Author: BC Law Impact Guest Posts

Dispatches from Dubai: Attending the COP28 UN Climate Conference

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Note: this is the first of a two-part guest post series from BC Law 3L Edwin Ward.

Day 0: 12/6/23

On December 6, after taking my criminal procedure final, I prepared to fly halfway across the world to the United Arab Emirates on a mission to save the planet. 

Maybe I should back up. I am one of the two BC Law students who were chosen to represent Boston College at the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—more commonly known as the UN Climate Conference, or simply COP28. 

This annual conference is a meeting of all the nations of the world to reach consensus on the fight against climate change. The most famous of these conferences, COP21, delivered the groundbreaking Paris Agreement. This year’s COP is the first global stock take to assess our progress on meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. COP28 is also notable for being hosted by the United Arab Emirates, a fossil fuel state that has presented more roadblocks than solutions in the fight to phase out fossil fuels.

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Sticks and Stones: Handling Confrontation Like a Lawyer

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Today’s guest post is written by Glenn Cunha, a Boston College graduate, BC Law adjunct professor, a former managing attorney of the Criminal Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and retired Massachusetts Inspector General. He is currently serving as a special prosecutor to the Suffolk County District Attorney.

Please note that today’s post contains language and situations that may be upsetting.

As lawyers, we sometimes take for granted the skills we hav‌e honed over the years during law school and in practice. I wanted to become a lawyer when I realized I could have a career based on talking, arguing and going after bullies. It’s just who I am.  Teachers, family members, coaches and friends would always tell me that I would make a good lawyer someday.

The legal skills we use — advocacy, quick thinking, level headedness — are skills I’ve had my whole life. I certainly refined them as a law student and throughout my career but because they are so natural to me, I tend to think everyone has them. After a situation this past summer, it became apparent to me that this isn’t necessarily true.

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The Supreme Court Experience

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Today’s guest post about Professor Kent Greenfield’s class “The Supreme Court Experience” is by 3L Elijah Rockhold. Watch a video about the class here.

When imagining the institutions of government in Washington, D.C., people might think of the grandiose Capitol building, with its intimidating Rotunda, massive chambers, and spacious steps where Presidents are inaugurated. Or they imagine the lawns on either side of the White House: the tours of the nation’s home and seat of power. Fewer people may imagine the Supreme Court, a beautiful building by its own terms, but smaller and less imposing than the other two branches of government. The building is tucked behind the Capitol, not viewable from the mall, and the public access is limited compared to other D.C. buildings. Even inside, the Courtroom in the center of the building is small: only about one hundred spectators can watch arguments in the room. 

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LAHANAS: Welcome Back to Campus

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Welcome back, BC Law students! We, the student directors of LAHANAS, wanted to re-introduce ourselves. 

LAHANAS is the student-led umbrella organization, open to all, with a particular focus on supporting BC Law’s affinity student groups, including:

  • Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
  • Black Law Students Association (BLSA)
  • Disability Law Students Association (DLSA)
  • Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA)
  • Lambda Law Students Association
  • Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA)
  • Native American Law Students Association (NALSA)
  • South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA)

We are committed to addressing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging issues on campus and we work closely with Lisa Brathwaite, Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, all of the student affinity groups, the Career Services Office, the Academic Success Program and Academic & Student Services to ensure that BC Law is and feels like an inclusive and supportive community.

We want all BC Law students to feel comfortable and safe being their full selves, and we recognize the importance of having an intersectional and supportive network to rely on. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with us directly via email should you have any questions about who we are and how we can support you. Welcome back again, and we look forward to an exciting year ahead. 

Ali Shafi (3L), Jasmine Lee (3L), and Kristie-Valerie Hoang
LAHANAS Student Directors

Law School: Stepping Stone or End Goal? 

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By Alyssa Leston

So you made the decision to go to law school. 

Maybe–like me–you realized it was the last day to sign up for the LSAT for the upcoming application cycle, forcing you to spend a frantic few weeks studying and then researching which school was the right fit. 

Or maybe you’ve known for years that this was your path; months of preparation, tours, and networking brought you to the school you are at now, feeling ready and excited to start achieving your dream.

Or maybe, now that you’re here, you’ve stopped caring about how you got to where you are, because you realized that regardless of the process, you’re not excited to be there after all. 

So, what now?

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The Deeper Meaning of Labor Day

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A personal reminiscence, or how I unexpectedly (re) met my grandfather at law school

By Michael B. Goldenkranz ’78

For many Americans, Labor Day means a final trip to the ocean or lake at summer’s end or a barbeque closer to home. For me, though, the September holiday brings to mind my maternal grandfather’s important role in securing rights for union members victimized by corrupt or abusive union leaders. For me (and my children), it shapes our values and spawns our volunteerism and pursuit of access to justice.

