Experiential Learning

Meet the 3L who flew in from London for Admitted Students Day

/ Rob Rossi / 1 Comment

My good friend and fellow Impact blogger Damon Quattrochi is a 3L participating in BC Law’s London program this semester. Despite being on another continent, Damon’s love for BC knows no bounds, and he proved it this past weekend. Not even the Atlantic Ocean could keep him from attending the final Admitted Students Day (and, okay, Law Prom) of his tenure as a BC Law student!

I caught up with Damon in a decidedly Bostonian coffee shop before he returned to the U.K. We chatted about his life abroad and compared it with an average day for me as a law student back here in Massachusetts. If you are interested in learning about the London program, life as a 2L at BC, or simply what inspires someone to travel three thousand miles for a weekend visit to BC Law, I hope you find our video informative: Continue reading →

Last Week I Argued In U.S. District Court And It Was Great

/ rwmakawa / 1 Comment

Well hello, everyone! It’s been a while. Thanks to the record 108.6 inches of snow we’ve been allotted here in Boston (thanks Mother Nature), I’ve had a lot of catching up to do at work, and have also been very busy prepping to defend the SSA’s position in federal court.

Ron's Work Desk

A computer, coffee, and the Code of Federal Regulations. What more could I ask for?

Let me back up: This semester I’ve been working as a student in the Semester In Practice: Public Interest program at BC Law. Specifically, I’m an intern in the Social Security Administration’s Office of the General Counsel (let’s just call it OGC) in downtown Boston. Rather than balancing classes I’ve been writing briefs, negotiating, and prosecuting. Oh, and preparing to argue a brief in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine…

Continue reading →

Jobs That Come From the Least Likely Place

/ mptierney / Leave a comment

Last week, I landed my first law job. (There’s been a lot of private dance parties, in my room, by myself.) Naturally, I’m incredibly relieved. But my job didn’t come from an internship or even an on-campus interview. My job came from the professor whose Article 2 exam I bombed. True statement. For those still on the fence about BC, and, maybe even at this point, law school generally, read my story.

I did decently in first semester, 1L. Nothing to write home about at all. But just enough to keep me from cashing in on the insurance policy that Admissions offers for a full refund of your first year tuition, should you come to the conclusion that going to law school was actually a horrible idea. So, I hedged my bets and got fancy by taking a class called “Advanced Contracts.”

And for three years after the fact, I had regretted taking that class. Not because it wasn’t incredible: it was. And insanely difficult. That course single-handedly dialed me into what I needed to get better at to right the ship. But with so much riding on your grades, I believed I had really shot myself in the foot with the whole ‘Go Big or Go Home’ attitude. But you fight on, keep a positive attitude, and hope for the best.

Continue reading →

Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 4: You DO know things and you CAN do things, even if you’re “just a 1L”

/ Charlene Ochogo / Leave a comment

“Just a 1L.”

I heard that phrase thrown around a lot when I was researching law schools. You shouldn’t expect to have a lot of stuff to put on your resume because you’re “just a 1L.” You shouldn’t expect to get a “real” job this summer because you’re “just a 1L.” What you have to say and what you bring to the table aren’t as important because you’re “just a 1L.”

So I think we can agree that all those people were very clearly wrong.

Me becoming one with nature at the Desert Botanical Gardens.

Me becoming one with nature at the Desert Botanical Gardens

Greetings from the desert! I’m extremely pleased to be blogging from sunny Phoenix, Arizona – which reminds me a lot of Florida (just substitute cactuses for palm trees). The best part? BC is sponsoring this mini vacation/incredible opportunity to get some hands-on legal experience.

I had the privilege of being selected to go on one of BC’s many spring break service trips. Our Phoenix quintet is spending this week working with The Florence Project, a nonprofit that provides legal services to unaccompanied immigrant minors. Last summer, the influx of children leaving Central America to escape persecution and poverty alerted many (myself included) to the fact that child detention centers are all around the country, often in our own communities. These children, who often speak only Spanish or a dialect from their home country and may be too young to read or write, rely on organizations like The Florence Project to advocate on their behalf in the hopes of reunifying with family members within the U.S., or, at the very least, not being sent back to their home country.  In the uphill battle to find grounds for asylum or some other visa that will put these kids on the path to become legal permanent residents, organizations like The Florence Project have to conduct a lot of case research and statute interpretation, not to mention finding out more about the conditions that caused the kids to flee in their countries in the first place.

Continue reading →

Mardi Gras Fundraising and the New Orleans Spring Break Trip

/ Rob Rossi / Leave a comment

Hey everyone, my name is Tom. I’m filling in for Rob this week to talk about one of the pro bono service trips open to BC Law 1Ls. There are four different spring break trips through BC Law: the Haiti Service Trip, Navajo Nation Service Trip, Gulf Coast Service Recovery Trip (New Orleans), and the Immigration Law Service Trip (various cities across the U.S.). Rob went on the New Orleans trip last year, and that’s the one I’ll be doing this year.

