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

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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Get to Know the CSO: Michelle Grossfield

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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Get to Know the CSO: Chris Teague

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

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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Get to Know the CSO: Jill Hwang

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 Jill Hwang.

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

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Get to Know the CSO: Naomi Bass

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. Next up is the Associate Director of Career Services, Naomi Bass.

What is your role in the CSO?

Since 2021, I have been an Associate Director in the CSO. My role includes advising JD students about career options and decisions at all stages of their law school experience. Our team collaborates to create and deliver professional development programs, conduct mock interviews, review application materials, and engage with BC Law alumni on a range of programs to support our students on their career journeys.

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Get to Know the CSO: Sarah Bookbinder

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. First up is the Assistant Dean of Career Services, Sarah Bookbinder.

What is your role in the CSO?

As Assistant Dean, my main role is to oversee all of the ongoing work we do in the office, including individual advising, program planning, large scale interview programs, outreach to employers and alumni, and pro bono opportunities. I am also the main point of contact between the CSO and other offices in the Law School to make sure we’re coordinating our efforts, and I meet with students when they have ideas or specific needs beyond career advising. In addition to that daily work, I’m keeping a close eye on the market and the evolving goals and concerns of BC students to make sure our programming continues to reflect all of this.

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Inside BC Law’s Career Services Office: A Q&A With Assistant Dean Jen Perrigo

Landing a job both as a law student and post-grad can be stressful to say the least. You hear about all the ways in which your law degree can help you professionally, but how do you really know where and when to begin your search? Law firm or government? Clinic or externship? Do networking coffees really make a difference?

Whether you are a prospective student, current law student, or recent graduate, we can help. We sat down with Jen Perrigo, Assistant Dean of Career Services at BC Law, to answer some of these top-of-mind questions. 

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