As a kid I toggled back and forth between lots of answers to “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Lawyer was always on the short list. So was journalism.
I read “All the President’s Men” for an eighth grade book report, and it didn’t take long for me to make Bernstein and Woodward my personal journalism deities. To me, the idea that two reporters could take down a crooked president was (and still is) the epitome of what great journalism can do.
This new “Meet the” series introduces you to the diverse affinity student group leaders on campus.
Name: Moussa Hassoun
Year: 2017 (2L)
Organization & Position:
Lambda: Co-Chair
Undergraduate Institution:
Bentley University
Experiences between college and law school:
I went straight through from Bentley to BC Law. In between I worked for Liberty Mutual as a Product Analyst.
Favorite event that your organization plans:
The Lambda Annual Retreat is a special one. Students get away from the chaos of law school and get a chance to relax and get to know one another. Relaxation is one of the most undervalued needs all students should make time for. The retreat provides that opportunity and allows LGBTQ+ students to develop a community at the law school.
Meghan and Katie, 3L instructors for the environmental law course
BC Law has a very unique opportunity called the Environmental Law & Policy teaching program. Under the supervision of a BC Law professor, pairs of 3Ls teach a course for BC undergrads based around environmental law.
One pair of 3L instructors, Meghan Morgan and Katie Kelliher, was kind enough to give us an inside look at what they’re teaching their students, as well as what they each take away from the program personally (in addition to the academic credit).
Name: Allison Walsh
Year: 1L (Class of 2018)
Undergraduate institution: Fairfield University, Class of 2013, graduated cum laude; Deans List: 2010-2013; All-Academic Team 2009-2013; English Honors Society
Experiences between college and law school: I was a paralegal at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York City.
A shockwave disrupted the country on the afternoon of February 13, 2016, when we learned that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had passed away unexpectedly at the age of 79. The fascinating political and legal ramifications of Justice Scalia’s sudden death are yet to unfold, but what is certain is that American law students have lost a brilliant and consequential legal instructor. Continue reading
Name: Alain Mathieu
Year: 2L (Class of 2017)
Undergraduate institution: Bowdoin College, Class of 2012, graduated cum laude, Government and Legal Studies
Experiences between college and law school: I worked as the Alumni Fund Associate for Bowdoin College for two years. There, I managed the College’s young alumni and senior class gift campaigns.
Name: Sarah Shaw
Year: 1L (Class of 2018)
Undergraduate institution: Northeastern University, B.S. in Political Science, Class of 2012, graduated magna cum laude
Experiences between college and law school: I earned my M.A. in Political Science with a focus on Voting Systems in American Government, Northeastern University 2013. I then worked at a litigation law firm in Waltham, MA for two years.
Since I came to Boston College Law School in the Fall of 2013, the dialogue on campus about race and culture has moved front and center. This semester, part of that continuing dialogue has included BC Law’s promotion of Disgraced, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Muslim-American Ayad Akhtar. Huntington Theater Company summarized the play:
In Disgraced, high-powered New York lawyer Amir has climbed the corporate ladder while distancing himself from his Muslim roots. When he and his wife Emily host a dinner party, what starts as a friendly conversation escalates, shattering their views on race, religion, and each other.
As an American who was raised Muslim, I am acutely aware of how rare it is to find a central, three-dimensional depiction of our community in the mainstream media. The closest I can recall was the short-lived TLC reality show All-American Muslims, which went just eight episodes before succumbing to backlash from bigoted interest groups, cowed advertisers, and low ratings.
Even President Obama, in a touching speech during his recent historic visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, briefly mentioned our conspicuous absence in mainstream storytelling:
Part of what we have to do is to lift up the contributions of the Muslim-American community not when there’s a problem, but all the time. Our television shows should have some Muslim characters that are unrelated to national security because it’s not that hard to do. There was a time when there were no black people on television. And you can tell good stories while still representing the reality of our communities.
So of course, I was excited to learn that Disgraced even existed. There is much to explore about the Muslim-American story, especially given how fundamentally it changed after 9/11. Since then, Muslim-Americans have been forced to reconcile our identities, both privately and publicly, in the wake of every atrocity carried out in our name. It has been distracting, dehumanizing, and exhausting to endure, not to mention frightening.
Finally, Disgraced was one of us earning the chance to share our story, truthfully and unapologetically; to humanize ourselves in a way that only great art can, warts and all.
I headed into Huntington Theater feeling optimistic and hopeful.
I left feeling betrayed, ashamed, and angry.
Spoilers ahead.
“Mom, Dad, why don’t you just Google it?”
It’s a phrase I must have said a million times in my short 23 years. The basic premise there is that someone out there in the big wide world has had the same question, and there is always someone who knows more than you who has the answer.
Okay, but it’s one thing entirely to ask Google why a certain word you misspelled in a text once has suddenly become your phones default spelling, and another entirely to ask how to navigate law school or find a job doing what you want with the salary and work-life balance you want given all of your specific life experiences.
That’s where mentorship comes in. And in a lot of ways, it’s even better than a Google search.
Name: Jill Gately
Year: 1L (Class of 2018)
Undergraduate institution: Wesleyan University, Class of 2015
BC Law: Impact 