Janet Napolitano, then President of the University of California system and former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, delivered the commencement address at UC Hastings College of the Law in 2014. She opened by telling the graduates she envied them — not for their youth or their energy, but for the fresh opportunities before them to make a difference in the world. This central thesis anchored her entire speech: that the measure of a legal career should not be the size of a paycheck or whether your name is on the law firm door, but whether you use your position to serve the public good. She illustrated this through the stories of three Hastings alumni — Ambassador Chris Stevens, who died serving his country in Benghazi; Willie Brown, who fought to seat his delegation at the 1972 Democratic convention; and Jackie Speier, who was shot five times in Jonestown but went on to serve in Congress.