Former US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Is BU Law’s 2025 Commencement Speaker
The distinguished lawyer and former United States Attorney General will address graduates on May 18, 2025.
Former US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Is BU Law’s 2025 Commencement Speaker
The distinguished lawyer and former United States Attorney General will address graduates on May 18, 2025.
Boston University School of Law is honored to announce that Loretta Elizabeth Lynch, the 83rd Attorney General of the United States, will deliver its 2025 Commencement Address. Ms. Lynch was the first Black woman to serve as the United States Attorney General, the highest-ranking lawyer in the federal government and the head of the Department of Justice. She served in that critical role from 2015 to 2017 after being appointed by President Barack Obama. Prior to her appointment as the Attorney General, Ms. Lynch practiced law for more than a decade in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, working her way up from assistant US Attorney to US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in just 9 years. In each of these roles, she developed a strong reputation as a formidable litigator who practiced law with the highest integrity and with a deep respect for upholding the rule of law and who made a point of treating everyone in her presence with great dignity.
“Former Attorney General Lynch represents the very best of the legal profession and our nation. Her life story and her remarkable record as a champion for civil rights, including voting rights, and a prosecutor who fought against terrorism, financial fraud, and numerous other crimes are extraordinary and inspiring. I am thrilled that our community will have a chance to listen and learn from her,” says Dean and Ryan Roth Gallo Professor of Law Angela Onwuachi-Willig of the legal giant.
Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, the site of the 1960 sit-in at Woolworth’s that ignited a national sit-in movement, Ms. Lynch learned about the importance of fighting for and upholding equal justice from her parents at an early age. Her mother, Lorine Lynch, was a school librarian who emphasized the importance of education, equal rights, and standing up for oneself. Her father, Lorenzo Lynch, was a Baptist minister who was devoted to the pursuit of equality, often opening the basement of his church to civil rights leaders and the student organizers of lunch counter sit-ins to give them a place to safely plan their demonstrations. Committed to increasing Black participation in the political system, Reverend Lynch would take his children to watch legal proceedings at the nearby courthouse in Durham, North Carolina. With this legacy from her parents and her grandfather, a sharecropper who was known to help individuals escaping unjust punishment under Jim Crow laws, it is no wonder that she ultimately became the chief enforcement officer for the nation.
Former Attorney General Lynch represents the very best of the legal profession and our nation. Her life story and her remarkable record as a champion for civil rights, including voting rights, and a prosecutor who fought against terrorism, financial fraud, and numerous other crimes are extraordinary and inspiring. I am thrilled that our community will have a chance to listen and learn from her.
Indeed, these formative childhood lessons and experiences drew Ms. Lynch to law school. Like her father–who attended Boston University Graduate School of Theology from 1957 to 1958 and again from 1967 to 1968–she moved to Massachusetts to pursue higher education, earning a BA in American Literature from Harvard College and a JD from Harvard Law School.
After graduating from law school, Ms. Lynch worked for six years as a litigation associate at Cahill Gordon in New York City. In 1990, she became an assistant US Attorney at the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, focusing on drug and violent-crime prosecution. She was later promoted to deputy chief of general crimes, chief of the Long Island division, and chief assistant to the US Attorney, before being named US Attorney by President Bill Clinton in 1999. In 2002, she returned to private practice, where she focused on commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and corporate compliance as a partner at Hogan Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) in Washington, DC, until President Obama called upon her to return once again to serve as the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
“I’ve always thought it was very important to always remember that the purpose of the law is to order our lives, is to order the lives of everyday people,” Ms. Lynch shared in a tribute for Harvard Law School’s 200-year anniversary. “How do we live together? How do we interact with each other? How do we deal with conflict? How do we, in fact, account for ourselves?”
The Department of Justice is the only Cabinet Department named for an ideal. And this is actually appropriate. Because our work is both aspirational and grounded in gritty reality.”
In November 2014, Ms. Lynch was nominated by President Obama to succeed Eric Holder as US Attorney General. The following April, she was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in by then Vice President Joseph Biden. As the nation’s highest law enforcer, she prioritized safeguarding national security, protecting consumer rights, reducing violence, advancing civil rights, reforming the criminal justice system, and building the public’s trust with law enforcement. She introduced policies to strengthen the background check system for gun purchases and worked towards reducing recidivism and reforming federal sentencing policies. Her commitment to enforcing the rule of law was evident in her police reform work, spearheading the Department of Justice’s investigations into several law-enforcement departments, following a number of police brutality allegations.
“The Department of Justice is the only Cabinet Department named for an ideal. And this is actually appropriate,” she said during her nomination. “Because our work is both aspirational and grounded in gritty reality.”
Ms. Lynch is currently a partner in the litigation department at Paul, Weiss, where she advises clients on government and internal investigations as well as high-stakes litigation and regulatory matters. She was named to Benchmark Litigation’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation” in 2023 and Forbes’ “America’s Top 200 Lawyers” in 2024, and she has been recognized by Chambers in the Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (New York) category.