For the third year in a row, the LSA has partnered with Career Services to put together a series of presentations that are collectively known as 1L Boot Camp. These Boot Camp programs, headed by past Impact blog author Cara Fonseca, provide 1Ls with the skills and knowledge to succeed in networking, job hunting, and in their future careers.

One of the key elements of Boot Camp is exposing the 1Ls to different practice areas and potential career paths. This is where BC 2Ls and 3Ls are able to take the help we’ve received in the past and pay it forward. The most recent Boot Camp presentation was a group of panels composed of 2Ls and 3Ls who have worked in various practice areas over the past two summers. Each panel featured between three and six 2L and 3L panelists who discussed their respective experiences working in specific areas of the law. The list of panel topic areas was as follows:

• Intellectual Property
• Trusts & Estates
• Human Rights/Policy Work
• Corporate
• Litigation
• Criminal
• Real Estate/Environmental/Energy
• Tax & Bankruptcy
• Immigration/Family/Labor & Employment
• Financial Services

I served as one of the panelists for the Corporate group, and Cara served as our moderator. We discussed what working in corporate law actually entails, the different sub-groups that we each worked for within the corporate departments of our respective firms this past summer, and our most memorable assignments in those positions. (Spoiler alert: mine involved the SEC.)

1L Boot Camp is, in my opinion, one of the most awesome programs that BC Law offers. I feel a huge sense of gratitude towards the law students who came before me that set up and implemented the Boot Camp program my 1L year. It helped me immeasurably in preparing for the OCI process at the beginning of 2L year, because it was through OCI that I obtained my job at the law firm I plan to join as a corporate attorney after graduation.

For these reasons it was my pleasure to sit on the other side of the table and serve as one of this past Thursday’s many panelists. This type of program is emblematic of BC Law’s culture, and I just hope that I was able to contribute as much to that culture as the people who gave me the advice that I paid forward. And I hope that you get to do so as well!

Rob Rossi is a 3L at BC Law and worked this past summer at a large law firm in Boston. He is also a current member of the Boston College Law Review‘s Executive Board and the former Chair of the Law Students Association Social Media & Communications Committee. Feel free to contact him with questions about his experience in the 1L Boot Camp program, BC Law, or law school in general. Comment here or send him an e-mail at rossire@bc.edu, and don’t forget to follow the Boston College Law Students Association on Twitter @BCLSA.