BC Law officially kicked off Diversity Month with the “Taste of Diversity.” The event offers an opportunity for students to interact and sample food from the different affinity groups. Prior to the event, LSA President Nirav Bhatt ’16 said, “Every year students are excited for the tasty food and thought-provoking conversations that arise during the buffet style event. I’m looking forward to it!” Indeed, it’s an event that students have been talking about for weeks leading up to it. We all know students love free food, especially quality food!
Meet the Ambassador: Ross Weimer
Name: Ross Weimer 
Year: 3L (Class of 2016)
Undergraduate institution: University of Pittsburgh, Class of 2011, graduated summa cum laude
Favorite class: Land Use Law
Activities at BC Law (besides being an Ambassador):
- Teaching Assistant, Legal Reasoning, Research and Writing
- Civil Litigation Clinic
- Admissions Committee
- Moot Court Competition
Making a Lawyer Part II: The Human Criminal Justice System
This is Part II of a two-part series about two attorneys from the Netflix series Making a Murderer, Mr. Walt Kelly ‘68 and Mr. Dean Strang, visiting Boston College Law School on Wednesday, February 24, 2016. For Part I, please click here.
“It’s O.K. to follow a hunch,” Mr. Dean Strang told the audience of more than 300 students and faculty. “But if you’re shaping every bit of new information around that hunch, and discarding information that doesn’t square away with your hunch or hypothesis, you can wind up with the wrong guy.”
That is the essence of what Mr. Strang and Mr. Jerry Buting argued to the jury during Mr. Steven Avery’s murder trial. Part of their theory of the case, as explained in the Netflix series Making a Murderer, was that the local police acted on a hunch that Mr. Avery killed Teresa Halbach, and may have done everything in their power, including plant evidence, to ensure his conviction.
Making a Lawyer Part I: Steven Avery’s Attorneys Visit BC Law
This is Part I of a two-part series about two attorneys from the Netflix series Making a Murderer, Mr. Walt Kelly ‘68 and Mr. Dean Strang, visiting Boston College Law School on Wednesday, February 24, 2016. Check back tomorrow for Part II.
“How many of you have seen Making a Murderer?” Mr. Walt Kelly, genuinely curious, asked the crowd of more than 300 students and faculty. When nearly every hand shot up, the room erupted with laughter. Mr. Kelly seemed to have underestimated the show’s popularity, especially among law students.
The Netflix series Making a Murderer was released in December to rave reviews, and quickly became binge-watching fodder for students on Winter Break across the country. The show, which was filmed over a ten-year period in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, highlights the story of Mr. Steven Avery, who was exonerated after serving eighteen years in prison for sexual assault and attempted murder, only to be charged with murder just two years after his release. Mr. Avery’s main criminal defense raised questions about conflicts of interest during the murder investigation and implied foul play among the ranks of the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department.
Meet the Ambassador: Justin Maloney
Name: Justin Maloney
Year: 1L (Class of 2018)
Undergraduate institution: Providence College, Class of 2015, graduated summa cum laude; Highest GPA in the Philosophy Major; Highest GPA in the Business Studies Minor
Activities at BC Law (besides being an Ambassador):
- Law Students Association (1L Section Rep)
- Business Law Society
Meet the Ambassador: Rob Rossi
Name: Rob Rossi
Year: 3L (Class of 2016)
Undergraduate institution: Boston College, B.S. in Management with concentrations in Finance & Marketing, Class of 2013, graduated magna cum laude
Activities at BC Law (besides being an Ambassador):
- Executive Articles Editor, Boston College Law Review
- BC Law Impact
- 3L Glass Gift Committee
- Beantown Shootout & Intramural Basketball Teams
- BC Law Softball League
- Chair of the Law Students Association Social Media & Communications Committee (as a 2L)
- Gulf Coast Recovery Trip to New Orleans, LA (as a 1L)
The Best Class I’ve Taken in Law School
Coming into law school, I had no intention of ever stepping into a court room. I thought I wanted to do education policy work for a non-profit or government agency, hanging out behind a desk, engaging with complex issues at the highest levels, and generally avoiding an adversarial setting at all costs. But then I actually came to law school and what I thought I wanted shifted dramatically — which, spoiler alert, happens a lot!
My 2L year, my dear friend and current Law Student Association Vice President Andrea Clavijo lovingly coerced me into participating in the intra-school Moot Court competition. More on that later (and you can read about it on the BC Law web site here), but the tl;dr version is that Moot Court is basically fake appellate advocacy. Instead of making an argument to a jury, Law & Order style, you and a partner argue in front of a (fake) Supreme Court, focusing on the legal issues and advocating for what the law should be.
The experience was absolutely terrifying, and I. Absolutely. Loved It. Which is what brings me to the actual topic of the post: the best class I’ve taken in law school.
Meet the Ambassador: Cusaj Thomas
Name: Cusaj Thomas
Year: 1L (Class of 2018)
Undergraduate institution: Boston College, Class of 2015; Henry J. McMahon Award recipient; Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship finalist
Activities at BC Law (besides being an Ambassador): Historian, Black Law Students Association
Meet the Affinity Group Leaders: Anna Hunanyan (MELSA)
Name: Anna Hunanyan
Year: 2L
Affinity Group: Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA); 
Co-President
Undergraduate Institution:
UCLA, BA Business Economics, BA Comparative Literature
Experiences between college and law school:
I took a year off before starting law school. I spent half of that year working as a financial analyst and the other half as a legal assistant.
Favorite event that your organization plans:
Every semester MELSA invites a speaker to discuss a timely and relevant issue concerning the Middle East. We have had cutting edge thinkers engage the BC Law community on topics such as free speech and hate speech, the Armenian Genocide, and the development of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. We have been lucky to host speakers with diverse backgrounds and experiences coming from different parts of the world. The perspective they bring and share is thought-provoking.
Meet the Ambassador: Charlene Ochogo
Name: Charlene Ochogo
Year: 2L (Class of 2017)
Undergraduate institution: University of Florida, Class of 2014
Experiences between college and law school: The most relaxed summer ever (i.e., I went straight through).
BC Law: Impact 