At the GW Law School commencement ceremony in the Smith Center on Sunday, graduates learned they could be anything from attorney general to a lawyer for a major corporation.

Keynote speaker Bobby Burchfield, a 1979 alumnus and partner at the D.C. law firm King and Spalding, listed former GW law students like U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Keenan and Senator Harry Reid as examples of what graduates could accomplish.

1. Lawyers are not lab mice

Burchfield, who has argued at the Supreme Court and served as general counsel on George H.W. Bush’s reelection campaign, shared a popular joke about lawyers being unethical and untrustworthy.

“People love to make fun of lawyers. Did you hear that research laboratories have replaced mice with lawyers? Yes they have,” he said. “The lab workers get too attached to the mice and there’s some things that mice just won’t do.”

Burchfield said that although there are many stereotypes about the profession, lawyers can also be national leaders who use their work to help others. He added that graduates needed to find their “moral compass.”

2. Bringing the ‘royal jelly’

Graduate speaker Helen Clemens reminisced about her law school orientation, where a guest lecturer told students that if they wanted to be successful, they would have to “bring the royal jelly.”

“He never quite explained what he meant by this,” Clemens said. “I think that I might have been the only person in the room that understood the analogy he was trying to make.”

Clemens said that as a beekeeper, she knew that royal jelly is a nourishing food that honeybees produce for their young in order to make them strong.

“I think that what that lecturer was trying to say that day was to always bring the best that you can and to give others the best of yourself,” she said. “Although his meaning may have been a little bit lost that day, and that catchphrase is something we’ve chuckled about since, I’m so grateful I am graduating with a class of students that have most certainly brought the royal jelly.”

3. Honoring a classmate

Law school dean Blake Morant asked the audience to join him in a moment of silence for Mark Lee, a fourth-year law student who died in December.

“He was a great classmate, an extraordinary son and a friend to many,” Morant said.

As Lee’s family joined Morant on stage to accept a Certificate of Commendation on Lee’s behalf, they received a standing ovation from the audience.

4. A memorable connection

Morant closed the ceremony by telling the Class of 2015 he felt a special bond with them because they were graduating during his first year as dean.

“You’re my first class and we will always be connected as a result of that,” he said. “It’s like my children leaving the nest.”

Morant said he was reminded of his own law school commencement, during which one of his fellow graduates’ 100-year-old grandmother played the foghorn.

“While the trumpets will hopefully not sound out quite so loudly today, we joyously and enthusiastically salute this Class of 2015,” he said. “As you go forward, please remember that with the knowledge you have gained of the responsibility to use the law, to help others and build a better world for all.”

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