As a 1L, I compared Orientation and the first week of classes to drinking from a firehose. You have classwork, networking opportunities, resume revisions, meeting new friends—the list is exhausting. You sit at your desk reading cases, briefing, trying to find rules, going through classes, feeling decent in cold calls but not feeling anything click yet.
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The Goldilocks Zone: 4 Things to Consider When Finding a 1L Summer Job
1L Fall can feel like a lot. On top of case briefs, cold calls, 1L rep elections and the Blue Book, the last thing you may want to think about is a 1L job. While you have time, it’s never too early to consider what you want your experience to look like this summer, and start planning accordingly.
Astronomers refer to the Goldilocks Zone as a potential place for extraterrestrial life to thrive. In the cosmos of 1L summer opportunities, think of your personal Goldilocks Zone as where you will thrive as you begin to put the hard-earned legal skills from this year to work.
The Career Services Office, your 1L professors, and 2Ls and 3Ls are great resources if you have questions. Additionally, here are some questions for you to help you get started.
Continue readingThe Case for Doing Less
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” ― Ferris Bueller
In the throes of 1L year, while dealing with difficult material, a new learning environment, networking events, and perhaps feeling completely overwhelmed and lost, a law student is likely to hear a common refrain. It often goes something like, “I know this is rough, 1L is so tough, but it gets so much better in 2L.” And like most aphorisms, it contains a nugget of truth. In many ways, the law school experience changes fundamentally between your first year and your second. The classroom experience becomes less intimidating and more familiar. You can choose your own class schedule and have agency over the areas of law you wish to study. Even more importantly, for some, you have the chance to partake in experiential learning opportunities, such as clinics and externships, which are not available to 1Ls.
Continue readingCan a Night Owl Become an Early Bird in Law School? Yes—Here’s How
I became a morning person early in my childhood. In middle school, I started showering in the mornings. By high school, I woke at 5:30 am to walk our very impatient family dog. When I was a US Senate press intern in college, I got up at 4:45 am to start assembling news clips.
This summer, I drove an hour and twenty minutes each day to the US District Court in Concord, New Hampshire for my judicial internship. My wake-up actually was more humane than my prior gigs: 6:00 am and complete with a shower and full breakfast.
Some of us are going to have longer treks than others to school, and many of us are readjusting our schedules for the semester. With the start of the new academic year upon us, I thought I would share my tips for becoming a morning person.
Continue readingFour Notorious 2L Summer Associate Stories
Every 2L summer associate dreams of a smooth path to a six-figure salary. But not everyone makes it to the finish line. For a select few, the summer ends not with an offer letter, but with a quiet email, a closed-door meeting, or in some cases, an HR debrief no one forgets.
Inspired by the most recent crazy case of the summer “Biglaw Biter,” the following are four other infamous examples of 2L summer associates who really went off the rails. All of them, for better or worse, are unforgettable—so unbelievable, you might think I’m making them up (so I included sources for you to prove it).
I probably don’t have to tell you this, but let this be your reminder: Biglaw firms are watching—and they never forget.
Continue readingOvercoming the Comparison Trap of 1L
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” – Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
It was the night before my first final as a 1L, and I was starting to feel overwhelmed. I knew, in a sort of intangible way, that an entire semester’s worth of work would come down to one test. And I could not help but be aware of the fact that this would prove stressful; everyone I knew who went to law school told me as much, as did most of my current peers. I suppose it’s also self-evident when you see the syllabus and read the words “your entire course grade will rest on the final examination” that you will have to perform on the day or pay the price.
Continue readingMy Summer at Legal Aid: Issue Spotting and Research
This summer, I’m interning at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, a nonprofit organization that seeks to assist San Diego County residents and provide free legal representation, advice, and information. As the right to an attorney does not exist in legal cases, many litigants have to navigate complicated processes and forms, which can make it much more difficult for them to achieve their desired result in a case than parties with an attorney. The LASSD seeks to bridge that gap. The goal of the self-help clinics is not to provide representation, but to make the civil legal system more accessible for litigants.
Continue readingHow does a New Yorker become a Bostonian? A Five-Step Process Breakdown
With all the changes I have been through this past year, I did not think Boston becoming my favorite city would happen this year. While I grew up in New York through my childhood, NYC did not resonate as much with me as it does for some natives. Philadelphia was fun during my undergraduate years, but my city exploration was minimized due to the pandemic. Washington D.C. was a nice experiment, but the humidity pushed my northern soul well past my limits. I am happy to say Boston lived up to my hopes and exceeded them.
Continue readingThe Struggling Majority
This post has been republished from Professor Patricia McCoy’s Substack. Her new book, “Sharing Risk: The Path to Economic Well-Being for All,” is available from The University of California Press.
A few years ago, I was doing research as a law professor at Boston College, and I stumbled across this disturbing fact: more than half of American households do not have enough income every month to pay their basic expenses. We’re not talking about small luxuries like dining out, going to the movies, or streaming services either. Instead, these families do not even have enough money to pay for their bare-bones essentials every month, including food, housing, and clothing. They are constantly juggling bills and robbing Peter to pay Paul. They cannot get ahead.
Continue readingA Message to My Students: ‘Fight for Our Democracy’
This post is an edited version of Professor Kent Greenfield’s final lecture to this spring’s first-year constitutional law class. It was originally published in WBUR’s Cognoscenti.
Today completes my 30th year teaching law. You’ve been wonderful this semester. Thank you.
But It has been a difficult time to teach constitutional law, and it must have been a difficult time to learn it. We are in a dangerous moment.
How do we make sense of the law right now? Of our profession?
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BC Law: Impact 