Author: Eddie Godino

Five Things to Consider When Choosing a Law School

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Deciding whether to go to law school can be a challenging question, but even after you make up your mind, you still have to decide where to go to law school – and that can be even more difficult. This is especially true for people who have jobs or other commitments that may prevent them from touring campuses before applying. Given that there are around 200 law schools in the United States, here are some factors to consider that can help you narrow your options.

Location

Listing location as a factor may seem obvious, but it is still worth mentioning. Where your school is located not only affects your experience as a law student, but also your career after graduation. This is because most schools have the strongest job prospects within their respective regions. While more prestigious schools can afford their students more nationwide opportunities, access to nearby networks of alumni and other attorneys still increases the odds of finding a job locally. Of course, this is not the case for everyone, so don’t panic if you don’t know where you want to work yet – I certainly didn’t when I was applying. 

There are also non-career factors to consider like housing options, proximity to family and friends, and generally what kind of lifestyle you want while in law school. Part of the reason I chose BC was because it is located just outside of Boston, providing easy city access without the immediate hustle-and-bustle, and it allowed me to stay close to my family and friends in the Northeast. It was only after I decided I wanted those things that I looked more closely at job placements and other career-related factors to make my final decision.

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Write or Wrong: Is Creative Writing Helpful In Law School?

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Over a year ago – before I had even started my 1L year – I wrote my first post for the Impact Blog, which was largely about whether I felt moving from creative writing to law would be a smooth transition. With three semesters now under my belt (and the weariness to show for it), I thought it would be fun to revisit that topic and see just how accurate my predictions were.  

My perhaps overly-optimistic younger self believed that law school could be a progression of the creative writing skills I developed in college; that much of what I learned would carry over into the legal world. While that belief wasn’t 100% false, it turned out to be a bit more complicated than that. 

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“Miracle on 34th Street” Movie Review

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Most law students probably want to avoid thinking about the law over winter break, so a holiday-themed legal movie might not sound all that appealing. I was in the same boat, but after giving it a watch, I can see why Miracle on 34th Street is considered a Christmas classic. 

Released in 1947, Miracle on 34th Street received great critical acclaim and went on to win three Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. While the technical aspects of the 76-year-old film are certainly dated, the story’s underlying message is timeless. 

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AI Art and Copyright Law

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AI has taken the world by storm, and a plethora of new legal questions have come along with it. Issues relating to AI have only just begun to make their way to the courts, so it may be a while before we have concrete answers, but that doesn’t mean we can’t consider the implications in the meantime.

AI was the central topic of Ropes & Gray’s 6th Annual International IP Summit at BC Law’s campus last month. While the functions AI can serve are almost too many to discuss, one especially interesting application of AI is to generate art. The song “Heart on My Sleeve” used AI to emulate the voices and styles of Drake and The Weeknd with eerie accuracy, and the photo that took first place the Sony World Photography Awards was later revealed to be the product of AI. 

“The Electrician,” created by Boris Eldagsen using AI, which took first place at the Sony World Photography Awards

The popularity of AI-generated art is already having an impact on copyright law. I had a chance to speak with Joseph Liu, accredited scholar and copyright professor here at BC Law, to break down some of the problems posed by AI in the copyright space. 

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“The Firm” Movie Review: “Off the Rails” Entertainment

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When it comes to legal movies and TV shows, few of them get points for realism, and The Firm is no exception. While the film does capture some aspects of the associate lifestyle that may cause legally-trained viewers to point at their screen and whistle like Leonardo DiCaprio, the story goes somewhat off the rails by the third act – which is arguably where it becomes the most entertaining.

Spoilers ahead . . .

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Four Things I Wish I Knew Before Law School

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Time flies when you’re having fun — and apparently it flies in law school, too. Jokes aside, as my 1L year comes to a close, I can safely say that I’ve had a great experience at BC so far. Still, looking back, there are certain things I wish I had known beforehand or done differently. For those of you with lawyers in the family or who did a lot more research than me before enrolling, some of these tips may seem like common sense. But for those who are less informed — and as an ode to a classic impact blog series — here are four things I wish I knew before coming to BC.

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Technology in the Classroom: A Blessing or a Curse?

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These days, technology is so ingrained in our lives that it’s practically impossible to go without it. While there are those who oppose our collective reliance on phones and computers to go about our daily lives, it’s hard to deny the benefits. Technology has revolutionized many aspects of human life, including our careers, and the legal field is no exception. Gone are the days of spending hours in a library pouring over volumes of case reporters — now, you can simply plug keywords into Westlaw and have access to whatever information you need right away. But if lawyers nowadays are constantly using technology to do their jobs, why is it that some professors institute no-tech policies in the classroom?

Before going any further, I should acknowledge that I’m biased. As a member of Gen Z with a father who works in the tech industry, I grew up using technology for pretty much everything. I rely on the GPS to get everywhere, I watch YouTube videos instead of reading instructions, and the last time I took handwritten notes for class was in middle school. My freshman year of high school was the first year the administration decided to give all the students iPads — a product with great educational potential, but in the hands of teenagers, probably more of a distraction. 

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Life as a Student Among Remote Workers

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Everyone in law school knows that the application process can be brutal. After surviving the LSAT, writing the personal statement, and finally being accepted at BC, I thought I could breathe easy until classes started. But one more challenge remained: I had to figure out where I was going to live. 

Much like freshman year in undergrad, I didn’t know anyone else who was coming to BC Law. While BC does provide resources for finding housing (like this website) and ways to get in touch with other incoming 1Ls, including a pretty active Facebook group, you mostly have to take matters into your own hands. I wasn’t keen on living with people I didn’t know, and I had a fear that living with other law students would feel overwhelming – like there was no escape from school. Living alone was an option, but picturing myself sequestered away with only judges and casebook authors to keep me company motivated me to seek out a third choice. 

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From Creative Writing to Law: Pivot or Progression?

/ Eddie Godino / 1 Comment

From early on in my academic career, I was always the kind of student who fared better in subjects like English and History than in Math and Science. I suppose words just made more sense to me than numbers; to this day, I’d still prefer to write an essay than do long division. 

I was also the type of kid who was occasionally reprimanded for “talking back.” It was never my intention to be disrespectful, but more to do with the fact that when something struck me as unfair, I felt compelled to speak up. My childish inquiries were usually met with “because I said so” or some other phrase that did little to satisfy my curiosity. I wanted the logic laid out for me so I could better understand and decide for myself whether it held up.

My preference for classes that centered around reading and writing — coupled with my tendency to question rules and instigate arguments — caused many people in my life to predict that I’d grow up to be a lawyer. On paper, law seemed like a path I could be well suited for, but I wasn’t sure it was the one I wanted to take.

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