You Are Not Special
— David McCullough Jr., Wellesley High School commencement, 2012.Twelve minutes spent telling a graduating class, to their faces and their parents', that not one of them is special — and then the turn that makes it the kindest thing anyone said to them that day: climb the mountain to see the world, not so the world can see you.Why Law and Lawyers Matter in a World of Rampant Law Breaking
— Kristen Eichensehr, Harvard Law School's Last Lecture to the Class of 2026, April 2026.Twenty-two minutes on what a lawyer is for once the law is being broken openly: not an interpreter of the moment, she argues, but one of the people the law's power to shape the moment has been left with. "Expect the unexpected" arrives here as a duty rather than as advice.Secrets to Optimal Client Service
— Jim Donovan, University of Virginia School of Law, October 2022.Goldman's vice chairman of global client coverage on the half of the job no course covers — not the work done for a client but how you are with them while it is done. Addressed to law students, true of anyone whose work arrives through somebody's trust.Managing Client Relationships as an Investment Banker, Lawyer or Consultant
— Jim Donovan, University of Virginia School of Law, November 2015.The same subject as the talk above, seven years earlier and given as a managing director rather than a vice chairman: how a client relationship gets built and kept. Both are here because the argument does not move across those seven years, and watching it not move is worth the eighteen minutes.Are You Destined to Deal?
— Jim Donovan, University of Virginia School of Law, October 2016.Thirty-three minutes on the deal rather than on the relationship around it — what the work of a corporate transaction actually is for the lawyer and the banker on either side of it, put to a room of students still deciding whether they want that life. The longest of the three and the only one about the job itself.