Long before anyone was booking flights to Cancún, the building blocks of spring break were quietly assembling in American college culture. Since the 19th century, well-to-do students have escaped their academic duties by fleeing to states with the nearest coastline. The advent of the car, higher education opportunities for women, and widespread availability of alcohol all fused together into the nationwide phenomenon of the co-ed road trip. With all of these factors settled, the only question left was where to meet up.
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Assigning Law School Classes a Taylor Swift Song
As we approach Spring Break, I am definitely coming out of the school mood, and this article is no different. I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan, so I thought it would be fun to give law school classes their Taylor song. Of course I thought of multiple songs for each class, but I landed on the ones I thought made the most sense.
Continue readingA Procrastinator’s Guide to Spring Break Ideas
So…It’s February. You’ve lifted your head from the fugue state of OCI/getting adjusted to your classes/digging your car out of a snow pile/writing your law review note, and set hopeful eyes on spring break as an opportunity for rest and recuperation when you realize—you never made any spring break plans.
Or, you’ve looked at your bank account, thought “yikes!” and decided to have a bit of a stay-cation, but have no plans on how to actually go about doing that. Fair! Reasonable! I have been there!
In the interest of transparency, I personally will be fleeing the great city of Boston at the first available opportunity (shoutout to the Amtrak!), however, I’ve compiled three fun (low cost) things to do with the tons of free time you will have on your hands come spring break. (That is, once you’ve caught up on your reading, done the write-on, decided how early you want to outline, remembered to go grocery shopping, etc. etc.).
Continue readingThe Opportunity Cost of Early BigLaw Recruiting
It’s your first semester of law school at BC Law. It’s been just a few weeks since orientation, and you’re trying to get your footing. Torts makes sense, because slapping someone is obviously a battery. Contracts feels manageable too; you think about your apartment lease, or your brother’s offer to buy you McDonald’s, to think through offer and acceptance. Law Practice is a bit frustrating because you’re expected to learn the Bluebook on the fly. And Civ Pro? You have no idea what’s going on there—but that’s a problem for later.
Meanwhile, you’re figuring out how to be a law student. Do you take notes like you did in undergrad, buy color-coded notebooks to handwrite in class, or type a near-transcript of everything your professor says? When do you start outlining—and what even is an outline? Will you sound stupid if you go to office hours to ask about Twombly? And then there’s the club fair. Should you apply to that 1L Representative position for the Law Student Association? Or for the Business Law Society? Both would look great on your resume. But not too many commitments so soon—you still need time to read your cases, pour hours into over-detailed briefs, and prepare for class. Maybe one club application and casual involvement in the others will be enough for now.
Continue readingWhen 1L Fall Finals Don’t Go As Planned
There’s a version of your first 1L finals season that exists in your head: You wake up early. You review your attack outlines one last time. You calmly sip coffee. You walk into the exam room steady, composed, and frighteningly well-prepared. And then there’s real life.
Continue readingIs Love Possible in Law School? Lessons from St. Valentine
Recently, while traversing the aisles of my local Target, I found myself nearly drowning in a red sea of assorted teddy bears, flowers, chocolates, and fatigued sales associates. Like Moses though, I split through the waters by politely saying excuse me and performing an awkward penguin-like shuffle by. As I finally made it to the aisle that contained Draino, the purpose of my shopping trip, I thought to myself that there must be much more to Valentine’s Day than modern American consumerism. My intuition was right.
Continue readingLove, Actually: 1L Lifesavers
Eternal January has ended, and Forever February has entered the picture. This winter has been particularly brutal, and, at least according to the baseless claims of that godforsaken groundhog, spring is still a long way off. Yet, sandwiched in the middle of what may be the dreariest month of the year is one of my favorite commercialized holidays: Valentine’s Day.
Continue readingThe Great White Hurricane: When Providence Showed Off
This weekend’s bitter cold reminded me of a three-day storm long in the past that makes our modern Nor’easters look positively quaint. On March 11-14, 1888, the “Great White Hurricane” buried the Northeast under 50 inches of snow coupled with 85 mph winds. According to contemporary account in the New York Evening Sun, “It came in whirls, it descended in layers, it shot along in great blocks, it rose and fell and corkscrewed and zigzagged and played merry havoc with everything it could swing or batter or bang or carry away.”
Continue readingA Tale of Two Newtons: Life as a Freshman and Law Student
Before I ever stepped foot onto the grounds of Boston College, I learned that I would be living on the Newton campus my freshman year.
I did not think much of it at first, but as I descended the hill to Duchesne Hall for the first time, I prepared myself for an entire year of living in the lowest place on campus, both figuratively and literally. Although I had some challenges adjusting to my new living situation, I came to love Newton campus and defend it against anybody willing to talk poorly about it. I met some of my best friends in Duchesne and on the Newton bus, and I would not trade those experiences for anything. Only on Newton campus will you see people being hurled down a hill of snow and ice in a trash can and call it “sledding.” Only on Newton campus will freshmen buy BC Law sweatshirts to try to study in the Law Library.
Continue readingRealistic Resolutions for a 1L (That I Might Actually Keep)
By January of 1L year, the idea of a “New Year’s resolution” feels ambitious at best and slightly delusional at worst. After surviving fall finals and learning, the hard way, what doesn’t work, I’m setting a few resolutions for second semester. Nothing revolutionary, just realistic enough that I might actually end up doing them.
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BC Law: Impact 