Lt. Joshua Fiveson – a judge advocate currently assigned to the Appellate Government Division at the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Navy – provided remarks at the 20th annual dinner for Harvard Law School (HLS) Heyman Fellows in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17.
Fiveson – a 2016 Heyman Fellow who joined the Navy JAG Corps in 2013 – spoke passionately about the importance of public service, calling it thrilling, humbling, and inspirational.
“We have Individuals from all walks [here tonight] – defense attorneys, prosecutors, and everyone in between,” Fiveson told the crowd. “And yet this entire room shares a common dedication.”
“We are united in service. Service not simply to our respective organizations, but to each other and our common fellowship,” he said. “Service not simply to our government but to the people from whom our government draws its authority.”
The Heyman Fellowship Program at HLS was established in 2000 through the generosity of the late Samuel J. Heyman – a 1963 HLS graduate – and his wife Ronnie to encourage HLS students to pursue careers in federal government.
“Becoming a fellow, for me and for everyone sitting here tonight, was more than another title,” Fiveson added. “This fellowship was a commission – much like the one I received in the Navy – to go forth, to honorably serve this great nation, to contribute to our great American experiment.”
“[O]ur commission as fellows was an expression of belief, in us, that we are up for the fight and that we will help arm others for the same,” Fiveson continued. “And for someone like me, who most folks never believed in, that means something.”
While at Harvard from 2010 to 2013, Fiveson was a Harvard Graduate Student Leadership Institute fellow and served as an editor with both the International Law Journal and the National Security Law Journal. He later worked extensively with the U.S. Department of Justice – in both their Office of International Affairs and Counterterrorism Section – served as a judicial law clerk at the Supreme Court of Texas, and worked as an attorney advisor at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
Fiveson also served as the youngest-ever military fellow at the Institute for World Politics, a National Security Fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a John Marshall Fellow with the Claremont Institute, a fellow with the James Wilson Institute, and a Graduate Student Leadership Institute Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Fiveson concluded his remarks by telling the crowd: “You’ve helped inspire belief, not only in the future generation of public servants, but in the continued prosperity of this nation. So tonight, let’s celebrate that future, this fellowship, and our nation.”