Military Students at William & Mary Law School Celebrated at Farewell Reception
On Wednesday, April 24, William & Mary Law School’s Office of Military Veteran Affairs held its annual farewell reception and cording ceremony for graduating veterans and military students.
“We gather to recognize and honor those of you who are about to depart the law school after enduring two more sets of exams, one at the law school and the more fun one at the bar exam,” said Michael Dick, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), Visiting Professor of the Practice, Director of Military and Veteran Affairs, Assistant Director, Center for International Law and Policy, and Co-Director of the Puller Clinic. “And we want to wish you, in the Naval tradition, fair winds and following seas.”
Present to officially award the cords and present challenge coins was Dean A. Benjamin Spencer, himself a Major in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve.
“This is a really important highlight of the year for me; as you know, I strongly support having military members of the service branches and veterans come to our law school,” Spencer said.
Spencer said that William & Mary wants to be the go-to law school for veterans and for those who continue to serve, particularly for FLEPs who will transition into the JAG Corps for their respective service branches. FLEP is the Funded Legal Education Program, which allows service members to continue active duty as lawyers in their respective branches after graduating from law school.
“We have also created the Office of Military and Veteran Affairs, which is led by Professor Mike Dick,” Spencer said. “That office is an important part of welcoming military veterans here to ensure that there is a cohort and a community of support.”
Graduating students who received their cords during the ceremony represented the US Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard. They included Charlene Alexander, Rebecca Brock, Dana Call, Shaun Grant, Treyvon Jordan, Katy Malloy, Robert Woehrle, and Trevor York.
“These students are committed to a higher purpose, a higher calling, serving something greater than themselves, which is what our law school aspires to,” Spencer said. “And that is what each of them has demonstrated when they raise their right hand and decide that they are going to sacrifice and serve the nation.”
For more information, please visit the Law School’s Office of Military and Veteran Affairs webpage.