Law & Society

My Answer to ‘Why Did You Go to Law School’

/ Alexandra Staller / Leave a comment

When I walked into my last Critical Perspectives class of the semester this past Monday, written on the board was the question: ‘Why did you go to law school?’ This question was nothing new – law students get asked by family, friends, and most law school applications ask why you want to go to law school – but in class that day, it felt like a very personal one.

Sunday night I was working on my cover letter, as one does on their Sunday evening. As I was writing, I was thinking about all of the experiences and skills I had that might separate me from the hundreds of cover letters that 1Ls across the country will be sending to summer employers. My entire professional life flashed before my eyes: school nights picking up trash after college basketball games, a few summers lifeguarding and babysitting, and that one cashier job at Home Depot. But I landed on my experience last year working for a mass tort litigation firm, where I was a paralegal on the Boy Scouts of America sexual abuse class action case. That role absolutely changed my life in more than a professional sense, and gave me my answer to the question on the board that morning in Critical Perspectives.

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Breaking Down a Big Week in the Net Neutrality Case

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

This guest post by BC Law Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Daniel Lyons first appeared in the AEIdeas Blog.

While the eyes of much of the country were on Pennsylvania and Georgia last week, the tech community was focused on Cincinnati, where the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the net neutrality case. As I’ve noted before, it’s unwise to predict a decision based on oral argument alone. But the arguments signaled that the court is far more interested in the merits of the case than most anticipated. This post discusses that shift, while acknowledging that events last Tuesday may ultimately overshadow those on Halloween.

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Is International Law Even Real?

/ Sangeeta Kishore / Leave a comment

At law school, I wanted to pursue international law. I studied International Relations in college, worked in foreign policy — anything with the word “global” in it, I was in. But what is international law? Some people say that it doesn’t exist. Others define it as a confusing mess of conventions, treaties and standards, with no real enforcement. 

I’d like to draw a different picture. International law sets the norms for global politics and helps facilitate socio-economic development across the world. Perhaps most importantly, international law regulates the conduct of war.

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Does ‘True Crime’ Need to be True?

/ Sangeeta Kishore / Leave a comment

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say this, but my early interest with the law stemmed from my fascination with true crime. Two questions recurred in my mind: What drives someone to do terrible things? And do we actually have the full story? 

That’s what brought me to Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the latest Netflix true crime series featuring a star-studded cast: Javier Bardem, Chloë Sevigny, Ari Graynor, Nathan Lane and directed by American Horror Story and American Crime Story creator Ryan Murphy. For those who don’t know, the Menendez brothers were convicted of murdering their parents back in the 90s. It’s a made-for-true-crime story.

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Why Hurricanes and Oranges Sent Me to Law School

/ Samantha Torre / Leave a comment

When I was ten years old, Hurricane Sandy hit my hometown on Long Island in October 2012.  My concerns at the time were centered on whether the neighborhood would cancel trick or treating and if the medium-sized pear tree on our front lawn would survive after the storm knocked it over. For me, Hurricane Sandy represented a vacation from school and a chance to finish Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Fortunately, circumstance shielded me from the extent of the damage — our utilities survived most of the storm and were replaced quickly. This was not the case for everyone. Friends who lived five minutes away lost water for days and power for longer. My aunt had to move after her home was flooded. A friend from high school still had nightmares when it rained — six years after the storm.

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A Tale of Two Responses: 9/11, Ukraine, and the Evolution of International Justice

/ Alex Mostaghimi / Leave a comment

On September 11, 2001, the world watched in horror as planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people. It was an attack not just on American soil, but on the very fabric of international peace and security. The magnitude of 9/11 called for a swift and forceful response, and the U.S. delivered—launching the War on Terror, invading Afghanistan, and eventually Iraq. However, questions about the legality of these actions arose. The legacy of Guantánamo Bay, extraordinary renditions, and indefinite detentions has left an indelible mark on the global fight against terrorism.

Two decades later, another horrific event has sparked the world’s attention: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But this time, the international community is charting a different course. Rather than bypassing international law, Ukraine is actively working to establish a high war crimes court to prosecute the atrocities committed in its territory. This pursuit of accountability, while the conflict is still raging, marks a significant evolution in the global approach to justice. It proves that we are progressing in our search for international accountability, contrasting sharply with the path taken in the aftermath of 9/11.

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Telegram CEO Arrest and Brazil’s X Ban Raise Free Speech and Privacy Concerns

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

This guest post by BC Law Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Daniel Lyons first appeared in the AEIdeas Blog.

Last week, global headlines spotlighted two separate flashpoints in the battle by governments to police social media networks. In Paris, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested for complicity in distribution of child sexual abuse imagery. And in Brazil, a judge banned X (formerly Twitter) nationwide after the company refused to block certain users on the eve of election season.  While both incidents can be couched as failures to comply with national law, the unusually harsh remedies raise important concerns about free speech and privacy online.

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Net Neutrality, and other FCC Initiatives Jeopardized Post-Chevron

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

This guest post by BC Law Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Daniel Lyons first appeared in the AEIdeas Blog.

It has been a big week for tech policy at the Supreme Court. As my AEI colleague Clay Calvert discussed, the NetChoice cases endorsed social media platforms’ First Amendment right of editorial control. But for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other agencies, Loper Bright, which overturned Chevron, looms largest. The FCC in particular has long benefited from Chevron’s command that agencies, not courts, are the primary arbiters of an ambiguous statute’s meaning. Overturning this regime, and restoring that authority to courts, is likely to pose additional challenges for net neutrality, digital discrimination, and other FCC initiatives that capitalized on ambiguous language to accomplish the agency’s policy objectives.

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Documenting the Triumphs of Our Black BC Law Community

/ Haley Cole / Leave a comment

In 2023, only 5% of all attorneys across the United States identified as Black or African American, according to the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau (not including the 3% of attorneys who identified as multi-racial). In that same year, only 2% of Black or African American identifying attorneys were women. 

These statistics lay bare the stark reality that Black attorneys are underrepresented in the legal community. The same census report cites 15% of Americans who identify as Black, or Black in addition to another race(s). However, the number of Black attorneys does not align with the magnitude of contributions they have made to, and accolades they have earned within, the legal field. 

Within the BC Law community lies a special history of Black excellence. Boston College Law School’s new website “Black History at BC Law” and a companion BC Law Magazine feature story documents and praises the triumphs of our Black BC Law community.

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Facing Cable Cord-Cutting, Cities Fight to Tax Broadband

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

This guest post by BC Law Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Daniel Lyons first appeared in the AEIdeas Blog.

Broadband has been a bright spot in America’s grim inflationary landscape. While consumer prices rose 4.9 percent last year, two recent reports show that consumer broadband prices fell, both in absolute terms and cost per gigabyte. But where many see a victory, some cities sense an opportunity. Stung by declining cable franchise fees, local governments are pushing to tax broadband. This effort faces severe regulatory headwinds, but if successful could erode consumer gains and drive broadband prices higher.

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