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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A Tool for Accountability and Justice: Meet Leena Alasaad
There are numerous roads to law school, and no one-size fits all path to a successful legal career. Follow along with our series highlighting BC Law students and how they got here!
Previous entries: Sara Womble (Winston Salem, NC); Elias Massion (Nashville, TN); Samina Gagné (London);Alvin Synarong (Murfreesboro, Tennessee); Ruchita Jain (Edina, Minnesota); Nicole Bauer (Michigan);Carlos Robles-Cruz (Puerto Rico); Taha Din (Naperville, IL); Timothy St. Pierre (Brunswick, Maine); Tobias Wilcken Jørgensen LLM ’25 (Denmark).
Name: Leena Alasaad
Hometown: Dracut, Massachusetts
Educational Background: Undergraduate degree in Political Science, with a minor in Philosophy and Law, University of Massachusetts Boston
The Proof is in the Puffery: A Thanksgiving Story about Chiffon Cake
This Thanksgiving, our contribution to the feast was a pineapple chiffon cake. Chiffon is the French word for “cloth” and the cake’s name derives from its light and airy texture. After testing over 400 different recipes, the cake’s aptly named inventor, Harry Baker, discovered the magic formula by replacing butter with vegetable oil. He called the addition of vegetable oil, “a sixth sense, something cosmic.” Mr. Baker held tightly to that secret for 20 years before selling the recipe to General Mills in 1947. Ever-the-salesman, General Mills debuted the recipe with the moniker, “The first really new cake in 100 years.”
Continue readingFor the 1Ls from the 2Ls: Last Minute Exam Advice
It was not until I started my 2L year that I realized just how much I have grown since first walking into BC Law in August 2024. I feel like I lived 20 years in one, but I remember my first class––Critical Perspectives––like it happened a week ago.
In my short time as a 2L, I have been lucky enough to have two amazing mentees with whom I can grace with my law school wisdom. I also learned a lot from them about what it’s like being a 1L in 2025. Each year recruitment moves up, and more pressure is added to the exam period.
While I give all the student-experience advice I can to my 1Ls, I realize my experience is just that––mine. In law school, perhaps the greatest lesson I have learned so far is how individualized it is: students learn material differently, do readings differently, and prepare for exams differently. I asked 3 friends the same set of questions about their exam prep and for any advice to the 1Ls heading into their first exam season. They came from each of the Fall 2025 1L sections, and all performed well on their first exams.
Continue readingEscaping the 2L Doldrums (A Tortured Sailing Metaphor)
“Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion:
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.”
‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1834)
Growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania, I remember learning about the so-called ‘age of exploration’, probably an aged moniker today, but hey, this was *gasp* the late-90s. One thing that stuck with me from all those lessons about Christopher Columbus’s supposed ‘discovery’ of the new world, Ferdinand Magellan’s unceremonious demise in Southeast Asia, and Henry Hudson’s ill-fated attempt(s) to uncover a waterway that linked the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and so on, is a rather minor aspect of wind-based sea travel: getting stuck in the doldrums.
Continue readingWest Coast, Best Coast? Finding Home at BC Law
I recently asked one of my friends here at BC if he ever gets homesick and he responded with a definitive “no.” While I do think he was being purposefully facetious just to irk me, I did take a moment to consider how I’ve been more prone to homesickness than many of my peers. Most of my law school friends are from the area, with their families and close friends nearby. Meanwhile, my parents and many of my high school friends are back in Oregon, whereas the majority of my college friends from USC stayed in California.
Continue readingThe ‘C’ in BC Law stands for Catering: My Favorite Club Event Food
Due to SNAP benefits being suspended, millions of people across the nation are at increased risk for food insecurity. If you or someone you know is affected, resources include: The Massachusetts SNAP Resource Hub, Project Bread, Newton Food Pantry, and Brookline Food Pantry.
The BC Law Weekly Headlines Nov. 3 email lists out more resources.
As we approach the end of the semester, we also approach a time for decision-making and looking ahead. No, I’m not talking about choosing spring classes or a finals study spot. I’m talking about something much more important: what to eat for lunch.
Continue readingTrick or Treat! Halloween’s Age-Old Contract
Dressing up as an iconic character from a coveted television show, film, or book is a cherished tradition of the internationally celebrated holiday, Halloween. This day brings excitement and joy to not just children, but to grown up law students as well. Halloween has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. The pagan holiday gained its notoriety in the Catholic religious tradition when, in the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor saints. Over time, All Saints Day came to incorporate some of the traditions of Samhain. From this, the evening before All Saints Day became known as All Hallows Eve, and later, Halloween.
Continue readingWhy Fall As A 1L Doesn’t Have To Be So Scary
It’s easy to focus on the chaos of 1L fall; there’s so much to learn and seemingly not enough time. But somewhere between the stress and the multiple Lexis tabs open on my computer, there’s a lot to love about being a law student this time of year.
Continue readingIs Life Forcing a Change of Plans? Don’t Panic
Nothing anyone says can really prepare you for the purgatory that is your first year out of college. To borrow a phrase from one of my close friends, there were days during my post-graduation period where looking for positives felt like “fishing for king salmon in a street puddle.” I had moved back to my hometown in Oregon, something I had vowed I would never do. All I’d ever wanted was to leave, and there I was, right back where I had started.
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BC Law: Impact 