My Answer to ‘Why Did You Go to Law School’

When I walked into my last Critical Perspectives class of the semester this past Monday, written on the board was the question: ‘Why did you go to law school?’ This question was nothing new – law students get asked by family, friends, and most law school applications ask why you want to go to law school – but in class that day, it felt like a very personal one.

Sunday night I was working on my cover letter, as one does on their Sunday evening. As I was writing, I was thinking about all of the experiences and skills I had that might separate me from the hundreds of cover letters that 1Ls across the country will be sending to summer employers. My entire professional life flashed before my eyes: school nights picking up trash after college basketball games, a few summers lifeguarding and babysitting, and that one cashier job at Home Depot. But I landed on my experience last year working for a mass tort litigation firm, where I was a paralegal on the Boy Scouts of America sexual abuse class action case. That role absolutely changed my life in more than a professional sense, and gave me my answer to the question on the board that morning in Critical Perspectives.

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Faculty Spotlight: Cheryl Bratt

Many of us attend law school to help our communities, whether through policy work, representing marginalized clients, or integrating pro bono work into our practice. However, it’s very easy for our doctrinal classes to feel removed from our ultimate purposes.

As a Law Practice Professor, Professor Bratt teaches students the skills they will use in practice, like conducting legal research, writing predictive memoranda, and drafting motions to a court. Professor Bratt–no surprise to those who know her–goes above and beyond her responsibilities as a Law Practice Professor. Not only is she a thoughtful, caring professor, but she also works with Lawyers Clearinghouse to give 1Ls discrete opportunities to assist marginalized clients with their legal issues. Professor Bratt creates opportunities for students to work with clients in need of legal services. This experience was the highlight of my 1L year, and it made me feel like I had more to offer the world and my new community in Boston.

I sat down with Professor Bratt to discuss the opportunities that lead her to her dream job, what brought her to teach Law Practice at BC Law and to get to know her beyond the classroom.

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