Dean of Admissions, I find people want to thank me all the time, like thank me for them getting into UVA Law. What are you thanking me for? Does Simone Biles thank the Olympics official who hands her the gold medal for her getting the gold medal? I mean, Simone Biles seems really nice, so I bet she does thank that person.

[LAUGHTER]

The point is you did all the hard work that got you here. And it's that hard work that's going to keep you succeeding and thriving in law school and beyond. So do not stop now.

So you got yourselves here into Virginia Law. That's not to say I'm not proud to have played a little role in the process. I mean, there are judges in the Olympics who decide if Simone Biles is going to get that medal. So yes, myself, the entire admissions team, everyone here in the building who's been rooting for you during this recruiting process, we've all been behind you from day one. We've been hoping you chose Virginia and we're so proud that you did.

But now you're here. And from here on out, you're on your own.

[LAUGHTER]

All right, OK, just seeing if people are awake. Of course you're not on your own! My gosh, you're never on your own at UVA Law. Look around you. You have a built-in support network of 300 classmates-- 310, to be exact. That doesn't even take into account the 2Ls, the 3Ls, the faculty, the staff, the tens of thousands of alumni around the world who are rooting for you. You are not on your own at UVA Law.

I know that because 19 years ago, I was in the same seat as you, this same auditorium. I remember feeling nervous and intimidated and very doubtful that I had what it takes to succeed at a top law school. But from the moment I met with my small section, Section F, in a little room just like the one you're going to meet with your small section in later today-- actually, after that, I felt even more nervous and intimidated--

[LAUGHTER]

--and doubtful. Because these 30 people who I found out I was going to be graded against in every single one 1L class, they were brilliant. Unlike me, they were 2, 3, 4, 10 years out of college. They had this worldliness and knowledge that I certainly did not as a 22-year-old.

I distinctly remember a guy in my section using a word I literally never heard in my life.

[LAUGHTER]

Like, not a legal term or like industry, just regular word. Everyone else clearly knew what it meant. This is 2005, OK? No iPhone, I can't just be like oh yeah, totally. That night, I looked up the word in the library.

[LAUGHTER]

So before I'm even getting to reading my cases, I'm looking up regular words. So if anyone knows what it feels like to doubt whether you belong, believe me, it's me.

But over those same first few days, something else became very clear. I realized I was not alone. Sure, I may have been alone in the fact that I didn't what "upbraid" meant, but I was not alone at UVA Law. In my classes, physically, of course I wasn't. But I wasn't alone in my uncertainty. I was surrounded and embraced and uplifted by this community, most of whom, come to find out, were feeling the exact same way I was.

And from the moment you walked through those doors this morning, not only did you join the legal profession, you joined the UVA Law community, the one that is going to surround and embrace and lift you up. You are going to study for 1L exams together. You are going to go through journal tryouts together. You are going to play softball against each other--

[LAUGHTER]

--but together. You are going to go through it all-- the good, the bad, the difficult-- together.

You know, I mentioned Simone Biles. I don't about you all, but the best moments of the Olympics this summer were when we saw athletes from all over the world celebrating together; when teammates were supporting one another, rooting for each other's success. Even more so than that, when athletes were embracing and uplifting and celebrating their opponents, being there for each other when people fell or got hurt or lost their event after a whole lifetime of preparing for it.

The Olympics is not all gold medal moments, people. I don't know if you were watching. It is full of tough losses and disappointments and catastrophic failures, kind of like being a lawyer.

Everyone at the Olympics, they're already a superstar wherever they came from, just like you. But they wanted to compete on a bigger stage with the best of the best, just like you. That leveling up, that comes with the risk of no longer being the strongest or the fastest or the smartest person in the room. That is a good thing.

Each of you came from your own little corners of the world, bringing your own experiences, your own viewpoints. And you made the decision-- the very wise decision, I think-- to join a community of people who are just as impressive as you are, maybe even more so, but who are different from you and who are going to make you so much better.

Now, it's easy to be in a community with people you get along with, people you agree with. That's easy, to support people from your own team, so to speak.

