advice

Finding Joy in Unexpected Places (the Trusts and Estates Classroom)

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

After the fall semester of my 2L year, I essentially decided to stop taking doctrinal courses. I did take Evidence and Corporations — because the bar exam is something that I’ll have to pass at some point — but I spent most of my time in either clinics or in classes focused more on experiential learning than casebook reading. I learned the ins and outs of Lexis and Westlaw in Advanced Legal Research, represented real clients in the Civil Rights Clinic, and practiced my oral advocacy in the Supreme Court Experience, but I didn’t spend many hours briefing cases or creating outlines.

As much as I loved this change of pace after 1L year, when it came time to pick classes for my last semester at BC Law, I knew it was time to get back into the doctrinal mindset. The bar was now looming closer and closer, and I had only taken two exams in an entire calendar year. Don’t get me wrong, I still was going to take Trial Practice, but I was also going to buck up and finally get around to taking Administrative Law and *gulp* Trusts and Estates.

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Mentors: Who Needs ‘Em? (Hint: You)

/ Seung Hye Yang / Leave a comment

Being a law student means you’re constantly feeling like you’re missing something, feeling like you have something due in a week or a final looming over the horizon of the semester. And when everything is so chaotic, it’s easy to forget that your legal career will consist of much more than the grade you get on your torts final.

As a 3L looking back on my law school journey, one thing I never knew would be so integral in my career development was mentorship. For 1L me, mentorship was merely a buzzword that was thrown around with no actual instructions on how to cultivate such a relationship. In fact, when you’re a 1L, you don’t really have the luxury to think about anything other than briefing cases for the next day—and therefore, I believed mentorship to be a chore, an extracurricular on top of everything else I had to do. I never anticipated that it would be one of my favorite parts of the legal journey.

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1L Interviews: How to Sell Your Story in 20 Minutes or Less

/ Alex Mostaghimi / Leave a comment

The most industrious Common Poorwill, a nocturnal bird native to North America, will only hibernate for one month before once again starting its daily habit of hunting moths, grasshoppers, and beetles. So too does the North American law student awaken from their month-long winter break to re-initiate their habits of daily readings, writings, and cold-calls. But the inexperienced 1L also faces a peculiar challenge upon their return: the law school interview.  

Just as the prudent squirrel buries nuts for the winter, the thoughtful law student heeds the call of their Career Services Office to send out applications before winter break. Similar to the forgetful squirrel’s nut budding into a strong oak, the forgetful law student’s application can turn into a fruitful 20-minute interview. However, how much ground can be covered in 20 minutes? How simple is it to sell yourself as a professional in an industry you’ve only formally joined three months ago?

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I Used to Be Normal. Then I Went to Law School

/ Michael Deere / 1 Comment

I used to be normal. With normal ideas about normal things. You know, everyday stuff. I knew that only people could be people. I knew that property divided broadly into “houses and similar,” “cars and similar,” and “other.” I understood the Constitution. And I didn’t have this recurring dream where I’m waiting for a train and fireworks are going off, but instead of pinwheel lights and colorful explosions, the fireworks spell out “No Liability Without Fault.” The law (and lawyers…) was something best left alone unless absolutely necessary, and when it was necessary, I imagined it looked a lot like Judge Judy’s courtroom. It was a simpler time, with simple ideas and dreamless sleep.

Then I started law school.

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Six Tips I’ve Learned from 1L Year (So Far)

/ Sangeeta Kishore / Leave a comment

Entering the second semester of 1L, I’m definitely a little burned out. But I’m no longer burdened by the uncertainty I had when I came to law school. I’m a little wiser now. Here is what I wish I knew for my first semester of law school. 

  1. Prepare for every class like you’re on call. 

Many of us get to experience the luxury of not being on call every day. For all of my first semester classes, I either had an on-call day or panel system. In one of my classes, I wasn’t called on until the very end, so I prepared each and every Wednesday, week after week to be ready. A little annoying, but it paid off. This may seem obvious, but letting your mind think you’re always on call makes your understanding that much better. While not always feasible, it pays off in the long run – you’ve had more time to process the material and it makes finals season that much easier. 

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My 2024 Law School Resolutions

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

After a long, relaxing, and unproductive break, we’re back at school. While it can be nerve-wracking to start a new semester, with new classes, professors, and expectations to manage, it can also be a chance for a fresh start. We like to set resolutions for ourselves each new year to (hopefully) guide how we’ll live moving forward, but as law students, the same practice can be useful before returning to the classroom. Here are three of my resolutions for this semester that I think could be beneficial for us all.

Outline (Semi) Regularly

I’ve heard the advice that law students should add to their outlines every week, and I even know students who follow this practice. While that sounds borderline impossible for me, I also recognize that my strategy of waiting to outline until classes end is also…not ideal.

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Get to Know the CSO: Michelle Grossfield

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

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 Michelle Grossfield.

What was your path to the CSO, and why did you choose to go into career advising?

After law school, I practiced child welfare law at the public defender’s office in Massachusetts. It was an incredibly rewarding and challenging experience to represent children, families, and legal guardians in the Juvenile and Probate and Family courts in Plymouth and Worcester counties. The stakes in care and protection matters are incredibly high for families, given the fact that parental rights can be terminated, and parents may have no ability for future contact during a child’s upbringing. I was fortunate to have excellent mentors, colleagues, and training early on in my career, and was honored to advocate for the children, mothers, fathers, and parental figures appointed to me as they navigated incredible societal barriers and multiple complex systems.

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Sticks and Stones: Handling Confrontation Like a Lawyer

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

Today’s guest post is written by Glenn Cunha, a Boston College graduate, BC Law adjunct professor, a former managing attorney of the Criminal Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and retired Massachusetts Inspector General. He is currently serving as a special prosecutor to the Suffolk County District Attorney.

Please note that today’s post contains language and situations that may be upsetting.

As lawyers, we sometimes take for granted the skills we hav‌e honed over the years during law school and in practice. I wanted to become a lawyer when I realized I could have a career based on talking, arguing and going after bullies. It’s just who I am.  Teachers, family members, coaches and friends would always tell me that I would make a good lawyer someday.

The legal skills we use — advocacy, quick thinking, level headedness — are skills I’ve had my whole life. I certainly refined them as a law student and throughout my career but because they are so natural to me, I tend to think everyone has them. After a situation this past summer, it became apparent to me that this isn’t necessarily true.

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Get to Know the CSO: Chris Teague

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

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 Chris Teague.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in law school, and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge in law school came during the spring semester of my 1L year. I started the semester very excited to take a class that was closely related to the type of law I wanted to practice, but much to my surprise, I ended up hating the class. This really threw me for a loop because I was one of those students who came to law school knowing EXACTLY what they wanted to do with their degree. When I realized I didn’t enjoy the class, I started to feel kind of lost. I had been so hyper-focused on one practice area that it was hard for me to start thinking about what my other options might be.

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Get to Know the CSO: Amy Kolb

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

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 Amy Kolb.

What’s the best piece of career advice you can offer students?

I think it’s important for students to stay flexible and open-minded during their job searches and throughout their careers. By approaching a job search with an adaptable mindset, students may discover unexpected interests and opportunities they would’ve otherwise overlooked.

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