Information for Graduates

The Law School’s Diploma Ceremony starts at 12:00 p.m. with the processional, so you need to arrive at the Law School classroom building, by 11:15 a.m. on the date of the ceremony. Your family will be able to start sitting for the ceremony at that time too. We’ll have a live quartet to entertain them while they wait.

Not really, although your class officers will meet with the graduation staff to make sure we’re all on the same page. In brief, the ceremony proceeds as follows:

You will process in single file, then fill in the rows. You will sit alphabetically by degree program — JSD, JSM, LLM (CGP), LLM, (ELP), LLM (IELBP), LLM (LST), JD. The class marshals and staff will direct you to stand at the appropriate time. Advanced Degree students will proceed to the stage by program but JDs will proceed to the stage only one row at a time.

When you get on stage, you will hand Associate Dean John Dalton a name card. Dean Dalton will read your name as you cross the stage to where Dean Brest will hand you your diploma cover (diplomas are mailed after degrees are conferred). You’ll have multiple photos taken by GradImages. At the end of the ceremony, you will be directed out after the faculty processes out. As you leave the seating area, please walk all the way to the law school building. Otherwise, things tend to clog up.

Be sure to open up the package containing your regalia and at least let your gown hang for awhile (or even iron it) because it will be a mass of wrinkles if you don’t. Also be sure that you have a gown, a hood, a cap, and a tassel. JDs and JSDs have gold tassels. LLMs and JSMs have black tassels. The hoods are different colors as well. JDs have purple velvet and red satin, LLMs and JSMs have light blue velvet and red satin, while the JSDs have royal blue and red satin. JDs and JSDs have tam caps, and LLMs and JSMs have mortarboard caps.

We will have bobby pins, safety pins, mirrors, sunscreen, etc. at tables on the second floor on Saturday morning. We will also have people to help you with your hood.

By 11:30, we will have split up JDs and advanced degree students into separate rooms. There will be name cards set out for you in alphabetical order. Please take a seat where your card is located. We want to make the ceremony goes well, so it is important that we know who is attending and who is not; the cards at the seats will help that. When you leave the room, bring your name card with you; you will hand it to the reader when you get on stage. You will process out from the classroom building to Canfield Courtyard for the ceremony. The procession starts with the faculty, then advanced degree graduates, then JDs.

The ceremony usually lasts about an hour and a half and no more than two hours. The reception will last another hour and a half or until the food and champagne run out.

It is likely to be warm, so wool is a bad idea, as is wearing a suit jacket under your gown. You can wear anything from nice clothes to t-shirt and shorts and flip flops under your gown. Dress to stay cool.

Yes, you must bring your Stanford ID. Also, you cannot participate if you are not in a cap and gown. At each graduate’s seat, we will place a program and a bottle of water. Your guests can pick up programs and bottled water as they enter.

Leave your personal belongings (e.g. purse) with a family member or in your locker, or don’t bring anything. We don’t advise leaving any belongings in the robing rooms as we cannot guarantee their security.

Business or business casual or summer garden party – so dresses or slacks for women and suits or sport coat and slacks for men are the norm.

Parking Structure #6 (the garage under Wilbur Field).

Yes. Golf carts will be available near Parking Structure #6, at the corner of Bowdoin Lane and Arguello Way, to shuttle guests with mobility concerns to the ceremony. Please let Holly (hparrish@law.stanford.edu) know if anyone in your family will need wheelchair accessible seating. In order to accommodate guests using wheelchairs, or those with other disability-related needs, we request only one companion per seat.

We will have assistive listening devices available at the program table if you or a guest need one.

For other accessibility concerns (sign language or captioning services, alternative materials requests, etc.), please submit a request at least 2 weeks in advance through the commencement webpage: https://commencement.stanford.edu/accessibility

We will have covering for the stage and all the seats that the graduates will be sitting in. The covering will extend and will cover most guests but not everyone. We will try to situate as many of the other seats under the trees and umbrellas as we can; but, unfortunately, some seats will still be in the sun. If the shade is not sufficient for your family member, the upper breezeway will be open. So, people who are feeling too hot are welcome to go to either place to get out of the sun for awhile. The ceremony is amplified, so they should be able to hear.

Also, we will have plenty of water both for you and your guests. There will be a bottle of water under each seat for graduating students, and water stations for guests.

Stanford University’s Commencement ceremony is typically in Stanford Stadium (on the corner of El Camino and Galvez). More information is available here: https://commencement.stanford.edu/.

Keep your regalia from Saturday and show up at Masters Grove on Sunday morning. Look for the Law School flag. More information can be found at the Commencement website.

It is a true Stanford experience. As your friends who were undergrads here can tell you, the undergrads will entertain you with their “Wacky Walk.” The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB) plays at the end. Plus, this is when your degree actually gets conferred. Dean Brest will be on stage to ask that all of the candidates for JD, JSM, JSD, LLM stand when it comes time to confer law degrees. It would be embarrassing if no one were there. You get an interesting speaker. You get some time in the sunshine, and you get one last official chance to be a Stanford student because after that, you are alumni.

Communications feels that, in the land of iPhone apps, tech start-ups and social networks, it only seems natural that you should end your time here at SLS by posting to your socials. So, whether you use the platform formerly known as Twitter or Instagram, you and your family can use the hashtag #SLSgrad throughout graduation day and share your thoughts and pictures with the SLS community. The ceremony will also be livestreamed for guests who cannot attend. A link on our main graduation webpage will be activated a day or so before the ceremony.

Your family can remain comfortably in their seats. Staff from Grad Images will take individual photographs of you as you receive your diploma. If you provide your contact information on the back of your name card, they will send you proofs and ordering information. After the ceremony, you will be able to go on-line, view your photograph and place your order.

Possibly. SLA typically sells apparel during the reception, but we have yet to confirm. Bring cash or check.

Go to the Recent Graduate Resources page for a checklist of things you should do as a new graduate. We encourage you to take advantage of these and many other opportunities to stay in touch with each other and with Stanford Law School after graduation. At the very least, sign up for your alumni email account since your student one will expire later this year.

In early December, in the Moot Court room at Stanford Law School, we will host a state and federal Swearing-In Ceremony for all of you who pass the July California Bar exam. Please watch for your invitation to the ceremony in the fall. We hope to see you and your family and friends for this special event.