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. Next up is the Associate Director of Career Services, Naomi Bass.
What is your role in the CSO?
Since 2021, I have been an Associate Director in the CSO. My role includes advising JD students about career options and decisions at all stages of their law school experience. Our team collaborates to create and deliver professional development programs, conduct mock interviews, review application materials, and engage with BC Law alumni on a range of programs to support our students on their career journeys.
What is the best piece of career advice you can offer students?
One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was from my supervisor at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, where I worked for my 1L summer. He advised me that when considering a career move, it’s best not to focus solely on the immediate next step, but to contemplate how that choice might empower me to attain future career goals. I found this advice extremely valuable, as it recognizes that one’s career path is likely to proceed along many steps (and often with unexpected twists and turns). While any step along the way may not check all of the boxes of what you hope to do, as long as you can see how aspects of that work may be beneficial to achieving future goals, you should feel confident in your decision.
What was your path to the CSO, and why did you choose to go into career advising?
After graduating from law school at George Washington University, I was eager to return to my hometown of Boston to begin my legal career. I spent three years as a Litigation Associate at Choate, Hall & Stewart before joining the Office of the General Counsel at Partners HealthCare (now Mass General Brigham). At Partners, I joined a staff of twenty six lawyers, and my focus was on employment and patient care work. It was a fascinating role, and working for a renowned academic medical center in Boston was the highlight of my legal career. As Legal Counsel, my role included the opportunity to hire and supervise our summer legal interns (many of whom were BC Law students). After almost ten years at Partners, I was looking to make a career change, and found myself drawn to opportunities to work with law students. In 2016, I joined the co-op and career services team at Northeastern University School of Law, and after five years at NUSL, I joined the CSO here at BC Law.
My motivation for working in law school career services was two-fold. First, I love getting to know and supporting a new generation of law students who are just beginning to explore what they may want to do with their careers. And second, I aspire to be the type of career advisor that I wish I had when I attended law school.
What do you do on a typical weekend?
On a typical weekend I try to carve out some time for myself to run and rock climb. I have completed four half-marathons, and I’m hoping to run another in the next year. I became a rock climber because my husband and oldest daughter loved the sport, and now I’m hooked, too. My children are seventeen, fourteen, and nine, so most of my weekend time is spent accompanying them to sports practices and games — our fall line-up involves rock climbing, cross country running, soccer, and baseball!
Where in Boston should students visit before they graduate?
I have always loved exploring natural beauty within big cities, and one of my favorite places in Boston is the Arnold Arboretum. The Arboretum is often referred to as a “museum of trees,” and there is something quite mystical about walking among the paths of this botanical treasure. The lilac trees, in bloom, are not to be missed.
Tess Halpern is a third-year student and president of the Impact blog. Contact her at halperte@bc.edu.
BC Law: Impact 