As we approach Spring Break, I am definitely coming out of the school mood, and this article is no different. I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan, so I thought it would be fun to give law school classes their Taylor song. Of course I thought of multiple songs for each class, but I landed on the ones I thought made the most sense.
Continue readingA Procrastinator’s Guide to Spring Break Ideas
So…It’s February. You’ve lifted your head from the fugue state of OCI/getting adjusted to your classes/digging your car out of a snow pile/writing your law review note, and set hopeful eyes on spring break as an opportunity for rest and recuperation when you realize—you never made any spring break plans.
Or, you’ve looked at your bank account, thought “yikes!” and decided to have a bit of a stay-cation, but have no plans on how to actually go about doing that. Fair! Reasonable! I have been there!
In the interest of transparency, I personally will be fleeing the great city of Boston at the first available opportunity (shoutout to the Amtrak!), however, I’ve compiled three fun (low cost) things to do with the tons of free time you will have on your hands come spring break. (That is, once you’ve caught up on your reading, done the write-on, decided how early you want to outline, remembered to go grocery shopping, etc. etc.).
Continue readingThe Opportunity Cost of Early BigLaw Recruiting
It’s your first semester of law school at BC Law. It’s been just a few weeks since orientation, and you’re trying to get your footing. Torts makes sense, because slapping someone is obviously a battery. Contracts feels manageable too; you think about your apartment lease, or your brother’s offer to buy you McDonald’s, to think through offer and acceptance. Law Practice is a bit frustrating because you’re expected to learn the Bluebook on the fly. And Civ Pro? You have no idea what’s going on there—but that’s a problem for later.
Meanwhile, you’re figuring out how to be a law student. Do you take notes like you did in undergrad, buy color-coded notebooks to handwrite in class, or type a near-transcript of everything your professor says? When do you start outlining—and what even is an outline? Will you sound stupid if you go to office hours to ask about Twombly? And then there’s the club fair. Should you apply to that 1L Representative position for the Law Student Association? Or for the Business Law Society? Both would look great on your resume. But not too many commitments so soon—you still need time to read your cases, pour hours into over-detailed briefs, and prepare for class. Maybe one club application and casual involvement in the others will be enough for now.
Continue readingWhen 1L Fall Finals Don’t Go As Planned
There’s a version of your first 1L finals season that exists in your head: You wake up early. You review your attack outlines one last time. You calmly sip coffee. You walk into the exam room steady, composed, and frighteningly well-prepared. And then there’s real life.
Continue readingIs Love Possible in Law School? Lessons from St. Valentine
Recently, while traversing the aisles of my local Target, I found myself nearly drowning in a red sea of assorted teddy bears, flowers, chocolates, and fatigued sales associates. Like Moses though, I split through the waters by politely saying excuse me and performing an awkward penguin-like shuffle by. As I finally made it to the aisle that contained Draino, the purpose of my shopping trip, I thought to myself that there must be much more to Valentine’s Day than modern American consumerism. My intuition was right.
Continue readingLove, Actually: 1L Lifesavers
Eternal January has ended, and Forever February has entered the picture. This winter has been particularly brutal, and, at least according to the baseless claims of that godforsaken groundhog, spring is still a long way off. Yet, sandwiched in the middle of what may be the dreariest month of the year is one of my favorite commercialized holidays: Valentine’s Day.
Continue reading“Fully Mindful of the Treachery of Superlatives:” Memories of Associate Dean Francis J. Larkin
This guest post was written by The Hon. David Mills ’67.
I am eighty-three years old today, and I was twenty-two in September of 1964 when I walked into my first class at Boston College Law School. The school was still in the old building across from Saint Ignatius Church. My first class was Real Property with Professor Richard G. Huber, a rite of passage for every first-year student. We entered nearly two hundred strong; by second year we were about one hundred twenty, and most of us made it through to the end.
To this day, I believe I could not have found finer professors or a better place to begin learning to love the rule of law. Frank Larkin was Associate Dean. Our Dean, Jesuit Robert F. Drinan, S.J.—often described as “peripatetic ”—was, in my experience, a very good man. Frank’s office sat down the hall on the second floor. His indispensable right hand was Charlie Pepper, who typed faster than anyone I have ever seen. Charlie came to know most of us simply by transcribing the hundreds, if not thousands, of letters Frank wrote to law firms, judges, and potential employers on behalf of BC Law graduates. We often joked that Charlie Pepper wore out more IBM Selectrics than any typist in modern history. Each letter was tailored to the student it concerned, and each contained Frank’s signature phrase: “fully mindful of the treachery of superlatives.” I adopted that phrase myself in the many letters of recommendation I later wrote for my law clerks, interns, and colleagues—letters typed by the generous and competent people who endured my dictation over the years in both public and private offices. When graduation approached in the spring of 1967, I cannot say that Frank and I had an immediate friendship. Yet he seemed to know every graduating student—our backgrounds, our interests, our hopes, and our intentions.
Continue readingWhy You Should Take Classes Outside of Your Comfort Zone
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou
Gaining control of your class schedule is one of the most exciting aspects of leaving 1L behind and moving forward in your law school journey. Aside from the anxiety it induces as everyone gathers around tables in the yellow room or library to sign up for classes at the exact time that the registration window opens, the chance to pick all your courses is one of the most fun parts of law school. But not enough people take full advantage of this freedom. I understand the temptation to use your future career path as a guide for course selection. Yet more students should utilize their time in school to explore various areas of the law. Studying at Boston College Law School means we have access to some of the sharpest and most thoughtful legal minds across a wide variety of subjects. Take advantage of that bounty of intellectual acumen while you can. Doing so will make us all better lawyers and students, and, more importantly, more well-rounded people, regardless of our future professional track.
Continue readingSupreme Court Considers FCC’s Jury Trial Problem
This guest post by BC Law Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Daniel Lyons first appeared in the AEIdeas Blog.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has loomed large on the Supreme Court’s docket recently. Last term, the Justices addressed E-Rate fraud prevention efforts, the agency’s authority to bind courts, and the constitutionality of its Universal Service Program. Now the Commission is before the High Court. This new case, FCC v. AT&T, asks whether the FCC’s power to levy punitive fines violates the Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury—a question whose resolution could reshape not just telecommunications regulation but the balance of power among agencies, courts, and juries.
Continue readingTo Clinic or To Extern? That ‘Tis the Question
Another semester is well underway, and for 1Ls currently staring down approximately a couple hundred pages of reading per week, it might be heartening to remember that with 2L comes opportunities to practically build your legal skills.
Two of these opportunities, externships and clinics, allow students to engage with the legal profession practically. This all sounds amazing, but when I was a 1L I had questions: what’s a clinic? What’s an externship? How are they different? Can you do both?
Continue reading
BC Law: Impact 