Continue reading →

Life Behind the Firewall

/ DQuattrochi / Leave a comment

“Welcome to the Firewall,” Yaxin said with a grin as she tapped her card to the clear, glass door of the fifth floor’s southwest corridor. I couldn’t help but grin too. Two clicks sounded as she reached out, grabbed the door handle and pulled it towards her. “Are you ready?” she asked, looking back at me. I was still in awe. I nodded and walked forward, calm and poised on the outside, but bursting with excitement on the inside.

stairs

PwC Legal LLP is a member of the PwC international network of firms. As a firm, it’s able to provide clients with integrated legal advice on complex commercial projects requiring a range of complementary specialists from other parts of the PwC network. They also offer clients general counsel service and access to a highly impressive and extensive global network, including locally qualified, jurisdiction-specific, bar admitted legal expertise worldwide.

Continue reading →

[Mock] Trials & [Real] Tribulations

/ rwmakawa / Leave a comment
The Mock Trial Team @ Regionals

The Mock Trial Team @ Regionals (not pictured: Jen Henricks, who was sick)

This past weekend BC Law hosted the Regional Mock Trial Competition in downtown Boston — specifically at the Suffolk Superior Court and at Suffolk Law School.  The competition lasted from Thursday – Sunday, and featured trials everyday.  BC Law took two teams, and I was on one of them.  The experience was nothing short of grueling and fantastic — it’s amazing to stand up in a courtroom like a trial attorney and match wits with law students from other schools.  At the same time, it’s incredibly nerve-racking to go against people who typically have extensive experience with mock trial (high school, college, etc.), and to really focus on all the dynamic changes that go on during a trial.

A Model of the Trial

A model of what the trial is about! (Yes, it happened in a trailer park)

Continue reading →

Life at BC Law: Spring Break Service Trips

/ Luciabc / 2 Comments

During my spring break 1L year I spent an amazing week in Miami with four of my classmates. When you hear spring break and Miami in the same sentence your mind might jump to Ultra or Miami Beach, but we were actually in Miami to spend the week working at VIDA (http://www.vidalaw.org), a legal assistance center which primarily aids immigrant women and families who have lived through domestic abuse.

My fellow volunteers pose after our everglades tour.

My fellow volunteers pose after our everglades tour.

Every spring BC Law send a number of 1L student groups to do volunteer legal work around the country. My 1L year students traveled to Arizona, Denver, New York, New Orleans, and Navajo Nation. These trips are a tradition at BC Law, and are completely student run, with 2L alumni of the trips assisting 1Ls to plan and fundraise.

Continue reading →

How To Be A Lawyer While You’re Still in Law School

/ Elizabeth Blass / 2 Comments

As future law students, I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors and stereotypes about law schools. They run the gamut — from the terrifying and incorrect (“EVERYONE IS SO COMPETITIVE AND NO ONE IS FRIENDLY AND IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AN A YOUR FIRST YEAR”), to the hilariously accurate (“Law school is high school for adults”), to the tongue-in-cheek (see, for example, Thought Catalog’s take on the 19 People You Meet in Law School). But the stereotype that most stuck out to and worried me as a prospective student was what I’d like to call the Myth of the Library Lockdown. That is, by heading off to law school, you are essentially signing yourself up for three years of good ol’ book learning, tied to a library carrel, buried under 200 pounds of Supreme Court opinions and study aids.

Don’t get me wrong. As a former English major, I can get down with the heavy reading. Chaucer, Shakespeare, and I used to be great pals; I can handle my fair share of tiny print. But that’s not why I wanted to come to law school. I taught for three years after college, came to law school with a really specific focus, and knew I wanted to get right to making an impact in real people’s lives. I was really nervous that law school was going to feel like a fruitless and frustrating gesture, a means to an end I had to just get through in order to do the work I am passionate about. But that’s because I didn’t know about clinics.

Continue reading →

Life at BC Law: Working During the School Year

/ Luciabc / Leave a comment

Working at BC Law’s Admissions Office I often hear from prospective or accepted students who are wondering about whether they can work during the school year while attending BC Law. I remember when I was getting ready to go to law school I thought I would try to work my first year. I worked all throughout undergrad, so I expected that it would be the same in the law school. After starting 1L year, however, I realized that there were a number of reasons to hold off and wait for my second year before getting a part-time job.

Most importantly, something I didn’t know before I got to law school is that students are highly discouraged from working during their 1L year. I think there may be an ABA rule about this but I’m not completely sure. In any case, you’ll be adjusting to a new way of learning and studying and it is best to devote yourself to your classes. I know a few students who have quietly worked a few hours a week at service industry jobs they had before school, or gotten a cushy job at the library, but the general consensus is that it is wise to steer clear of working during 1L year. Your grades during this year are extremely important so it is best to hunker down with the books and use your time outside of the library to get to know your new classmates.

Continue reading →