Amy, 3L

What's better than a fancy cocktail party/dinner at the federal courthouse with some of the biggest names in the Boston legal community? Not paying a cent for it. NUSL gave out 50 free tickets for students to attend the Anniversary Celebration on Saturday night. Despite thinking it might be kind of stuffy, I actually had a really good time. There were older and newer alums, as well as quite a few big, important people. I sat one table away from the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. It was a good chance to flex our networking muscles, too. I ended up talking to an alum I had met before, a partner at one of the big Boston firms. We got to talking about the health law division at his firm, which is of course somewhere I would love to end up someday with my dual JD/MPH degree. Gotta pay those loans back somehow!

It was great to hear some of the reasons these people think NUSL is so unique. I think we sometimes get tired of explaining or defending our law school and the way it does things (no letter grades, co-op, etc). I wouldn't have it any other way, but it was nice to spend the evening with people who already "get" NUSL's public interest vision. (By the way, I heard that NUSL was just named the top public interest-focused law school in the country!)

At the end of the night, getting all dressed up was totally worth it. I mean, come on, have you ever had crab w/ chardonnay sauce?

Like everyone else in America, my thoughts have been dominated by last night's election. I think I’m experiencing some post-election letdown. I was actually a little surprised by how emotional last night was for most people. The history of the moment finally hit me, and yes, I'll admit it, I cried. As a biracial woman, I'm aware of the many sacrifices others have made so that I could even go to the polls yesterday, let alone those who paved the way for Barack. My 85-year-old grandfather got so excited that he had to go get his oxygen tank! He truly never expected to see a black president in his lifetime.

So what does this have to do with law school? I'm getting there. As I sat there listening to the "Yes We Can" chants, I started to think "now what?" There are no more rallies, no more exit polls, no more Sarah Palin SNL skits (although I'm still crossing my fingers on this last one). It's been a long race, and I am glad it's over, but now the real work begins. And I'm not talking about Obama. I'm talking about what we need to accomplish within our own spheres of influence.

Most of you reading this either are or will soon be attending law school. That's an opportunity that most people will not have, and one that I'm grateful for (even though sometimes it feels more like punishment then a privilege). I believe that to whom much is given, much is expected. We have a responsibility to use the opportunities we're given to help others less fortunate and fight injustice. We will have knowledge and tools (and hopefully jobs) to open doors and make change of our own. So no matter which candidate you support, please keep this in mind when choosing a law school.

If you agree with what I've written, NUSL could be the perfect place for you. If you think I sound like a tree-hugging hippie (which of course I do because it's only the first day after the election), then NUSL could also be the right place for you. There are other students here who would agree with you, and at least one of them also writes a blog on this site. And he happens to be a good friend of mine, so I can say that.

See, it was only mostly off-topic…

I get asked this question a lot. I usually mumble something about government agencies, policy work, or non-profit orgs, but I often find myself wondering what that really means. Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Health Law Advocates annual benefit breakfast. HLA is a large non-profit here in Boston, a sort of collective of pro bono attorneys. It was such a relief to see people making a professional life out of work that positively influences others' lives. The keynote speaker was a Juvenile Court judge who spoke about HLA attorneys’ work as mental health guardian ad litems for juvenile defendants. After spending the summer co-oping in the Boston Juvenile Court, I know how important mental health advocates are for children in trouble. This intersection of health and legal advocacy are the kinds of situations I want to seek out (or create). That's why I chose the dual-degree program. (I realize I answered a different question than the original one, but I'm going to be a lawyer, so that's a valuable skill.)

I've discovered an unforeseen downside to cross-registering for a class at another school: you need two different universities to close in order to get a real snow day. With seven inches of snow in Boston today, I thought I had a good shot, I really did. Boston University cancelled, but so far, my evening class is still on. I've got my fingers crossed...

In other news, I have my first client through the internship I'm doing with my advisor's organization here at Tufts. For the first time, I'm getting to see what it looks like when the desire to serve the public and the belief that the law is on your side collide with other people's apathy and/or greed. It's a housing case with a landlord more interested in collecting rent than the condition of his apartments. Throw in some sick kids who are allergic to the black mold growing in their ceiling and a set of loving parents who are doing the best they can to provide for their family, and you've got a mess. I enjoy the work, but I find it hard to understand the position of someone who would put profits ahead of people's health. It's definitely not the last time I'll be faced with this issue, I know. Hopefully we can write a letter that's sufficiently scary to prompt the landlord to decontaminate the apartment. At least that's Plan A. Now I'm off to think up a Plan B, seeing as I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist. Yet.

When people ask how I chose where to go to law school, it's inevitably followed by some comment about the "smallest price tag" or "whoever coughs up the most scholarship money, right?" Wrong. I'll be honest: NUSL was not the cheapest school I got into, and they didn't throw loads of money at me (or anyone else, for that matter). I chose NUSL for three things: the co-op experience, the JD/MPH dual-degree program, and the focus on social interest law. I've never regretted my choice. All three of those factors have delivered for me thus far. My legal education and law school experience in general have been enriched by these unique NUSL qualities. I'm done gushing like a Hallmark card now, I promise.

