A career services advisor can be an amazing resource in law school as you navigate OCI, externships, clerkship applications, and more. However, it’s important that you find the advisor who can best help you reach your personal goals! To do so, follow along with this new series to learn about each CSO advisor at Boston College Law School. First up is the Assistant Dean of Career Services, Sarah Bookbinder.

What is your role in the CSO?

As Assistant Dean, my main role is to oversee all of the ongoing work we do in the office, including individual advising, program planning, large scale interview programs, outreach to employers and alumni, and pro bono opportunities. I am also the main point of contact between the CSO and other offices in the Law School to make sure we’re coordinating our efforts, and I meet with students when they have ideas or specific needs beyond career advising. In addition to that daily work, I’m keeping a close eye on the market and the evolving goals and concerns of BC students to make sure our programming continues to reflect all of this.

What was your path to the CSO, and why did you choose to go into career advising?

Before joining the CSO at BC, I worked in the Professional and Career Development office at Suffolk Law School for nine years. I sought out a role in a law school career advising office because I love helping students recognize their specific strengths, overcome self-doubt, and learn about where they might fit into the world of legal work. 

I’m the first lawyer in my family, so my parents couldn’t help me make any professional decisions. I made a lot of my choices in law school and in the first few years of my career without guidance from anyone in the legal field who actually knew me very well. I mainly relied on the buzz at my law school around certain things like clerkships and fellowships, or generic advice I heard from attorneys. None of this was specific to my reality or my personality. It turned out okay, but in retrospect, I really wish I had a career advisor who knew me and knew how legal careers evolve, and who could have helped me find my place in all of that. That’s really what I hope the CSO advising team can provide each BC student.

As a practicing attorney, I was most recently a prosecutor in the Public Integrity Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where I investigated cases of government corruption. I also practiced at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in Washington, DC, and was a clerk for a federal judge in Nashville right after I graduated.

What was the biggest challenge for you in law school and how did you overcome it?

Aside from the first-year classes being tough, I thought the biggest challenge as a 1L was how I suddenly felt like my identity had been erased. I had always seen myself as someone who would thrive in law school because I thought I was a great reader and I was really good at arguing, but once I got to law school, it felt like everyone was better at all of that than me and I didn’t know what else I had left. The 1L courses didn’t let me explore my interests, my grades were very average for the first time in my life, I was living in the Midwest and didn’t feel like I fit in, and I felt a bit invisible for a lot of that year. I didn’t know how I would ever stand out or be worthy of reaching all the goals that had led me to law school.  

But actually, time really helped me regain my self-definition and motivation. Once I made it to my first summer, I had an internship that I was excited about and I spent a lot of the summer meeting with lawyers whose careers were inspiring to me. Then I came back to 2L year and started taking a few classes I was very enthusiastic about, and I also became president of a student organization. Suddenly, I was spending many hours each day studying or working on topics that motivated me. I was energized and recognized myself again, and that year I made some of the best friends I have in my life.

What do you do on the weekends?  

I love cities and I try to get out and walk around on the weekend. Some of my favorite neighborhoods for walking and eating right now are Union Square, East Boston, and Cambridgeport. At the same time, my kids are 10 and 12, so I spend a lot of the weekend cheering them on in soccer or swimming, and then binge watching TV with them at night. Right now we’re splitting our time between Gilmore Girls and Welcome to Wrexham.

What’s the best place to eat near BC Law School?

Che Empanada is a delicious empanada bakery for a quick and cheap lunch. I would also recommend Rancatore’s for some of the best homemade ice cream, and Jinny’s Pizza for dinner. Closer to Main Campus, I’m a big fan of Chilacates for tacos and Clear Flour Bakery for croissants.

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Tess Halpern is a third-year student at BC Law and president of the Impact blog. Contact her at halperte@bc.edu.