When you think “Harvard Law School graduation speakers,†Mindy Kaling is the first person who comes to mind, right? No? Well, odd as the pick might seem, Kaling was a featured speaker at today’s Class Day ceremony for Harvard Law’s best and brightest. (Technically, it’s not a commencement speech, as commencement happens in a different ceremony. Ah, the majesty and the pageantry!) As you might predict, she was charming and intelligent, and managed to avoid platitudes.
She dissed her collegiate alma mater, Dartmouth; she found common ground with an Indian-American who had been honored earlier in the ceremony; and she kept weirdly hitting on a law professor named Noah Feldman. In one particularly well-done passage, she acknowledged the dilemma facing an idealistic law student entering the legal profession:
And now, with this diploma in hand, most of you will go on to the noblest pursuits, like helping a cable company acquire a telecom company. You will defend BP from birds. You will spend hours arguing that the well water was contaminated well before the fracking occurred. One of you will sort out the details of my pre-nup. A dozen of you will help me with my acrimonious divorce. And one of you will fall in love in the process. I’m talking to you, Noah Feldman!
Watch the full speech below.