advice

Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 15: Mentors are basically life’s “Google Search” feature

/ Charlene Ochogo / Leave a comment

“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.

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Opening Act II: A Twenty-Year Reunion

/ Ryan Murphy / Leave a comment

Hello everyone! This week, I’m hosting a guest blog from Tom Burton ‘96, the new Alumni Association President. I’m thrilled that he has agreed to write about his BC Law experience for Impact.

Tom chairs Mintz Levin’s Energy Technology Practice, which he founded over 12 years ago. His global practice focuses on complex corporate finance matters including mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, private equity, and securities transactions for energy and clean technology companies. He is ranked by Best Lawyers in America in the Corporate Law section, and he has been recognized by The Legal 500 United States as “rising to the fore” in energy technology for Venture Capital and Emerging Companies. In the community, Tom serves as President of the Boston College Law School Alumni Association, Chairman of the Board of Overseers and Trustee of the New England Aquarium and an Advisory Committee Member of the Flutie Spectrum Enterprises, LLC. Tom is also a member of the firm’s Policy Committee, its Board of Directors equivalent.

Twenty years. For quite a few of you reading this post, twenty years is nearly a lifetime. For me, and for my classmates from ’96, it marks the halfway point in our careers. Our upcoming twenty-year reunion in November has given me pause to reflect on that slightly sobering fact, and to think about my BC Law friends and classmates. What strikes me the most are their tremendous professional successes across the board.

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All Majors Welcome

/ Maria Colella / Leave a comment

A common question law school applicants ask is “which college major should you choose if you want to go to law school?” In reality, it does not matter which major you choose; all majors are welcome in law school.

When I was an undergraduate, I studied applied math. After taking a few Constitutional Law classes, I grew to love legal analysis. This substantially influenced my decision to go to law school. I remember telling friends about my decision to apply to law school. Some were very supportive, but others would ask: “Why did you bother studying math, then?” or “I guess your math degree is now kind of a waste, huh?” or “why don’t you use your math degree and do something like banking or consulting.” It was honestly hard to come up with a response. I truly felt more passionate about the law than math. But I was also certain that the logic and problem solving skills I had spent four years developing would be helpful.

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A Mutual Respect: The Glue that Binds Us

/ Maria Colella / Leave a comment

Hello everyone! This week, I’m hosting a guest blog from Margie Palladino ’85, the outgoing Alumni Board Chair for Reunions. I’m thrilled that she’s agreed to write about her BC Law experience for Impact.

Margie was the recipient of the Boston College Law School’s Outstanding Reunion Volunteer Award for generating record attendance for her class’s 25th reunion. Margie is principal of Reunions Reinvented LLC, a business that generates momentum for professional school reunions. She is a former partner at the Boston law firm of Sherburne, Powers and Needham, now known as Holland and Knight. 

Nearly 600 people came together in November to celebrate the BC Law School reunions. It was wonderful to witness so many alumni—young and old—reconnecting with classmates and professors and rekindling memories of their law school days. There were BC Law alumni from all walks of life: the judiciary, private firms, corporations, public service, academia, and government (including a state governor, US senator, and several congressional representatives). Equally impressive was the number of alumni present who had stepped out of the legal profession temporarily or permanently to take care of their families or pursue entrepreneurial, volunteer, and other valued interests.

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Why You Should Consider Corporate Restructuring/Bankruptcy Law

/ Patrick Venter / 1 Comment

BC Law offers many opportunities for students interested in working at large law firms, typically placing approximately 30% of the class in firms of 100 attorneys or more. For students who want to work at large firms (many do not), there is a common question that students hear from fellow students, attorney-friends, and most importantly, law firm interviewers: “Are you interested in corporate or litigation work?”

For some people, this is an easy question to answer. If you got As on all your Legal Research, Reasoning & Writing papers and enjoyed memorizing the Erie Doctrine and all its puzzling derivations, perhaps litigation is for you. If you enjoy dropping buzzwords you don’t actually know anything about like “mergers and acquisitions”, “leveraged buyouts”, and “private equity” you are probably interested in corporate work–and I recommend you take your talents to Brahmin, Storyville, or other local venues with sometimes-impressionable audiences.

For those individuals who want to work for a large firm but don’t feel that they fit neatly into a litigation or corporate box, perhaps your fit is in Restructuring (which includes Bankruptcy, in addition to out-of-court restructuring).

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 14: New semester resolutions you should have (and ones you shouldn’t)

/ Charlene Ochogo / Leave a comment

Happy almost new year!

