careers

Get to Know the CSO: Dorothy Commons

/ 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 Dorothy Commons.

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

Believe in yourself and embrace a growth mindset. As an advisor, I often browse through LinkedIn to identify alums who are in certain practice areas or settings, and while doing so, I come across many who I worked with when they were law students. This has become a fun practice, because our alums are doing some really cool things with their careers — which should be no surprise because, like you, they are smart people who went to a great law school! I often notice that many are in very different positions from the first ones they had, and some have pivoted a few times. I know some started with what they thought was their dream job, and others began in positions they knew they would move on from. The common thread here is that they worked hard, remained curious, believed in themselves, and moved forward. 

All the stresses of law school can, at times, make some students doubt themselves, and the stress of any job search is real. But please remember that you are here for a reason. Believing in yourself, putting yourself out there again and again, and reflecting on your experiences will help you learn, grow, and find opportunities. 

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A Note to Public Interest-Minded Students

/ Haley Cole / Leave a comment

Entering law school with a focus on public interest can be a daunting process, especially at a school where the majority of students end up going into Big Law. You may have started school with the conviction that public interest was your calling – but what does it mean to engage in that kind of work? 

The diversity of paths within the public interest field can provide some comfort, but it can be overwhelming to navigate law school without a clear understanding of what this work really entails. It’s challenging to stay steadfast in your public interest passions when the first year of law school emphasizes concrete doctrinal teachings and does not elaborate on the abstract idea of what it is to be a lawyer. If you’ve found yourself questioning your goals or feeling lost on how to explore the broad field of public interest work, I want to offer some advice. 

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Embracing the Process

/ Justin Sells / Leave a comment

As 1L year advances, I find myself asking this question more and more: “What type of lawyer do I want to be?” Speaking to many of my peers, I am relieved to know that I am not alone in experiencing this repetitive self-inquiry—they too ask themselves this question almost daily. Though to be clear, by “type of lawyer,” I am not merely referring to a specific area of practice, but also to the values that I see myself striving to uphold as a practicing attorney. In attempting to answer this question, I tend to reflect on the emphasis that my professors place on applying a critical perspective to the cases and issues we explore both in class and in everyday life. Our job as lawyers in training, so it seems, is not just to understand the letter of the law, but also to understand the motivating forces behind the law, the law’s impact on the judicial process, and the law’s impact on society at large. Why did the court rule the way it did? What are the societal implications of the court’s ruling? Does the ruling complement or negate public policy? How should the court have ruled? 

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4 Ways to Stay in Touch With Your Summer Mentors

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

While interning at a law firm, nonprofit organization, or government agency last summer, you likely found some professionals who you really clicked with. Maybe they were your direct supervisors, or maybe they were just attorneys with positions or career paths that really spoke to you. Either way, it’s important that you don’t let the busy school season prevent you from maintaining the relationships you cultivated just a few months ago. To make sure you aren’t forgotten by your mentors, follow these four tips.

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Get to Know the CSO: Naomi Bass

/ 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. 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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Law School: Stepping Stone or End Goal? 

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

By Alyssa Leston

So you made the decision to go to law school. 

Maybe–like me–you realized it was the last day to sign up for the LSAT for the upcoming application cycle, forcing you to spend a frantic few weeks studying and then researching which school was the right fit. 

Or maybe you’ve known for years that this was your path; months of preparation, tours, and networking brought you to the school you are at now, feeling ready and excited to start achieving your dream.

Or maybe, now that you’re here, you’ve stopped caring about how you got to where you are, because you realized that regardless of the process, you’re not excited to be there after all. 

So, what now?

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OCI Don’t Know What I’m Doing

/ Michael Deere / Leave a comment

Toward the end of my first semester of law school, I began to hear whispers of ‘OCI’ and ‘biglaw.’ By the early part of my second semester, the whispers had grown to full-throated yelling. Big bad biglaw and the pressure cooker of 20-minute, all or nothing screener interviews. It sounded scary, at least to me. But then, I’d never heard of any of this before. Biglaw? OCI?

I lost track of it during the semester. I was focused on school, grades, and life in general. OCI was a long way away, and most importantly, it was after finals. And finals were the only thing I was allowing myself to be worried about. I learned fast in law school that you need to prioritize your worries. One worry at a time, and no cutting in line. I would worry about OCI when I started getting emails about it. Not before.

Then I started getting emails about it…

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Reilly’s Declassified OCI Survival Guide

/ Reilly Doak / Leave a comment

Remember that your job search is a mutual process– you want to be somewhere that values you as much as you value them.

Two of the biggest reasons I chose BC Law was the high Big Law placement and my positive interactions with the Career Services Office when I was a prospective student. Recruiting for any position out of law school can be very stressful, but our CSO is an experienced and talented group of people who do a great job supporting students in their preferred career paths. 

The third reason I chose BC Law, and it cannot be overstated, is the collegial culture. Applying to Big Law jobs and OCI is competitive but I never felt like I was competing with my friends. I had a great support system and loved sharing things I’d learned, mistakes I’d made, and celebrating my friends’ successes when they landed their 2L summer jobs. 

Before I go through any of the tips, please bookmark BC’s CSO Drive (BC Law students only, sorry). CSO does an amazing job including everything you could possibly need to know in that drive. 

I have written 10 tips to help you navigate the OCI process. If you have questions I did not answer, check out the CSO Drive, speak with CSO, or feel free to reach out to me! I love talking about all things OCI. I would like to give a huge thank you to CSO Associate Director Dorothy Commons who looked over my article to make sure I was sharing accurate information!

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Should You Apply for Law Review?

/ Tess Halpern / 1 Comment

After my last final of 1L year, I basically wanted to nap for a month until my internship started in June. However, that isn’t an option if you’re going to apply for Law Review.

Law Review is a scholarly journal, and a majority of law schools have their own versions of this journal that publish research drafted by students and professionals. To become a Staff Writer on the Boston College Law Review, there’s an extensive application process that begins right at the start of the summer. This means, if you aren’t sure whether you want to apply this year, you’ll have to decide in only a few short weeks.

As a 2L who’s nearly done with her first year on Law Review and who lived to tell the tale, I can say with confidence that I’m glad I applied and had this experience. However, there were definitely some things I wish I knew beforehand that could’ve helped me make an even more informed choice when deciding to apply. To ensure you make the right decision in May, weigh the following pros and cons.

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Come to Dublin: Reasons to Consider Studying Abroad

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

It is 56 degrees in February. The sun is shining over the water and the hustle and bustle of morning traffic is just kicking in. As I walk to my externship, I pass cafes buzzing from the morning rush, the smell of pastries and coffee wafting through the air. Where am I? Not Boston (56 degrees should have given that away). I am in Dublin, Ireland along with five other students taking part in Boston College’s Semester-in-Practice program. 

So, what drew me to this program? Take one round of law school exams and you will see the appeal of externships. But in all seriousness, how could I pass up the opportunity to spend a semester living and working in Europe? Maybe I’m just the product of the Covid era – itching to get in the study abroad experience that was swept out from under me. Yet, I find it more likely that I was drawn in by the opportunities this program presents. 

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