Veterans’ Panel Discusses Leadership and Service

five people standing in business attire
From left to right: Phil Kaplan ’20, Matt Blumenthal ’15, Tian Tian Xin ’19, Zoe Kreitenberg ’24, and Luke Bronin ’06

Four Yale Law School alumni and military veterans returned to the School on Nov. 7 for a panel discussion on leadership and service sponsored by The Tsai Leadership Program.

Matt Blumenthal ’15 is a veteran of the Marine Corps Reserve, while Phil Kaplan ’20Zoe Kreitenberg ’24, and Tian Tian Xin ’19 served in the U.S. Army. The event was moderated by Luke Bronin ’06, Senior Distinguished Fellow in Residence of The Tsai Leadership Program, a veteran who served in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and former mayor of Hartford, Connecticut.

In her welcoming remarks, Dean and Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law Heather K. Gerken noted that members of Yale Law School’s current cohort have served in every branch of the military, including the Space Force and the Coast Guard. 

Zoe Kreitenberg and Tian Tian Xin
Panelists Zoe Kreitenberg ’24, and Tian Tian Xin ’19 

Veterans model “the best values of this law school,” she said. “In class, we all see they’re quick to listen, and they always take the initiative. They collaborate with respect and collegiality. They add to our intellectual life.”

“If military service teaches you anything, it teaches you to cross divides to solve problems, [and] to understand the critical importance of upholding the rule of law,” Gerken added. “And this is a group that just doesn’t waste any time in those efforts.”

Bronin began the discussion by noting the growth of the veteran community at the Law School since his graduation in 2006. “It’s a really remarkable shift and a testament to the leadership and the focus [the School] places on that,” he said.

Since 2007, the veteran community has expanded from just 1% of the incoming class to comprising over 9% of the J.D. class of 2027. The first-year class alone includes 19 veterans and active-duty service members. 

While the panelists brought a range of different experiences in the military to their studies, they all agreed they found a welcoming community and room to explore their interests at Yale Law School. The discussion went beyond life at law school, exploring the unique role veterans can play in bridging ideological divides and setting positive leadership examples in the community. 

One way to do this, said Bronin, is to face difficult problems head-on. 

“The worst leaders are afraid to go in and have those conversations that they dread. The best leaders have them as soon as possible,” he said.

Because of their experiences, veterans are often well-placed to have those difficult conversations.

“Veterans get to see the whole of what the United States is,” said Kreitenberg. “We interact with people who are from totally different backgrounds than us. In one platoon, you can have people from every place and every kind of upbringing. And I think that gives veterans a very specific perspective on what is out there and how different people are affected by different things, which is a hugely valuable thing.”

six people standing in business attire in front of a wooden bookcase
Panelists with Dean Heather K. Gerken

Xin noted that during her years at West Point and in the Army she worked cooperatively with people “who voted very differently than I did.” 

“Veterans have the capacity and the track record of working with people who come from very different walks of life [but who] align on a common mission and a common purpose. And that’s a fairly unique skill, especially as our country becomes more divided,” said Xin. “It’s incumbent upon us, now more than ever, to capitalize on those experiences and ability to work together with others. That’s what I aspire to do personally, and what I think veterans are capable of.”

Especially during fraught periods in history, people do look to veterans to set an example of service, and to model cooperation, collegiality, and empathy. The latter, said Kaplan, is one of the most important qualities in a leader. 

“There have been times where I think that those [two qualities] are next to equivalent — leadership [and] empathy,” he said.

Blumenthal, who is a Connecticut state representative for the 147th District, serving Stamford, said that he found “unity of purpose and mission” in the Marine Corps. “I’ve been able to recreate that in my law practice and in my governance and political life to a certain degree,” he said.

“The military is one of the few institutions in American life that still has a significant amount of trust and confidence across different swaths of the American people,” Blumenthal went on. “I think we do have an obligation to continue to represent the values that we lived through that service.”