PORTLAND (AP) – A lawyer for Microsoft Corp. had some simple advice for graduates of the University of Maine Law School.

Annmarie Levins, a 1983 graduate of the Maine School of Law who now serves as associate general counsel to the software giant in Redmond, Wash., told the 83 graduates on Saturday at Merrill Auditorium to “know who you are and what you believe.”

“You need to have a strong moral compass, and be willing to follow it even when it would be easier not to,” Levins added.

Levins joined Microsoft in 1998 after serving as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell and as a federal prosecutor and law professor.

There were 96 members of the Maine Law School class of 2005, 83 of whom attended Saturday’s ceremony. Graduates included Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion of Portland and state Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell of Vassalboro.

Also Saturday, Bowdoin College held its 200th commencement on the quad in Brunswick. Bates College was holding its commencement on Memorial Day.