Back to reality: money does make the world go round, and having more of it makes some things easier, true, but please do not make your law school decision based solely on price. You will be disappointed in the long run. I know that my NUSL and Tufts degrees will get me where I want to go if I put in the work and that's all that really matters. Yes, I'm going to be in debt up to my eyeballs when I finish, but who isn't? No matter where you go to law school, most people will need loans and be in substantial debt when they graduate. (If you happen to be independently wealthy, good for you, you can stop reading now.) The truth is that I was poor when I started law school, I'm poor now, and I'll be even more poor when I finish. And I'm not alone. So what? We will all eventually get jobs and pay back our loans (someday). If I'm going to be paying it back for 20 years, I want to make darn sure I get the most out of my law school experience and NUSL is the place where I can do that. Let someone else go to the cheap law school that's not a good fit for their career aspirations. Sure, they have less debt, but I'm going to have a job I love getting up for every day. That's worth a lot of ramen noodle nights to me.

I'm finally back at NUSL! I can't tell you how nice it is to be back. I've honestly missed reading cases and debating legal policy. (I'm aware of how sick this sounds.) There's been some reverse culture shock, I won't lie. The paperwork and administrative junk we've had to go through coming back from Tufts hasn't been fun, but I'm hoping that's mostly done now. Emphasis on "hoping."

As far as Tufts goes, we're all done with classes over there except for our thesis-like project. That's been a headache and a half to get approved, but I'm almost there (I think). I'm anxious to start with the project itself, get into the work and get my hands dirty, so to speak. I'll be conducting interviews with court personnel (judges, probation officers, attorneys) to evaluate a mental health promotion program in the juvenile courts.

One of the downsides of the JD/MPH program is that I've had to switch rotations, so I'm now in summer school. I've never done a summer quarter with classes, so this should be interesting. So far it's ok, but as the 4th of July and other summer events get closer, I think I'm going to really miss the freedom of summer co-op. I'm taking Evidence, Juvenile Courts, and Administrative Law, along with the MPH project and a part-time job. So much for relaxing. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though. I think the 11-week quarters will fly by a little faster than the semesters did. OK, back to reading juvenile death penalty cases on a beautifully sunny afternoon...

One of the craziest things about shifting my mindset back to NUSL is the co-op application process. The timeline's pretty tight; applications are due two weeks into the summer quarter. We turned in the applications on Monday, so now it's just a waiting game. I ended up applying to a couple of firms and some government offices as well as a non-profit juvenile justice agency. Interviews and offers start coming in next week, so we'll see.

In other news, I finally got approval from the Tufts Institutional Review Board for my thesis-equivalent project. So now we jump right in and see what happens...with any luck I'll have a product in a few months!

I will say, I'm really not liking this "being in school during the summer" thing. It's wonderful to be back at NUSL, but I'm used to summers being more relaxed, not having to worry about doing 75 pages of reading for the next day. The good news is that quarters are short and we're 1/4 of the way there already.

Just when things were starting to settle into a routine again, they get shaken up! Not that I'm complaining, it's just the way things go at Northeastern. A full course load, the Master's project, and a 20-hour per week job don't leave a lot of extra time, but it's doable. I even managed to spend time with friends this weekend.

In all that free time, now I have to find time to go through the co-op interview process. (I got three so far!) It's a very fast process. When you get an interview request, you only get 24 hours to call and schedule the interview. If you get a co-op offer, then you have 3 days to accept or decline the job. Yes, there's a time crunch, but I'm all for making this anxious "will I, won't I get the call" period as short as possible. I'm presented with a choice between a paid co-op with mildly interesting work and unpaid ones that sound amazing. Some people find those two things together, it is possible. I'll let you know if I get any offers from these interviews (three of them in three days).

I've also begun spending working at my ALE placement. It's great to be in an office where people passionately love and believe in what they do! (It's also great to get some perspective and real world experience in the middle of an academic quarter!)

Time to go iron my suits and brush up on my interview skills....

After a crazy week of constantly checking the NUSL electronic bulletin board, going on interviews, and practically camping out in my co-op advisor's office, I've finally made a decision. I'll be working in the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, Health Care Division. MA is a unique and interesting place to be working in health policy, given our universal health insurance coverage mandate. I'm excited! Now I just have to get to September...

What a difference a vacation makes! I'm feeling much more human now. Co-op has started and I'm having a great time going to work every day and not having to come home to a bunch of reading and research. I'm loving my co-op at the Attorney General's Office, especially because I'm using some of my MPH knowledge (finally!). It's nice to be out in the "real world" working on things that have an effect on more than just my evals.

I've also rediscovered this thing called "reading for fun." I vaguely remember it, and it's quite enjoyable. Not that law school ever really stops. I'm going to take the MPRE (one of the numerous standardized test hurdles) in November and get that out of the way while I'm not in classes. We'll see how that works out...

I'll admit that there are days when I wonder if I made the right decision, if this is really the path for me. Today is not one of those days. After a day working on a health care policy initiative at the Attorney General's Office, I'm sitting on my couch watching the President give a speech on health care reform and working on finishing my Master's thesis in public health. It's exciting to have found a niche that I'm passionate about. Granted, I came to NUSL knowing what I wanted that niche to be, but I'm realizing that I'm getting an educational experience tailored not only to my interests, but to the current state of the country. This is in large part due to simply being in Massachusetts, where health care policy tends to be a little more progressive.

On another note, it's been great to be on a co-op in a working environment that values the MPH classes I've taken. I'm being asked to develop opinions and suggestions, which is scary, but it's really helping me make connections between the two degrees.

Not all days leave me feeling this optimistic, but you've got to savor them when they do. So that's what I'm doing (with the help of some frozen yogurt and a joint session of Congress).