Experiential Learning

[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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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A Welcomed Déjà Vu

/ DQuattrochi / Leave a comment

“No single event can awaken within us a stranger whose existence we had never suspected. To live is to be slowly born.” — Antoine de Saint Exupéry

It started with an itch. From the tips of my toes, up the small of my back; it danced on my shoulders before taking root in my heart. And there it stayed, impatiently waiting. I can still remember that day, sitting at the office: apartment lettings and advertisements on my left screen, the name of a UK partner of my firm on the right.

The caret cursor bounced tauntingly in the message box, his address already entered into the appropriate field. To this day I’m not sure where I muddled up the gall. Minutes later I realized I’d sent him a meeting request. Two days later I applied to BC Law’s Global Practice Program. A week later I was suddenly booked on a January flight from JFK to London, Heathrow. I was headed abroad, once more…

Screenshot 2015-01-20 at 2.07.29 PM

Many of you are just beginning your law school journey. Be it as prospective or admitted students; you’ve begun a search, a quest of sorts. It is my sincere hope that these posts might demonstrate to each of you that choosing BC Law as your guide through that journey is not simply a wise choice, but the best choice.

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