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Her journey from law student to federal prosecutor started with tonsillitis.

Shavonn Bennette arrived in Greensboro nine years ago to study at ���ϲ����� School of Law and, in her own words, “I knew I was going to walk in here and just kill it.”

That’s not what happened. Her first term was rough and the stress, she recalls, contributed to the inflammation and removal of her tonsils within months. “The worst part?” Bennette said. “I wasn’t the only person it happened to. There were four of us!”

Things soon improved. And as Bennette shared in her Call to Honor address that was part of New Student Convocation for new full-time students at ���ϲ����� School of Law, the catalyst was her discovery of resources and support from faculty and staff who saw her potential.

���ϲ����� Law’s Class of 2026 gathered in Alumni Gym on ���ϲ�����’s main campus on August 6, 2024, for a program featuring Bennette, currently an assistant United States attorney in Charlotte, alongside university and law school academic and student leaders.

Bennette told her audience about faculty who recognized her potential. When the late Associate Professor Michael L. Rich taught a section of criminal law in what would be his final months of life, he asked Bennette to craft and deliver an opening statement in front of her classmates on a case they were studying.

Her performance impressed him to the point where he helped open the door to a future ���ϲ����� Law residency-in-practice with the Guilford County District Attorney’s Office. “I never got the opportunity to thank him for helping guide me in the right direction,” Bennette said. “The opening statement he asked me to do truly gave me the confidence to pursue what I was afraid of.”

After graduating from ���ϲ����� Law in December 2017, then working as a prosecutor in the Bronx for half a decade before her return last year to North Carolina, Bennette’s advice to students was simple: “Always trust your gut and know that you will end up where you’re meant to be.”

Convocation included remarks by ���ϲ����� Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Rebecca Kohn, and Alexis Alston L’24, president of the Student Bar Association.

• “You will see the distinctiveness of faculty members in the classes they teach, the case studies they assign, the clinics they direct, the leadership opportunities they offer, the moot court experiences they create, the mentoring relationships they develop with you, and the many other ways your paths will cross in the next seven trimesters. Our hope for you while you are at ���ϲ����� is that you will become independent, self-directed learners, and that you will put serious and consistent effort into your studies, that your passion and curiosity for learning will be contagious, and that you will reflect upon and evaluate your own progress in this great learning environment. If you are ready to begin, so are we.” – Provost Rebecca Kohn
• “You’ve chosen to enter a field that is both demanding and deeply impactful, one that requires not only intellect and dedication, but also a commitment to justice and service. Today marks the start of a parth that will shape your professional future and personal growth in ways you can only begin to imagine. Remember that the challenges you will face are not just obstacles, but opportunities for growth and learning. Embrace them with an open mind and a resilient spirit.” – Alexis Alston L’24

As part of the ceremony, each student’s name and undergraduate alma mater were read aloud as they signed a poster with the four tenets of the Honor Code — honesty, integrity, responsibility and respect — to be displayed inside the law school commons. Kohn then gifted each member of the class an acorn. At ���ϲ����� — Hebrew for “oak” — all new students receive an acorn at the start of their studies, a symbol of their potential for growth.

All graduates of ���ϲ����� later receive an oak sapling at the conclusion of their Commencement ceremonies, a tradition that started more than three decades ago.

���ϲ����� Law Dean Zak Kramer concluded the ceremony by reinforcing for the Class of 2026 some of the theme’s in Bennette’s Call to Honor.

“I urge you to do as Shavonn did. She engaged the whole of the school. There were professors who inspired her, maybe scared here, and there were professors who guided her. She followed her gut,” Kramer said. “You will follow your gut, your heart, and your head. Take care of yourselves,and engage with the whole of the law school.

“All of us are here to help you launch yourselves into the careers of your dreams.”

A separate Convocation takes place at ���ϲ�����’s Charlotte campus on Tuesday, August 13, for the inaugural cohort of part-time students in the ���ϲ����� Law Flex Program.

About ���ϲ����� School of Law

���ϲ����� Law is the preeminent school for engaged and experiential learning in law. With a focus on learning by doing, it integrates traditional classroom instruction with a required, full-time residency-in-practice field placement for all full-time students during the winter or spring of their second year. The law school’s distinctive curriculum offers a logically sequenced program of professional preparation and is accomplished in 2.5 years, which provides exceptional value by lowering tuition and permitting graduates early entry into their careers.

���ϲ����� Law has graduated more than 1,500 alumni since opening its doors in 2006. Its annual enrollment now tops 440 students and the law school is regularly featured in PreLaw Magazine’s “Best Schools for Practical Training” rankings, reaching #4 in the nation in 2024. The ���ϲ����� Law Flex Program, a part-time, in-person program of legal study for working professionals begins in Fall 2024 at ���ϲ�����’s Charlotte campus.