[May 25, 2013]

Use Your Voice to Make the Impossible a Reality, Google's Top Legal Officer Tells 2013 SCU Law Graduates

What is difficult and worthwhile "always seems impossible until it's done," Google's (News - Alert) chief legal officer David Drummond told the 340 graduating students from Santa Clara University School of Law.

The law school's commencement took place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 25, in the University's Mission Gardens.

Drummond, a 1985 undergraduate alumnus of Santa Clara University, is senior vice president and chief legal officer of Google, where he leads the company's global teams for legal, communications, government relations, and corporate and new-business development. He joined Google in 2002 as vice president of corporate development from a partnership position at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he was Google's first outside counsel.

Speaking on a sunny, breezy morning, Drummond quoted South Africa's famed leader Nelson andela, telling graduates that in activities from advocating against apartheid on Santa Clara University's campus in 1981 to helping Google decide in 2010 to pull its search engine out of China over its repressive activities, "it's always impossible until it's done."

He added that "plenty of change can, and often is, sparked from the inside." He talked about his goals at Google, which he noted is a giant company despite its casual dress, free food and pinball machines. "Because it's a big company doesn't mean I can't fight to make sure that this big company sticks to its principles, that its continual march toward openness and progress and fairness mirrors the marches I participated in 30 years ago on this campus."

The graduating class comprised 48 percent women and 52 percent men. Half the graduates identified as Caucasian, with 31.5 percent identifying as Asian; 10 percent Hispanic; 5.5 percent multi-ethnic, and 2 percent African-American.

Sixty-seven graduates received certificates in various areas of high-tech law; another 33 received certificates in public-interest and social-justice law; and 20 specialized in international law.

Drummond received an honorary doctorate of laws at the event. He earned his bachelor's degree in history from Santa Clara University in 1985, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.

For more information about Santa Clara University School of Law, see law.scu.edu.

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