I find that this time of year, people generally fall into one of two buckets: what I like to call the Calvins of the world…

calvin-hobbes-new-years-resolutions

…and those of us who resolutely (heh) make a list of things about ourselves that we would like to change. If you’re anything like me growing up, you make your list feeling great about it  every December, then come February, you kind of feel the way you do when you’ve napped for too long: disoriented, vaguely angry, and wondering what the heck happened to you.

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Thoughts from a Double Eagle: We Are BC

/ Ryan Murphy / Leave a comment
2Ls (from left) Maria Colella, Ashley Gambone, and Margaret Capp ran the Red Bandanna Run with me on October 24th.

2Ls (from left) Maria Colella, Ryan Murphy, Ashley Gambone, and Margaret Capp, pictured with BC mascot Baldwin, ran the Red Bandanna Run on October 24th.

As I introduced myself to classmates, professors and administrators during orientation and throughout the first few weeks of 1L year, many of them asked where I attended college, or why I chose BC Law. I told them that I went to Boston College, and had such a great experience that I thought it would have been crazy, if given the chance to come back to BC, to go to law school anywhere else. I couldn’t even picture it. Their response was, more times than not, “oh, so you’re a double eagle!”

I had heard the phrase “double eagle” tossed around in college from time to time. For those of you who haven’t, members of the BC community affectionately call people with two BC degrees (including diplomas from BC High) “double eagles.” Similarly, the more exclusive “triple eagle” title signifies three BC degrees.

Being from New York, and not knowing many BC alumni, the term “double eagle” never seemed like more than a catchphrase used in the community. But as I get closer to attaining my second degree, it has become much more than that for me.

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Yes, We Go to School Sponsored Social Events: Halloween Party

/ Maria Colella / Leave a comment

Last year Halloween party was at Game On. I remember it as yet another fun night, similar to Boat Cruise, spent dancing and bonding with 1L friends. Halloween Party generally marks the transition from I’m just trying to keep up with my reading to I should start making my outlines. This LSA social event is thus very important. It is what you will look back on fondly when you’re day dreaming in the library in December and wondering if you have had any fun this year. Because of Halloween Party, you can answer your question with a resounding yes!

Another reason Halloween is an important BC law event: it signifies an important friendship milestone. Friends who are comfortable enough to dress up in crazy costumes and dance together, stay together. (Even once your costume changes from scary witch to scary, sleep deprived law student!) This year’s Halloween Party at Wild Rover was another successful event for the LSA special events committee, complete with the Peanuts, Lobsters, The Weeknd, A male Sandy & female Danny, Peter Pan, Ruth Bader Ginspurrg, Burt Macklin and Janet Snakehole (Parks & Rec), Bob’s Burgers, Gotham villains, Donald Trump and many more!

Everyone did such an amazing job with their costumes and instagram photos, the Social Media Committee had a difficult task in choosing the winners!

1L Winner: The Royal Tenenbaums

https://www.instagram.com/p/9e_OWqhw57/
Read on to see who won 1st and 2nd place!

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 13: Things I hope you’ve learned

/ Charlene Ochogo / Leave a comment

Dear 1Ls,

First of all, how exciting is it that I can officially call you that? For so long, you were all “incoming 1Ls” or “almost 1Ls” or “soon-to-be 1Ls” and you finally made it! Tomorrow is the first day of your legal career (holy cow!) and I for one cannot thank you enough for letting me and every one of our talented BC Law Impact contributors be a part of your journey up to this moment.

I think I speak for all our contributors when I say that when we first started writing for the blog, we figured we would reach a couple dozen people — probably our friends and family who would click the links to humor us. But you truly have overwhelmed us, and certainly me, in the positive feedback for this pilot project. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to meet you all in person and to hear you say that you read one of my posts and how it helped you in such and such a way.

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 12: Networking 101 – They can totally tell you just came for the food

/ Charlene Ochogo / Leave a comment

(Let me preface this post by mentioning that I like food. A lot.)

So I figured I would post this now because, believe it or not, some of you have your first networking events looming on the immediate horizon. (Hint hint: orientation.) And I know many of you are probably a little nervous about diving in headfirst into the networking pool, so allow me to provide you some water wings:

The food is a trap.

Well, not entirely. You see, whenever you go to a networking event, you’ll see delightful, delicious, and most importantly, free  food laid out all ready to be eaten.

The spread at a BC Law Admitted Students reception

The spread at a BC Law Admitted Students reception

We college students are adept at eating anything that doesn’t run away from us, so the temptation is almost unwieldily at times. But you must resist! I don’t know why these employers torture us with food we can’t possibly eat in a polite way, but I know that you too will be faced with your culinary kryptonite (for me, it was spare ribs), and have to just say no. Continue reading →