I was asked to write about my summer at a law firm—specifically for incoming 1Ls who may have anxieties, questions, or simply have no idea what “Big Law” actually is.
I was in that last category.
Unfortunately, user experience may vary, so take mine with a grain of salt. I am enthusiastic, curious, and, at times, awkward. Your cool, calm, and collected nature may produce entirely different results for different people.
So, we’ll start there.
Continue readingThis guest post was written by Margie Palladino ’85, Executive Director of Mass Family Advocacy Coalition (MFAC) and candidate to serve on the Governor’s Council for Massachusetts.
Boston College Law School teaches the practice of law in the Jesuit tradition of service to others. Of all the lessons I learned there, one has stayed with me throughout my life: our legal system does not affect everyone equally.
As a law student, I was taught that people who are marginalized or lack resources can experience our justice system very differently. When you don’t have the money, the support, or even the “right-color” skin, justice can be much harder to reach.
That lesson planted a seed. I just didn’t pay much attention to it at the time.
Continue readingHi, future 1Ls.
I hope you’re well, considering you’re only about a month away from starting law school.
Some of you are excited beyond measure, trying to consume every Reddit recommendation you can find. Some of you are stressed and already drafting warning notes to your loved ones about the person you’re about to become over the next three years.
Consider this my own warning note—one intended to level out both camps.
Continue readingYou got into law school! Congratulations!
Now what?
It’s a fair question. After all, law school has a reputation for being, well… law school. So it makes sense to wonder if there’s a book you should read, a skill you should master, or some secret summer assignment everyone else somehow knows about.
Continue readingNow that the school year is over, I feel less guilty sharing all the things I do to entertain myself during the fall and spring semesters. Law school takes over our lives in ways we may not even recognize or feel, so giving yourself a break doing something you enjoy is so important. I hope one of my ideas will speak to you. Disclaimer: I would not recommend doing this in 1L unless you have amazing time management skills.
Continue readingWith the last set of exams of my law school career approaching, I recall overhearing a conversation by two students stating that they wish they were geniuses. I completely agree. It would be nice to have a mind that reads a fact pattern once and spots every issue instantly while simultaneously drafting a well written IRAC (preferably IRAHNC) argument. Who wouldn’t want to join the Order of Coif without breaking a sweat? If this thought has creeped into your mind while you are outlining at 2 AM, don’t worry. I’ve done the research into becoming a genius and put it into practice for both of us. The answer lies in a three-step process that requires isolation, introspection, and creation.
Continue readingBefore you ask, yes. I am still technically a 1L, which makes writing something like this feel a little premature. But as the semester starts to wind down (26 days left but who’s counting, right?), I have found myself reflecting more than I expected.
Continue readingToday’s guest post was written by 3L Joshua Little.
When people sign up for the military, they’re signing up for two major life changes. The first one is obvious: you’re joining the military and leaving everything behind. The second one is a later realization: you are leaving the military and leaving everything behind… again. Most advice you receive focuses on practical considerations, like finding a job or going back to school. Those matter, but they miss something deeper. Leaving the military is not just a career change. It is the loss of a community that shaped every part of your life.
Continue readingI recently suffered a humbling yet not entirely undignified loss in my section’s March Madness challenge. Armed with a few hot takes I sourced from random articles that were among the first ten results on Google, I made what turned out to be a semi-decent bracket for someone with minimal knowledge of college basketball. In fact, for a brief period before my bracket imploded, I was #1 on the leaderboard and had people—baselessly, I might add—trying to claim equity in my picks, arguing that they told me what to choose (they didn’t).
Continue readingI feel I have exhausted all I had to say about the first two years of law school (you’d understand if you have ever read one of my posts). When I asked my boyfriend what to write about, he told me to write about writer’s block. I asked, “do lawyers even get writer’s block?” and he told me that it could be a good topic for anyone struggling to finish a memo, a law review article, and anything else law students are expected to write. I have been wondering if the problem isn’t that I don’t know what to write, but that I don’t know how to write it.
Continue reading
BC Law: Impact 