If you have to scramble.Don"t worry about how others grade you.Instead，just do your best：it"s the most that you can do；it"s the least that you can do.Please remember that the role of lawyers is to be leaders.Thataccomplishment alone，without humility，is tragic；and that excellence alone，without humanity，is worthless.Don"t forget to workfor those who need you the most because it is the duty of the most privileged to serve the least privileged.And please，never ever let your skill exceed your virtue.In the years ahead，your clients will not be just those who pay you.Your clients will include the integrity ofthe law itself.So please learn two phrases：first"，I don"t know."If you don"t know，say so.In the next few years，you will often not be sure.Don"t fake it，be honest and tell the truth.Not knowing is no embarrassment.You will find out and give the right answer soon enough.And please remember a secondword"。
No."All lawyers want to tell their clients yes.What is harder is to tellyour client no.We have all learned about two groups of Justice Department lawyers，both of whom included Yale Law School graduates.One group was asked to approve all illegal program，at the hospital bed of an ailing Attorney General.Their answer，and the Attorney General"s，was simply"No."Another group of Justice Department lawyers was asked to write a legal opinion authorizing American officials to torture detainees.Their job was to say no.It is illegal and it is wrong.Instead，they answered，"here"s how."That was the wrong answer.
So may The Force be with you，yes，but please never let it take you to the dark side.After the grandeur of today"s ceremonies，most of you will start studying tomorrow for the bar exam under the benign instruction of DVDs and IPODs across America.As you focus on clearing this one last hurdle，you may find yourself distracted by bigger things：the economy，the environment，the presidential election，and the war in Iraq that has made today"s Memorial Day so poignant.
More than any class I can remember，you are becoming lawyers in a time of transition.If the period from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the fall of the Twin Towers marked the Post Cold War era，and September 11to the present marked what some have called the Age of Terror，the next ten years will be what I call the "Interconnected Age，"Globalization 2.0，if you will.In Globalization 2.0，allissues will connect to one another-the economic，the political，the military，the environmental-and all of them will connect to law in unexpected ways.You become lawyers at a time of challenges to freedom around the globe：in Zimbabwe，in Burma，in the Middle East，right here in the United States of America.As Tom Friedman of The New York Times recently noted，last year was by far the worst year for freedom in the world since the end of the Cold War.
Almost four times as many states declined in their freedom scores as improved.And among the least democratic countries in the world are those who derive most of their revenues from oil.So as the price of fuel rises，and with it the price of food and housing，we will need to cut our reliance on fossil fuels，not just to save money，not just to protect the environment from global warming，not just to promote our national security，but to promote the rule of law and reduce our dependence on the lifeblood of dictators that weakens democracy worldwide.At Class Day yesterday，Britain"s Tony Blair told the graduating class that like it or not，you are the Global Generation，so you must learn to be global citizens.If there is one issue that I would ask you to devote yourselves to in the years ahead，it is that timeless challenge first put to us in the Gettysburg Address："that we here highly resolve that this nation，underGod，shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people，by the people，and for the people，shall not perishfrom the earth."