Carrie F. Ricci, who previously served for two decades in uniform and today provides legal counsel to the Secretary of the Army, will address graduates in a December ceremony on the main campus of Elon University.
The top lawyer for the United States Army will share perspectives on leadership and the legal profession when she visits North Carolina in December to deliver a Commencement address to the Elon University School of Law Class of 2024.
Retired Lt. Col. Carrie F. Ricci, general counsel of the United States Army, will join 135 graduates and their families for a ceremony that begins at 10 a.m. on Friday, December 13, in Alumni Gym on Elon University’s main campus.
Following confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Ricci was sworn in as the 23rd General Counsel of the United States Army on January 3, 2022. Ricci is the military branch’s chief lawyer ultimately responsible for determining the U.S. Army’s position on any legal question.
She serves as legal counsel to the Secretary of the Army, Under Secretary, the five Assistant Secretaries, and members of the Army Secretariat.
“We are honored that Ms. Ricci will join us to share wisdom derived from a career in service to our nation,” said Elon Law Dean Zak Kramer. “I can think of no better way for our graduates to begin their legal careers than by hearing from the Army’s top lawyer about the role of discipline in achieving success—especially as they gear up for the bar exam.”
Ricci retired in 2010 from the U.S. Army after two decades of active military service, much of it in various capacities with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. She served as assistant general counsel in the U.S. Army’s Office of the General Counsel where she advised the Secretary of the Army and other senior Army leaders on legal and policy issues concerning all areas of military personnel management.
Following her military retirement and prior to her Army appointment, Ricci served as a senior executive with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, first as an assistant general counsel, then as the associate general counsel for marketing, regulatory, and food safety programs. Her preceding assignment was as assistant general counsel in the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity.
In 2020, Ricci served on the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee, a five-member panel appointed by the Secretary of the Army to conduct a review of the Fort Hood command climate and assess its impact on its soldiers and units, particularly as it related to preventing sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Ricci is a 1988 ROTC graduate of Georgetown University and later attended law school through the U.S. Army’s Funded Legal Education Program, graduating from the University of Maryland School of Law. She earned a Master of Laws degree from The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, and a second LL.M from George Washington University School of Law.
Ricci is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award from the Hispanic National Bar Association.
About Elon University School of Law
Elon Law is the preeminent school for engaged and experiential learning in law. With a focus on learning by doing, its full-time program integrates traditional classroom instruction with a required, full-time residency-in-practice field placement for all students during the winter or spring of their second year. The law school’s distinctive curriculum offers a logically sequenced program of professional preparation and is accomplished in 2.5 years, which provides exceptional value by lowering tuition and permitting graduates early entry into their careers.
Elon Law has graduated more than 1,500 alumni since opening its doors in 2006. Its annual enrollment now tops 470 full- and part-time students and the law school is regularly featured in PreLaw Magazine’s “Best Schools for Practical Training” rankings, reaching No. 4 in the nation in 2024. The Elon Law Flex Program, a part-time evening course of legal study for working professionals in Charlotte, N.C., launched in Fall 2024.