But dont forget that the other hand should be used to reach down and to lift others up. Next year, five years, ten years from now, hundreds of graduates will sit in those very seats and its my wish for you that you take all of the skills you have acquired and remember that they will be better and more enriched if you reach down and lifted them up like you were lifted up by your mentors and your teachers. Las positas college, john f. Kennedy said and it was his birthday this week, that the american by nature is optimistic. Experimental, and a builder. Who builds best when called to build greatly. Today, you were called. You were called to solve some of the greatest problems of our time. Remember how you got there, how you walked across that narrow bridge. Answer the call and reach down and pass your knowledge on to others. Thank you so much. Congratulations, las positas. [applause] Preet Bharara is the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. He recently addressed the graduate in law, last law class of uc berkeley. He encourage them to embrace the notion of one person can make a difference. He is known for his prosecution of whitecollar crime on wall street and elected officials in public corruptions cases. In 2012, he was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. [applause] Justice Bharara dean childry, distinguished faculty, proud parents, family, friends, and graduates, congratulations to the class of 2015. You have so much to be proud of and so much to be grateful for. Congratulations to all of you. [applause] Justice Bharara i want to congratulate the Student Speakers and also professor brought who i will tell you on the record stole a lot of my material. [laughter] Justice Bharara i was totally going to make the joke. Thanks. I learned i always learn something when i come to law school, even when im not an attendee of the law school. I graduated from Columbia Law School 22 years ago, and it was news to me that in all that time, it turns out there is still a legal writing requirement. [laughter] Justice Bharara i thought we had gotten rid of that. I was a little bit nervous, i will tell you, when i came here to speak this morning. I have given commencement addresses before, but never in california, never in northern california, and i had some butterflies. I was worried, would you understand my new york accent, i dont know if its going all right so far. So i arrived, and this is different for me. Usually im in a different kind of venue, not in an unbelievable greek theater. Then i heard the steel drum band, and that calmed me down completely. [laughter] Justice Bharara i just want to make one basic point this morning. And it echoes what has been said already. Its this. You are joining a profession much maligned and often misunderstood, that presents virtually Infinite Possibilities, Infinite Possibilities to grow, to learn, to achieve. But not only that. The law also presents Infinite Possibilities to do good, to help other people, to serve. There are so many ways as a lawyer, not just to make a living, but to make a difference. On a day like this, the air is inevitably thick with expectations. Expectations of what kind of mark you graduates will make on the world, but if were being honest, there is also inevitably some trepidation also. And not just when you think about how youre going to pay back your student loans. You may be asking yourself, did i make the right choice . Is this the right career . What if im not good in the courtroom . What if i dont like billing in sixminute increments . These are all natural worries. So let me start by offering a mildly radical suggestion. Promise yourself today that if you are not happy in your first law job, after giving it a genuine chance with genuine effort and a genuinely open mind, move on. Quit. And do that for every job you ever hold. If you dont like your job, because of the people or the politics or the hours or the work, you can leave. You have worked too hard and invested too much to accept a long sentence in a job that you hate. I have seen in my years in practice too many people unhappy in a law job because they stayed too long, because they let inertia overwhelm their free will. Now, im generally not an advocate for being a quitter but i am an advocate for being happy in your job. I believe you should grow and mature and learn and derive joy, actual joy, from your work as a lawyer. And one reason i can so blithely suggest you quit if you dont like your job is because i think a jd confers more mobility than just about any professional degree you can get. If it turns out you dont like the first congressional path you wander down, you can double back and take the path less traveled by. If you go to a law firm and dont like it, you can go inhouse. If you dont like private practice, you could do public service. I would encourage that. If you dont like transactional work, you can jump to litigation and vice versa. You should do what makes you happy. You should do what brings you joy. In fact, heres a news flash. Ultimately, you dont even have to practice law at all. If you dont like it. I know at this point, there are some parents saying what the hell is preet talking about . [laughter] Justice Bharara does he know that this is a Law School Graduation . Maybe the steel drum band had an effect on him. We just paid 160,000 for this education. What do you mean, dont practice law . Now, before you start throwing things at me, i should let you know this happened in my own family, not with me. My parents went through it with my brother vinny. Yes, somehow