Yet I may have never known that aspect of my grandfather’s life, had it not been for an unexpected event in 1978, during my last year of law school, on the first day of labor law class, when I (re) met my own grandfather in a very different context.

As a child, I puzzled an eternity about a sign in my grandfather’s shoe box-size den. The room was like a magnet and a mystery to me—cluttered with old books, important-looking papers, and a narrow but fascinating nameplate-like sign that perched above his old metallic desk. It clearly read, “ThiMk before you speak.”

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Theft by Another Name: It’s Time To Fight Back Against Civil Forfeiture

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Third-year student Jillian Jacobson recently had an op-ed published in Newsweek Magazine. Check it out below!

3L student Jillian Jacobson

Rochester, New York, resident Cristal Starling was diligently saving money to turn her hot dog stand into a full-fledged food truck business when local police raided her home and confiscated her savings. The reason? Her then-boyfriend was suspected of dealing drugs. The agents found no evidence of her boyfriend’s alleged drug dealing, but they did find more than $8,000 of Starling’s hard-earned money—which they took and never returned to her, even after her then boyfriend was acquitted on all charges.

Like many other Americans, Starling is a victim of civil asset forfeiture, a practice that allows law enforcement agencies to seize personal property on the mere suspicion that it was involved in criminal activity. After a lengthy appeal, a federal appellate court in New York has given her a shot at getting her personal property back. In addition, the court set a more just standard for victims of civil forfeiture who attempt to regain their property. This is a big win—both for Starling and for other Americans whose property is unjustly seized every year.

Since 2000, the government has seized more than $68.8 billion from Americans through civil forfeiture. When law enforcement suspects personal property is connected to a criminal act—whether the property is cash, jewelry, a car, home, or business—the agency seizes it and a prosecutor later moves for the state to keep it permanently.

Read the rest of Jillian’s op-ed on Newsweek.com

In the Google Case, the Justice Department Continues to Help Companies, Not Consumers

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Today’s post by BC Law professor and associate dean for academic affairs Daniel Lyons originally appeared on the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) AEIdeas blog. You can view the post here.

By Daniel Lyons

For almost three decades, President Joe Biden has built an image as a champion of everyday Americans. So it’s surprising to see his antitrust policy increasingly place companies, not consumers, at the center of its agenda. This shift is on full display in next month’s United States v. Google trial, which challenges Google’s position as the default search engine for smartphones and browsers. Two pretrial motions present an interesting question: If the defendant’s conduct improves the consumer’s experience, how should this factor into the court’s analysis of whether the conduct is anticompetitive?

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Dublin Program puts the Experience in Experiential Learning

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It’s not every day that class is held in another country. Yet, for the Dublin Semester-in-Practice program, it’s not out of the cards either. For students who have participated in externships, the weekly seminar requirement is nothing out of the ordinary. Usually, students spend the class time talking about their placement, divulging what they have learned and areas they seek to improve in. In a sense, the seminar serves a very practical purpose of hearing from students, learning from their experiences, and providing advice on how to proceed. 

However, for the students participating in the Dublin program, our seminar can look a little different. On an average week we get to hear from excellent speakers on a variety of Irish, legal, and political topics. This includes lecturers from Trinity College Dublin’s law school and high-ranking government officials. Every week it’s something new and relates back to the environment we are working in. While we also talk about our externship placements and how to navigate an international workplace, we get to supplement these discussions with talks on Irish sports, constitutional referendums, and EU data protection laws. And sometimes, we get to leave the classroom and experience that week’s educational topic firsthand.

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The AI Revolution Raises Terrifying Questions about Virtual Child Pornography

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Today’s post by BC Law professor and associate dean for academic affairs Daniel Lyons originally appeared on the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) AEIdeas blog. You can view the post here.

By Daniel Lyons

It was probably inevitable that the artificial intelligence (AI) discourse would eventually turn to virtual pornography. Earlier this week, CBS News noted that increasingly sophisticated AI editing programs can exacerbate the problem of “deepfake” porn: images and videos digitally altered to appear to be someone else. This article came on the heels of a Twitter discussion Matty Yglesias prompted about whether AI-generated pornography could disrupt the adult industry by removing the need for real people to be involved.

But underlying this discussion is an even more frightening concern: the prospect of virtual child sexual abuse material (CSAM). (Hat tip to Kate Klonick.) It may surprise you that Congress was way ahead of the curve on this issue: A quarter-century ago, it banned so-called virtual child pornography, computer-generated imagery designed to look like CSAM. It may further surprise you that the Supreme Court struck down this law as unconstitutional. But the evolution of technology in the decades since suggests that it is time to revisit this problematic decision.

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