incoming students

Bending Gender Perceptions in the Legal World

/ Sajid Shahriar / 4 Comments

Author’s Note: Kelsey Gasseling (KG) is a 1L at BC Law and a member of LAMBDA, the LGBTQ affinity group at BC Law. 

When I was 17 years old I went on a gender pronoun boycott. After coming out of the closet and realizing life could go on somewhat normally (no fire and brimstone, much to my Catholic school-kid surprise), I started to analyze what made me, “me.” I had the fortune of being a white teenager from the Pacific Northwest, with a supportive mother and access to a vibrant LGBTQ youth center. This gave me a relatively safe space to explore my identity outside of the conventional male/female binary. Today, I find myself confronting a new set of questions revolving around gender norms in the typically more conservative Boston legal market.

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Meet the Affinity Group Leaders: Amani Kancey (BLSA)

/ Marx P. Calderon / Leave a comment

Name: Amani Kancey

Year: 2017 (2L)

Photo on 9-15-14 at 8.19 PMOrganization: Black Law Students Association (Co-President)

Undergraduate Institution: Howard University

Experiences between college and law school: 

Upon graduating from Howard University I served as a White House Intern. After my internship, I was appointed by the White House to work at the U.S Department of Transportation as a Political Appointee. For two and a half years I was Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

 Favorite event that your organization plans:

My favorite event that BLSA hosted this year was “Black Excellence: A Celebration of Black History in Academia and the Legal Profession”. Black Excellence featured our Black deans and faculty sharing their personal stories in life and practice.

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Things I Wish I Knew Vol. 16: You can come see the school, even if you can’t come see the school

/ Charlene Ochogo / Leave a comment

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since my last post because I and the admissions committee have been hard at work on a few projects (one soon to come – stay tuned!) including this one.

We know that getting to campus for a visit may be cost-prohibitive or otherwise impossible for some of our students outside of the Northeast, and in conjunction with the Office of Admissions, we’ve made it so that you can take a tour from the comfort of your own home! Watch the replay on You Tube:

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Meet the Affinity Group Leaders: Zain Ahmad (SALSA)

/ Marx P. Calderon / Leave a comment

Name: Zain Ahmad

Year: 2L, Class of 2017zbc

Affinity Group: South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA); President

Undergraduate Institution: Rutgers University, BA Political Science, graduated cum laude

Experiences between college and law school: 

I worked as a paralegal at Covington & Burling LLP in New York City for two years.

Favorite event that your organization plans:

I’m proud of SALSA’s programming this year. My favorite events are the ones where we collaborate with other student organizations on campus to advance important conversations forward. It was a pleasure working with the Women’s Law Center (WLC) on our first film screening of “He Named Me Malala” with an open discussion following the movie. I also enjoyed working with the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) on Culture Shock: Spectrums of Privilege and the ensuing conversations the event sparked. I am looking forward to our forthcoming collaboration with the Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA) on Monday April 4th where we will have a roundtable discussion on breaking stereotypes in the current political climate. My hope this semester was to partner up with many student organizations on campus and help advance important conversations forward.

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Meet the Affinity Group Leaders: Dallas Taylor (BLSA)

/ Marx P. Calderon / Leave a comment

Name:

 Dallas Taylor

FullSizeRenderYear:

2017 (2L)

Organization:

Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Co-President

Undergraduate Institution:

University of Missouri- Kansas City

BA, Political Science

Experiences between college and law school: 

I took 3 years off after high school before going back to college. In that time I traveled with a music group and worked with a young adult leadership organization. After undergrad I went straight into law school.

Favorite event that your organization plans:

Culture shock. The event is amazing because it gives law students a candid opportunity to talk about social issues in a safe environment.

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Meet the Affinity Group Leaders: Anna Hunanyan (MELSA)

/ Marx P. Calderon / Leave a comment

Name: Anna Hunanyan

Year: 2L

Affinity Group: Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA); pictureCo-President

Undergraduate Institution:

UCLA, BA Business Economics, BA Comparative Literature

Experiences between college and law school:

I took a year off before starting law school. I spent half of that year working as a financial analyst and the other half as a legal assistant.

Favorite event that your organization plans:

Every semester MELSA invites a speaker to discuss a timely and relevant issue concerning the Middle East. We have had cutting edge thinkers engage the BC Law community on topics such as free speech and hate speech, the Armenian Genocide, and the development of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. We have been lucky to host speakers with diverse backgrounds and experiences coming from different parts of the world. The perspective they bring and share is thought-provoking.

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An Activist at Heart, A Journalist by Training, a Lawyer in the Making

/ Caroline Reilly / 2 Comments

As a kid I toggled back and forth between lots of answers to “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Lawyer was always on the short list. So was journalism.

I read “All the President’s Men” for an eighth grade book report, and it didn’t take long for me to make Bernstein and Woodward my personal journalism deities. To me, the idea that two reporters could take down a crooked president was (and still is) the epitome of what great journalism can do.

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Meet the Affinity Group Leaders: Moussa Hassoun (Lambda Co-Chair)

/ Marx P. Calderon / Leave a comment

This new “Meet the” series introduces you to the diverse affinity student group leaders on campus. 

Name: Moussa Hassoun

Year: 2017 (2L)IMG_6036

Organization & Position:

Lambda: Co-Chair

Undergraduate Institution:

Bentley University

Experiences between college and law school: 

I went straight through from Bentley to BC Law. In between I worked for Liberty Mutual as a Product Analyst. 

Favorite event that your organization plans: 

The Lambda Annual Retreat is a special one. Students get away from the chaos of law school and get a chance to relax and get to know one another. Relaxation is one of the most undervalued needs all students should make time for. The retreat provides that opportunity and allows LGBTQ+ students to develop a community at the law school.

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 15: Mentors are basically life’s “Google Search” feature

/ Charlene Ochogo / Leave a comment

“Mom, Dad, why don’t you just Google it?”

It’s a phrase I must have said a million times in my short 23 years. The basic premise there is that someone out there in the big wide world has had the same question, and there is always someone who knows more than you who has the answer.

Okay, but it’s one thing entirely to ask Google why a certain word you misspelled in a  text once has suddenly become your phones default spelling, and another entirely to ask how to navigate law school or find a job doing what you want with the salary and work-life balance you want given all of your specific life experiences.

That’s where mentorship comes in. And in a lot of ways, it’s even better than a Google search.

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All Majors Welcome

/ Maria Colella / Leave a comment

A common question law school applicants ask is “which college major should you choose if you want to go to law school?” In reality, it does not matter which major you choose; all majors are welcome in law school.

When I was an undergraduate, I studied applied math. After taking a few Constitutional Law classes, I grew to love legal analysis. This substantially influenced my decision to go to law school. I remember telling friends about my decision to apply to law school. Some were very supportive, but others would ask: “Why did you bother studying math, then?” or “I guess your math degree is now kind of a waste, huh?” or “why don’t you use your math degree and do something like banking or consulting.” It was honestly hard to come up with a response. I truly felt more passionate about the law than math. But I was also certain that the logic and problem solving skills I had spent four years developing would be helpful.

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