A career services advisor can be an amazing resource in law school as you navigate OCI, externships, clerkship applications, and more. However, it’s important that you find the advisor who can best help you reach your personal goals! To do so, follow along with this new series to learn about each CSO advisor at Boston College Law School. Here is our interview with Soo Lim.
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When Fall Comes to New England, Law School Can Wait (ish)
Before attending BC Law, I had spent next to zero time in New England. Years ago, I remembered listening to the song When Fall Comes to New England by Cheryl Wheeler on car rides with my dad. Once I came to Boston, I was determined to ensure that I could sing along after graduating without feeling like a fraud. As I finish my final semester here, I want to have no regrets about enjoying New England’s fall.
Continue readingLAHANAS: Welcome Back to Campus
Welcome back, BC Law students! We, the student directors of LAHANAS, wanted to re-introduce ourselves.
LAHANAS is the student-led umbrella organization, open to all, with a particular focus on supporting BC Law’s affinity student groups, including:
- Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
- Black Law Students Association (BLSA)
- Disability Law Students Association (DLSA)
- Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA)
- Lambda Law Students Association
- Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA)
- Native American Law Students Association (NALSA)
- South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA)
We are committed to addressing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging issues on campus and we work closely with Lisa Brathwaite, Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, all of the student affinity groups, the Career Services Office, the Academic Success Program and Academic & Student Services to ensure that BC Law is and feels like an inclusive and supportive community.
We want all BC Law students to feel comfortable and safe being their full selves, and we recognize the importance of having an intersectional and supportive network to rely on. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with us directly via email should you have any questions about who we are and how we can support you. Welcome back again, and we look forward to an exciting year ahead.
Ali Shafi (3L), Jasmine Lee (3L), and Kristie-Valerie Hoang
LAHANAS Student Directors
4 Ways to Stay in Touch With Your Summer Mentors
While interning at a law firm, nonprofit organization, or government agency last summer, you likely found some professionals who you really clicked with. Maybe they were your direct supervisors, or maybe they were just attorneys with positions or career paths that really spoke to you. Either way, it’s important that you don’t let the busy school season prevent you from maintaining the relationships you cultivated just a few months ago. To make sure you aren’t forgotten by your mentors, follow these four tips.
Continue readingGet to Know the CSO: Naomi Bass
A career services advisor can be an amazing resource in law school as you navigate OCI, externships, clerkship applications, and more. However, it’s important that you find the advisor who can best help you reach your personal goals! To do so, follow along with this new series to learn about each CSO advisor at Boston College Law School. Next up is the Associate Director of Career Services, Naomi Bass.
What is your role in the CSO?
Since 2021, I have been an Associate Director in the CSO. My role includes advising JD students about career options and decisions at all stages of their law school experience. Our team collaborates to create and deliver professional development programs, conduct mock interviews, review application materials, and engage with BC Law alumni on a range of programs to support our students on their career journeys.
Continue readingReflections as a 3L
When people told me as a 1L that law school would fly by in the blink of an eye, I never really believed them. It sounded like a tall tale at the time, when I was still trying to figure out whether Quimbeeing cases was worth it (spoiler alert: Quimbee is always a good choice and will save you so much time). But now as a 3L, I have to say that law school did indeed fly by–and as the end of my law school career approaches, I have much to reflect on.
Continue readingLaw School: Stepping Stone or End Goal?
By Alyssa Leston
So you made the decision to go to law school.
Maybe–like me–you realized it was the last day to sign up for the LSAT for the upcoming application cycle, forcing you to spend a frantic few weeks studying and then researching which school was the right fit.
Or maybe you’ve known for years that this was your path; months of preparation, tours, and networking brought you to the school you are at now, feeling ready and excited to start achieving your dream.
Or maybe, now that you’re here, you’ve stopped caring about how you got to where you are, because you realized that regardless of the process, you’re not excited to be there after all.
So, what now?
Continue readingHow Law School Altered My Viewing of Moonrise Kingdom
With four weeks of 1L classes under my belt, I can affirmatively say that this whole law school experience is quite transformative. The time leading up to my first class (29 days ago!) was marked by a dizzying amount of unsolicited advice from upperclassmen, lawyers, professors, and family. Within the advice on how to not have a mental breakdown or flunk out of school was the idea that law school will change how you see the world. Reflecting on my 4-week long stint so far, I have already seen the relevance of this in my life.
I recently found myself re-watching old favorite movies to decompress from the long law school days (there is seemingly no escape from the lessons learned in the classroom; I found myself saying under my breath “that’s a tort” as I watched characters on screen act negligently). One of my favorite films I recently rewatched is Moonrise Kingdom, which is set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s. Our protagonists, Suzy and Sam, are two twelve-year-olds who fall in love and run away from home. In typical Wes Anderson style, a series of obtuse events follows as the residents of their town search for the pair. Through my new legal lens, I rewatched this Anderson favorite with fresh thoughts to share.
Continue readingGet to Know the CSO: Sarah Bookbinder
A career services advisor can be an amazing resource in law school as you navigate OCI, externships, clerkship applications, and more. However, it’s important that you find the advisor who can best help you reach your personal goals! To do so, follow along with this new series to learn about each CSO advisor at Boston College Law School. First up is the Assistant Dean of Career Services, Sarah Bookbinder.
What is your role in the CSO?
As Assistant Dean, my main role is to oversee all of the ongoing work we do in the office, including individual advising, program planning, large scale interview programs, outreach to employers and alumni, and pro bono opportunities. I am also the main point of contact between the CSO and other offices in the Law School to make sure we’re coordinating our efforts, and I meet with students when they have ideas or specific needs beyond career advising. In addition to that daily work, I’m keeping a close eye on the market and the evolving goals and concerns of BC students to make sure our programming continues to reflect all of this.
Continue readingThe Beauty of an American Legal Education: An International Student’s Perspective
In the heart of Hong Kong’s Central district, under the watchful gaze of towering skyscrapers and amidst the city’s bustle, stands Lady Justice. Wearing a blindfold and delicately balancing scales in her hand, she acts as a beacon, symbolizing the enduring principles of fairness, equity, and the rule of law. She also represents Hong Kong’s British past, a colonial relic amidst ever-evolving cityscape and sovereignty that envelops her. As I left Hong Kong for Boston to attend law school, I thought of her journey, albeit stilted, through centuries of urban growth, shifts in sovereignty, and natural decay. With the statue of Lady Justice etched in my mind, I began my own legal journey in the United States.
So, as a Hong Konger, why attend law school in the United States? There are plenty of other common law jurisdictions to attain a law degree. The United Kingdom. Canada. Australia. Even Hong Kong itself. For me, the answer lies not just in the pursuit of a degree, but in the distinct ethos and philosophy of American legal education.
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