i have an italian brother. [laughter] Justice Bharara diverse family. So my brother was a trained lawyer, but after time, he was bitten by the business bug. He felt a pull towards becoming an entrepreneur, so he left the law. His first dotcom business didnt do so well, but he recovered. In 2005, he started another ecommerce venture with his best friend from high school, this time, selling of all things, diapers. So basically, my brother remember, this is a proud Indian American family, my brother went from being a scholar at Columbia Law School to selling diapers on the internet under the slogan, and this is true were number one in number two. [laughter] [applause] Justice Bharara i have the tshirt. Its true. [laughter] Justice Bharara you laugh. My brother laughed, too. Especially on the day that he sold his Diaper Company to amazon for 540 million. [applause] [laughter] [applause] Justice Bharara yes, my brother is now what plaintiffs lawyers call a deep pocket. [laughter] Justice Bharara my brother, by the way, is a fairly competitive guy, vinny. This is also his way of saying hey, bro, i see your whole u. S. Attorney thing. And i raise you 540 million. [laughter] Justice Bharara so heres the thing. This is also true. My brother would be the first to tell you that he owes a large part of his success to his Legal Training and his time in law practice. He doesnt regret that at all. It sharpened his mind, taught him rigor and enforced his work ethic. You can do anything you want with your law degree. You can be a grade school teacher, a Community Organizer a ceo, a venture capitalist, a tv producer, a sitcom writer, a novelist, and some of those may sound far fetched, but i have Law School Graduate friends who have done each of those things and even in this group, who left which left the profession all together, each credit law school and lawyering with a good chunk of their success. But not withstanding all the choices you will have, i federal do fervently hope you will keep faith with the law, that you will keep on a legal path, and why do i say that . Because there are so many people yet to serve. There are so many causes yet to champion. There is so much justice yet to achieve. Who better to achieve it than you . And why do i say that . Because the power of your degree gives you a degree of power that few possess, fewer know how to use, and still fewer know how to put to good purpose. You will have opportunities to improve your community and country that others can only dream of. And that is something to behold. Especially at this moment of just starting out, at this moment of commencement. So heres an observation since im in northern california. With Silicon Valley just a stones throw away, this university is one of the top feeders to that tech and startup mecca. Im told by the dean up to 25 of you may go work and counsel the great bay area entrepreneurs of our time, following in the footsteps of one of your alums larry. It does occur to me that each of you is in some ways like an individual mini startup. You have yet to turn a penny of profit. [laughter] Justice Bharara but you really really swear you will have income soon. [laughter] Justice Bharara you dont even have a business license yet, but you claim to have a plan. You havent provided any substantial good or service, but you are said to have much promise. And like any startup worth its salt, youre celebrating with an over the top public launch. [laughter] Justice Bharara in this case, a gigantic outdoor greek theater. But perhaps most importantly you are surrounded by deeply supportive investors who believe in you and will trumpet to everyone they know that you will succeed. [applause] Justice Bharara if i could pause on the silly analogy just for another second. There are reasons for americas enchantment with the tech and startup culture, and it does not, i think, have to do only with the gargantuan profit potential, though there is much of that. Ceg, vinny. [laughter] Justice Bharara i think it has to do also with the spirit of unbridled optimism and daring, the spirit of energy and passion. It has to do, i think, also with the faith and possibility and attraction to the pioneering spirit. Never mind most new ventures fail. Each Silicon ValleySuccess Story can be seen as another example of the enduring notion of the American Dream. And that is something very special. But often i wish we had more of that optimistic and visionary spirit in our own Legal Community and in our own legal and government institutions. Because the law needs risk takers, too. The law needs entrepreneurs, too. The law needs dreamers, too. And no matter what you decide to do in the law, i hope you find a way to inject some of that spirit, because an idealistic lawyer can not only achieve the American Dream but open up that dream to other people also, to the disenfranchised, to the downtrodden, to the discriminated against. Its certainly impressive when someone figures out how to deliver advanced technology to your wrist, but what about when someone figures out how to deliver justice to your life . A driverless car . Well, that seems downright magical, but dont ever underestimate the promise of your own profession, the noble profession you embark upon today, because the law practiced law, if practiced with hope and idealism, can lift people up, too. It can inspire wonder, too. The law, if wielded well, can work a type of magic, too. You think the iphone is elegant . You think a tesla is beautiful . What about the truth inherent in the argument that separate but equal is inherently