But ask yourself this, class of 2027. How are you going to come together when you don't get along; when you don't agree? That's going to be hard.

It's a good thing we do more than just the easy stuff around here. A lot of things in law school are going to be hard. There are going to be times in here when you are stressed out-- we're going to all see it when you're walking down the halls; times when you will disagree with each other-- not about something academic or abstract, but something real that feels core to who you are. And that's true when you aren't starting law school in an election year.

[LAUGHTER]

And I don't just mean the presidential election, OK? I mean like all of it, just everything. It feels like every year, there's no shortage of issues that are just divisive and world conflicts and all of this. So when I say you're starting law school in an election year, that's just shorthand for this kind of general time of stress and disagreement we all live in.

Well, just like in life, in law school, stress and disagreement are kind of a given. As now-members of the legal profession, which you are, I urge you, do not lose your humanity and your decency in those moments. If you can't remain decent when you are stressed and disagreeing with somebody, stressed and disagreeing with the other side, you're not going to make a very good lawyer, I don't think. And I would ask if you know what lawyers do.

[LAUGHTER]

So practice disagreeing while you're in here, respectfully. Practice managing your stress. Stress is OK. Stress is a good thing, I would say. It's kind of telling you what you need to do to succeed, but you do need to manage it.

I've talked about how law school is doing the hard things. But here's a curveball for you, law school is not the hard part. Law school is not the hard part. Law school is like the Olympic Village, OK?

[LAUGHTER]

You all got here, you're hanging out, you're eating your snacks, you're posting on your social media. Practicing law is swimming in a sand river, OK?

[LAUGHTER]

We've got to get you ready for that, OK? Elbows in your face, water up your nose. I mean, the point is, if you think the Village is hard, you're going to sink out there real fast.

So how are you going to prepare yourself for the real hard work, the practice of law? That's what your time here is for. That's what we are here for-- your classes, your faculty, the community all around you. The people here, especially the ones with whom you disagree, stick with those people. They are going to help you become the best lawyer you can be.

I mentioned it's an election year. I've also been talking about the Olympics, obviously. Do you ever wonder why the election and the Olympics are in the same year? Well, I wondered, so I looked it up. It's very surprising. I found the answer on Reddit, by the way, so you know it is the definitive answer.

[LAUGHTER]

The Olympics and the election are in the same year. Why? Because, according to Reddit, it is a coincidence.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, I have decided it's not a coincidence. And, as usually is the case with Reddit, my answer is right and their answer is wrong.

So instead of thinking of 2024 as an election year with all the stuff that can drum up, let's do a little rebrand. You're starting law school in an election year, yes. You're also starting law school in an Olympics year.

I believe they occur so close in time for a reason. We had those games this summer to remind us of how it feels when we're all in something together. Win or lose, your country, my country, at the end of the day, who are we rooting for? The people, the individuals, their stories, their journey, their humanity-- kind of like when I'm reading your admissions files.

We can carry that spirit of togetherness, that supporting of our opponents, that celebrating of our differences, that shared rooting for humanity for each other. Let's carry that through the election season, through world conflicts, through Supreme Court decisions-- they will keep coming-- through every-day disagreements.

I know you all can do this. I know you can. At the beginning of the speech, I compared you to Simone Biles, OK? You can do anything. You all could have gone to any law school you wanted. You could have. Remember? You emailed me a few months ago, you told me all the other law schools you got into.

[LAUGHTER]

I was very impressed, by the way.

[LAUGHTER]

But you didn't go to any of those places. You came here to Virginia because you wanted to be with the best of the best, where you are going to be challenged and where you might fall from time to time, where hard work was a given, where you would not think the same way as everyone around you-- how boring. Nobody learns or grows that way. Nobody becomes a good lawyer that way. Nobody has any fun that way.

Just like all those athletes when they get to the Olympics, you are on the next level now, surrounded by the best of the best, all from your own little corners of the world. It is time for you to rise to this occasion. There are going to be losses and falls and catastrophic failures, but the people around you are going to lift you up. Keep working hard, learn from your differences, and make yourself better in the process. This is your moment, class of 2027, and the whole world is watching.