Author: Tess Halpern

Finding Joy in Unexpected Places (the Trusts and Estates Classroom)

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After the fall semester of my 2L year, I essentially decided to stop taking doctrinal courses. I did take Evidence and Corporations — because the bar exam is something that I’ll have to pass at some point — but I spent most of my time in either clinics or in classes focused more on experiential learning than casebook reading. I learned the ins and outs of Lexis and Westlaw in Advanced Legal Research, represented real clients in the Civil Rights Clinic, and practiced my oral advocacy in the Supreme Court Experience, but I didn’t spend many hours briefing cases or creating outlines.

As much as I loved this change of pace after 1L year, when it came time to pick classes for my last semester at BC Law, I knew it was time to get back into the doctrinal mindset. The bar was now looming closer and closer, and I had only taken two exams in an entire calendar year. Don’t get me wrong, I still was going to take Trial Practice, but I was also going to buck up and finally get around to taking Administrative Law and *gulp* Trusts and Estates.

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Law School in Action: Community Enterprise Clinic

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Boston College Law School gives its students a wide range of classes to take that are taught by some of the best scholars in the field. Yet, while learning about the law in a classroom is crucial to becoming a successful attorney, nothing prepares you for day-to-day practice more than getting hands-on experience before graduating. That’s where BC Law’s clinics come in.

Law students in their second and third years of study can apply for coveted spots in any of the school’s fifteen clinics. No matter what someone’s legal interest is, there’s a clinic for them! To help students better understand the opportunities available to them, the BC Law Impact Blog is highlighting each of these clinics this semester. Here is our interview with one of the directors of the Community Enterprise Clinic, Paul Tremblay.

Tell us about your clinic!

The Community Enterprise Clinic (CEC) is a transactional clinic in which students represent both for-profit and nonprofit small businesses, entrepreneurs, and startups for business-related matters. Unlike most other BC Law clinics, which are litigation-focused, we never go to court or engage in formal dispute resolution. Instead, we give advice about how to establish and operate businesses lawfully, and we offer many necessary services to the founders and managers of these businesses. We set up entities, apply for trademarks, get our clients tax-exempt statuses from the IRS, offer employment guidance, and draft the contracts and similar documents that businesses need.

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Law School in Action: International Human Rights Practicum

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Boston College Law School gives its students a wide range of classes to take that are taught by some of the best scholars in the field. Yet, while learning about the law in a classroom is crucial to becoming a successful attorney, nothing prepares you for day-to-day practice more than getting hands-on experience before graduating. That’s where BC Law’s clinics come in.

Law students in their second and third years of study can apply for coveted spots in any of the school’s fifteen clinics. No matter what someone’s legal interest is, there’s a clinic for them! To help students better understand the opportunities available to them, the BC Law Impact Blog is highlighting each of these clinics this semester. Here is our interview with the director of the International Human Rights Practicum, Daniela Urosa.

Tell us about your clinic!

The International Human Rights (IHR) Practicum is focused on appellate submissions and legal reports that are sent to international, regional, and foreign courts, and other bodies that address global human rights issues, in cases chosen with strategic litigation and social justice criteria. This Practicum introduces students to the international human rights protection systems, particularly the Inter-American System of Human Rights (IASHR), which is the regional system for protecting human rights in all the independent states of the Americas that are members of the Organization of American States (OAS), including the United States. The Practicum also provides students with deep practical experience in human rights advocacy.

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Law School in Action: Immigration Clinic

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Boston College Law School gives its students a wide range of classes to take that are taught by some of the best scholars in the field. Yet, while learning about the law in a classroom is crucial to becoming a successful attorney, nothing prepares you for day-to-day practice more than getting hands-on experience before graduating. That’s where BC Law’s clinics come in.

Law students in their second and third years of study can apply for coveted spots in any of the school’s fifteen clinics. No matter what someone’s legal interest is, there’s a clinic for them! To help students better understand the opportunities available to them, the BC Law Impact Blog is highlighting each of these clinics this semester. Here is our interview with the director of the Immigration Clinic, Mary Holper.

Tell us about your clinic!

In the Immigration Clinic, students represent clients who are either physically separated from their families and communities through immigration detention, and/or risking further separation through deportation. Students advocate for their clients’ release from detention by preparing and arguing bond motions in immigration court; for some clients, students must also prepare and argue habeas corpus petitions in federal district court. Additionally, students defend clients against deportation by preparing and arguing defenses to deportation, such as asylum and other humanitarian protection, as well as waivers of deportation for long-term residents and legal status based on family ties.

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Law School in Action: Project Entrepreneur

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Boston College Law School gives its students a wide range of classes to take that are taught by some of the best scholars in the field. Yet, while learning about the law in a classroom is crucial to becoming a successful attorney, nothing prepares you for day-to-day practice more than getting hands-on experience before graduating. That’s where BC Law’s clinics come in.