unequal . [applause] Justice Bharara what about the argument that seeks to give every american the right to marry anyone he or she loves. [applause] Justice Bharara what is more elegant and beautiful than that . Your Commencement Speakers last year were david buoys and ted olson. They and so many others that have brought equality have done so much for the modern era than any other tech pioneer spawned by Silicon Valley. [applause] [laughter] [applause] Justice Bharara and so the law has always had pioneers, too. But we need more. More pioneers for justice, pioneers for equality, pioneers for fairness, and i hope you find ways to add yourselves to their ranks. And to do that, you must, from time to time, take heed of some of those watch words of Silicon Valley. Embrace risk, think different, think big. And there is no one in a better position than you to make a difference. There is no one better situated to preserve liberty, promote equality, and prevent cruelty than the person who is genuinely dedicated to becoming both a master and a servant of the law. And sometimes all it takes is one person. I believe that to be true. One person, one lawyer armed with courage and a welldrafted complaint can bring a misbehaving industry to its knees. One lawyer, armed with a searching mind and an obsession for truth, can right a wrong. One lawyer, armed with an idea and a vision for justice, can plant the seeds for a longlasting movement for reform. And one lawyer, motivated by conscience, guided by principle, and empowered by training, can set an example for a generation of future lawyers. The thing to remember always is this the law can have great force, but it needs help from human lawyers who are willing to help. The law is not selfactualizing. Google may be developing a driverless car, but there will never be and can never be a lawyerless legal system. And that is as it should be. You know, a Business Plan is in the execution. A joke is in the telling. A sheet of music is in the playing. And so it is with a system of laws. Now, there is probably some cynics somewhere who may think that when i suggested a moment ago that even one person can make a difference, thats just overblown rhetoric. Thats just commencement cliche. I assure you it is not. Its the truth and it happens all the time in ways big and small, and so i want to end with a short story, and its a true story. Its about a woman named Kathy Watkins. Kathy watkins was arrested on february 16, 1995 for the murder of a livery cab driver in the bronx, new york. She was convicted by the local District Attorneys Office along with several others. She got 25 years to life. But heres the thing. Kathy watkins hadnt committed the crime. Kathy watkins was innocent. She had always proclaimed her innocence, but no one had ever believed her. No one believed her, that is until in 2012 an investigator in my office, former nypd Police Officer john omalley, happened to come across evidence that cast doubt on her conviction. He was one person, and what a difference he made. There is no radio serial or hbo special about john omalley and about that case, but he quickly took on the task of reinvestigating the murder. He didnt have to. It wasnt his case. And he had a thousand things on his plate already. But he studied the facts, he read the trial transcript, and he interviewed new witnesses. And on the strength of that reinvestigation, backed up by prosecutors from my office Kathy Watkins was released from prison in 2012, and her conviction formally vacated by a judge. 17 years later 17 years later she was finally free. And so one person can make a difference, but there is even another lesson to this story. The power of hope and possibility. You see, cap the watkins, even though she did not belong there Kathy Watkins had chosen to rise rather than rot in prison. She is taking classes and inmate Marymount Manhattan College but could double out only take a few per semester so it took her 11 years to get a bachelors degree in sociology. She got it. She was named the class figure at the ripe age of 41. In a thousand nine before all of these events transpired, she attended her own Graduation Ceremony behind prison walls addressing fellow graduate who all more prisons are under their grounds under their grounds. Would you believe it if i told you this wrongly convicted woman, this wrongly imprisoned woman after 14 years of seeing every plea of innocence fall on deaf ears, after fully three years before she had any hope of release that she delivered that they a message of optimism and possibility and hope you know what she said yes she said even those even though these walls can restrict our physical movements, they cannot restrict our imagination, nor our connection to the outside world. You know what else she said jacob she said one person can make a difference. Left that difference start with you. Three years later a stranger named john omalley proved her right. I say to the class of 2015, dont let anyone ever tell you you can dream, that you cant hope, that you cant change the world. Dont take it for me, take it from Kathy Watkins. One person can make a difference. Left that difference start with you. Thank you and congratulations. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] he was unsuccessful in 2012 but there are differences this time around, and those those differences go beyond the eyeglasses they gave governor perry his new look. He began his preparations early for this cycle, much earlier than 2012, and has avoided using the word boots that was memorable on the campaign trail.