perspectives

The House TikTok Ban is an Empty Threat

/ BC Law Impact Guest Posts / Leave a comment

This guest post by BC Law Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Daniel Lyons first appeared in TIME, and was reposted in the AEIdeas Blog.

Last month, the House of Representatives proudly voted to ban TikTok unless its corporate parent sells the app within six months. But proponents eager to strike a blow against the Chinese government might not celebrate just yet. There are three main problems with the proposed TikTok ban: it’s probably unconstitutional, it’s practically unenforceable, and, even if it worked, it wouldn’t solve the problem of China gathering sensitive data about American users.

Other than that, it’s fine.

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A BC Law Bucket List — Five Things You Should Do Before Graduating

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, it’s a sure sign that the school year is rapidly coming to an end. Graduation is nearing, and part of me feels like I’ve been at Boston College forever by now, but another part feels like three years have passed by with a blink. As I reflect on what is likely (definitely) my last year ever as a student, there are some experiences that I’m grateful to have had, but also some opportunities that I wish I hadn’t let slip by. If you have more than four weeks left in your time at BC Law, here’s a list of things I did that I would recommend to anyone, along with some things I wish I did when I had the chance.

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Do This One Thing to Protect Your Sanity During Law School

/ Seung Hye Yang / Leave a comment

One of the best pieces of advice I got in law school is to march to the beat of your own drum; in other words, pay little heed to what others are doing and focus on yourself. This has been invaluable in retaining my sanity and mental health.

Law school is designed to urge people to compare themselves to others. The unhealthy truth is that law school can be a breeding ground for comparative anxiety. Being graded on a curve means students are pitted against each other, because your own individual grade is adjusted based on how well (or not) your classmates have done. The uncertainty of job prospects also often incites fear in students; there is no guarantee that one’s actions will ultimately culminate into a result proportional to the effort put in. In this sort of environment, protecting your mental health requires a mindful effort, and the best way to do this is to tune out the noise and balance life to your needs.

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Legal Listening: How I Lawyer

/ Sangeeta Kishore / Leave a comment

I’m the first lawyer in my family. I entered law school barely knowing what litigation was, let alone all the possibilities that the legal profession holds. While trying to learn rules and briefing cases, I also had to figure out where I fit into this larger legal landscape. 

This is where How I Lawyer comes in. A podcast hosted by Georgetown Law Professor Jonah Perlin, listeners can learn from attorneys with a wealth of experience and knowledge about practically every domain of law you can think of — even ones you would’ve never imagined. For example, Paul Sarker sheds light on the glamorous (and not-so glamorous) aspects of entertainment law, drawing from his prior work as in-house counsel for Marvel and Disney. Mark Fava is an aviation lawyer, something I knew next to nothing about, who previously defended Delta in passenger litigation and all Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) actions before moving to Boeing. Whether you’re passionate about criminal defense or fashion, How I Lawyer truly has something for everyone. 

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Finding Joy in Unexpected Places (the Trusts and Estates Classroom)

/ Tess Halpern / Leave a comment

After the fall semester of my 2L year, I essentially decided to stop taking doctrinal courses. I did take Evidence and Corporations — because the bar exam is something that I’ll have to pass at some point — but I spent most of my time in either clinics or in classes focused more on experiential learning than casebook reading. I learned the ins and outs of Lexis and Westlaw in Advanced Legal Research, represented real clients in the Civil Rights Clinic, and practiced my oral advocacy in the Supreme Court Experience, but I didn’t spend many hours briefing cases or creating outlines.

As much as I loved this change of pace after 1L year, when it came time to pick classes for my last semester at BC Law, I knew it was time to get back into the doctrinal mindset. The bar was now looming closer and closer, and I had only taken two exams in an entire calendar year. Don’t get me wrong, I still was going to take Trial Practice, but I was also going to buck up and finally get around to taking Administrative Law and *gulp* Trusts and Estates.

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A Glimpse into the Human Side of Justice: Visiting District Court

/ Christopher Tan / Leave a comment

The sky wears a cloak of gray. Snow falls, then melts. Indoors, the instant coffee offers warm sips of solace. Heaters hum in a clunky staccato. It is winter in Boston, and the start of the spring semester. 

This week, on another familiarly cloudy day, my criminal justice class and I visited the Worcester District Court where we had the privilege to speak with a judge and observe her presiding over arraignments. The building’s drab architecture echoed the nature of its solemnity. Inside, people spoke in hushed tones, only interrupted by claps of footsteps on marble and the occasional beep of a metal detector. We sat in the back of courtroom 14. Here, the air felt thick, with a sense of gravity and respect.

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Mentors: Who Needs ‘Em? (Hint: You)

/ Seung Hye Yang / Leave a comment

Being a law student means you’re constantly feeling like you’re missing something, feeling like you have something due in a week or a final looming over the horizon of the semester. And when everything is so chaotic, it’s easy to forget that your legal career will consist of much more than the grade you get on your torts final.

As a 3L looking back on my law school journey, one thing I never knew would be so integral in my career development was mentorship. For 1L me, mentorship was merely a buzzword that was thrown around with no actual instructions on how to cultivate such a relationship. In fact, when you’re a 1L, you don’t really have the luxury to think about anything other than briefing cases for the next day—and therefore, I believed mentorship to be a chore, an extracurricular on top of everything else I had to do. I never anticipated that it would be one of my favorite parts of the legal journey.

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Write or Wrong: Is Creative Writing Helpful In Law School?

/ Eddie Godino / Leave a comment

Over a year ago – before I had even started my 1L year – I wrote my first post for the Impact Blog, which was largely about whether I felt moving from creative writing to law would be a smooth transition. With three semesters now under my belt (and the weariness to show for it), I thought it would be fun to revisit that topic and see just how accurate my predictions were.  

My perhaps overly-optimistic younger self believed that law school could be a progression of the creative writing skills I developed in college; that much of what I learned would carry over into the legal world. While that belief wasn’t 100% false, it turned out to be a bit more complicated than that. 

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I Used to Be Normal. Then I Went to Law School

/ Michael Deere / 1 Comment

I used to be normal. With normal ideas about normal things. You know, everyday stuff. I knew that only people could be people. I knew that property divided broadly into “houses and similar,” “cars and similar,” and “other.” I understood the Constitution. And I didn’t have this recurring dream where I’m waiting for a train and fireworks are going off, but instead of pinwheel lights and colorful explosions, the fireworks spell out “No Liability Without Fault.” The law (and lawyers…) was something best left alone unless absolutely necessary, and when it was necessary, I imagined it looked a lot like Judge Judy’s courtroom. It was a simpler time, with simple ideas and dreamless sleep.

Then I started law school.

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Six Tips I’ve Learned from 1L Year (So Far)

/ Sangeeta Kishore / Leave a comment

Entering the second semester of 1L, I’m definitely a little burned out. But I’m no longer burdened by the uncertainty I had when I came to law school. I’m a little wiser now. Here is what I wish I knew for my first semester of law school. 

  1. Prepare for every class like you’re on call. 

Many of us get to experience the luxury of not being on call every day. For all of my first semester classes, I either had an on-call day or panel system. In one of my classes, I wasn’t called on until the very end, so I prepared each and every Wednesday, week after week to be ready. A little annoying, but it paid off. This may seem obvious, but letting your mind think you’re always on call makes your understanding that much better. While not always feasible, it pays off in the long run – you’ve had more time to process the material and it makes finals season that much easier. 

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