Law students in their second and third years of study have the opportunity to apply for coveted spots in any of the school’s fifteen clinics. No matter what a student’s legal interest is, there’s a clinic for them! The BC Law Impact Blog is highlighting each of these clinics this semester, starting with Project Entrepreneur. Here is our interview with the clinic’s director, Larry Gennari.

Tell us about your clinic!

Project Entrepreneur uses corporate and entrepreneurial law to foster the successful reentry of individuals with criminal records back into society. Our outside clients are justice-involved, and most of them were previously incarcerated. By the end of the course, students develop the basic skills necessary to counsel aspiring entrepreneur clients; an understanding of the general legal issues critical to new ventures, as well as the specific legal issues pertaining to each assigned client; an appreciation for the unique challenges facing returning-citizen entrepreneurs; and an understanding of how a lawyer can best assist an entrepreneurial client in presenting or pitching their business idea to an audience of investors, strategic partners, and other stakeholders. Corporations is a prerequisite/co-requisite course for this clinic, and Professional Responsibility/Ethics is highly recommended.

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My 2024 Law School Resolutions

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After a long, relaxing, and unproductive break, we’re back at school. While it can be nerve-wracking to start a new semester, with new classes, professors, and expectations to manage, it can also be a chance for a fresh start. We like to set resolutions for ourselves each new year to (hopefully) guide how we’ll live moving forward, but as law students, the same practice can be useful before returning to the classroom. Here are three of my resolutions for this semester that I think could be beneficial for us all.

Outline (Semi) Regularly

I’ve heard the advice that law students should add to their outlines every week, and I even know students who follow this practice. While that sounds borderline impossible for me, I also recognize that my strategy of waiting to outline until classes end is also…not ideal.

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Get to Know the CSO: Michelle Grossfield

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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. Here is our interview with Michelle Grossfield.

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

After law school, I practiced child welfare law at the public defender’s office in Massachusetts. It was an incredibly rewarding and challenging experience to represent children, families, and legal guardians in the Juvenile and Probate and Family courts in Plymouth and Worcester counties. The stakes in care and protection matters are incredibly high for families, given the fact that parental rights can be terminated, and parents may have no ability for future contact during a child’s upbringing. I was fortunate to have excellent mentors, colleagues, and training early on in my career, and was honored to advocate for the children, mothers, fathers, and parental figures appointed to me as they navigated incredible societal barriers and multiple complex systems.

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Get to Know the CSO: Chris Teague

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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. Here is our interview with Chris Teague.

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

My biggest challenge in law school came during the spring semester of my 1L year. I started the semester very excited to take a class that was closely related to the type of law I wanted to practice, but much to my surprise, I ended up hating the class. This really threw me for a loop because I was one of those students who came to law school knowing EXACTLY what they wanted to do with their degree. When I realized I didn’t enjoy the class, I started to feel kind of lost. I had been so hyper-focused on one practice area that it was hard for me to start thinking about what my other options might be.

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What Students Are Thankful for at Boston College Law School

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Thanksgiving comes at a difficult time of year for law students. While we want to enjoy the holiday, the hours of travel and time away from our computers can make it stressful as finals inch ever closer. But this year, I wanted to make sure we as a community took at least a little time to focus on what the holiday is all about. There’s plenty to be thankful for here at Boston College Law School, so take a moment to remember what you love about this school. Here’s what some students had to say when they were asked what they’re thankful for at BC Law.

Conner Packebush, 1L: The community, which is incredibly kind. It’s also so easy to talk and connect with professors.

Maria Russo, 2L: Friends who make the stressful finals season more bearable.

Adel Clemonds, 3L: Affinity groups and free food.

Meghan Doyle, 1L: The welcoming community.

Jared Coltey, 2L: First Generation Professionals — this group has given me a sense of community and belonging during stressful times in law school.

Katie Cross, 3L: The amazing friends Boston College has given me that make coming to school everyday something to look forward to.

Christian Bilgrien, 1L: The professors showing care for our mental health.

Laura Stateler, 2L: Community, community, community. 

Paul Sevigny, 3L: Community, support, and being treated like a human first and foremost.

Katarina Bettencourt, 1L: The kindness and support of students and faculty.

Nicole Kerrigan, 2L: My section’s softball team.

Aaron Morris, 3L: The understanding and appreciation of life outside of law school from professors, faculty, and other students that allow law school — and the stresses it brings — to not overtake my entire life.

Andres Leiva, 1L: The opportunity to meet lawyers from big law firm practices and make professional connections.

Cordelia Houck, 2L: The sense of community both inside and outside the classroom, which makes the stress of law school more manageable. When things get stressful, the people around me keep me grounded and remind me that there’s more to life than law school. 

Gabriel (Gabe) McCarthy, 3L: The friends I have met from all walks of life, and the chance to learn from such amazing professors.

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

Get to Know the CSO: Amy Kolb

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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. Here is our interview with Amy Kolb.

What’s the best piece of career advice you can offer students?

I think it’s important for students to stay flexible and open-minded during their job searches and throughout their careers. By approaching a job search with an adaptable mindset, students may discover unexpected interests and opportunities they would’ve otherwise overlooked.

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