Benny, 2L

When I started thinking seriously about applying to law school nearly two years ago, I was perusing various law school admission websites and came across the Northeastern School of Law blogs. For me, the blogs were a wonderful way of getting a feel for what being a student at Northeastern is all about. It gave me a clearer picture of what NUSL is like, and made my decision to come here much, much easier. That said, I'm not blogging for this website to convince you to come (or not come!) to Northeastern. Instead, I'm hoping to follow in the footsteps of past bloggers to give you an unvarnished perspective of what life at Northeastern is about. I also figured that it will give me a chance to "check in" with myself as I navigate a challenging first year of school.

For this my first entry, I'm going to focus a bit less on my experience thus far as a 1L (there's plenty of time for that), and a bit more on how I got here, and why I picked Northeastern. Before coming to law school, I spent a good chunk of time working on policy issues here in Massachusetts state government (first at the State House as an aide to a legislator, and then for an independent state agency that focuses on regionalism and sustainable development issues). After working on these issues for close to six years, I decided to finally start down the long road of applying to law school. I wanted to go to law school for two reasons. First, I worked with many attorneys, and knew that a legal education would give me the tools I need to be a more effective policy maker. Secondly, it would give me an opportunity to connect my specific policy background with other areas of interest that I had not had the opportunity to explore in depth.

I focused my search on Boston area law schools -- I am a Boston native, and my wife just started her doctorate at Boston College, so we are committed to the Boston area for the time being. Students that are interested in law school in Boston have the fortune of having a half dozen schools to choose from, all of them with their own particular strengths and weaknesses. As I toured the various schools, met with students, and did my own research, I quickly became convinced that Northeastern is the right school for me.

Northeastern was the right fit for a few reasons. First and foremost, the practice of law in the public interest is at the core of the school's ethic and mission. I knew that once I finished law school that I wanted to continue working in the government or non-profit sectors, so in that regard Northeastern was the perfect fit. Second, I was impressed with how happy Northeastern graduates were with their law school experiences. Law school, no matter where you go, is a grind. It is challenging both intellectually and emotionally, yet so many of my friends that went to NUSL not only tolerated law school, but enjoyed it. As you will read and hear about later, Northeastern does not have formal letter grades (although we do have an evaluation system), and I think that this creates an atmosphere of camaraderie and cooperation that is unmatched at most other law schools.

Finally, the last main reason I chose NUSL is because of the co-op system. After the first academic year, students rotate between 3 month co-ops and 3 months of classes for a total of 8 quarters (4 class quarters, 4 co-op quarters). This gives students an unprecedented opportunity to "try on" different areas of legal practice, which is tremendously helpful in figuring out what you want to do after law school.

There are plenty of other things that I'm enjoying thus far about law school. My professors and classmates are amazingly committed, and there are tremendous opportunities to get involved, both on issue-based campus organizations and with the actual administration of the school. Also, most of the classrooms have moved into the newly renovated, beautiful, and state of the art Dockster Hall (I'll try to find some pictures to post in a future blog posting).

That's all for post #1. I'll be back next week, where I'll go over the main reason we all come to law school -- academics. Go Sox!

Before I get into discussing co-op, I received a question from a reader about Legal Skills in Social Context (LSSC), which is a cornerstone of the 1L experience here at NUSL. I'll stick to talking about the "social justice" component of LSSC, and will not be covering the research and writing component. If you are interested in hearing more about the research and writing component, please let me know.

The issues that we discuss in the social justice component include race, gender, and class differences. In our first semester, our focus has been on how individual lawyers, and legal institutions more broadly, address (or don't address) and account for (or don't account for) differences in these areas. The dynamic in every law office (translation: LSSC section) differs significantly. For some law offices, these conversations can often become quite difficult and contentious. In others, the challenges are not as significant. It really depends on the group dynamic. The purpose of the social justice component of LSSC (aside from the inherent value of having these discussions) is to prepare each law office for its second semester project, where we will represent an organizational client in an actual legal project. Thanks for the question, and feel free to post a comment if you are looking for more information. I would also encourage you to check out the link, above.

Now to co-op. One of the primary reasons that students decide on Northeastern is the co-op system, which gives each student the opportunity to have 4 3-month long internships throughout their law school career (for more on co-ops, you can look here). Co-ops starts after the first year, and students are either on the summer/winter co-op rotation, or the spring/fall rotation. I've elected to be on the former, which means that every June-August and December-February until I graduate I'll be out in the field working for a different organization, firm, or agency, doing actual legal work. Co-op gives law school students to apply what they have learned in the classroom in real world legal settings.

Because I am going on co-op in the summer (when students from virtually every other law school are also interning), I need to start applying soon, with my first deadline next week. I am leaning towards doing my first co-op in a government setting, where I hope to continue to build on my legal research and writing skills. For me, I am looking at the first co-op or two as a chance to build my general legal skills, as opposed to gaining expertise/experience in a specific area of the law. NUSL works with close to 900 co-op employers, and you can find a representative list here. Students have access to a comprehensive database, and students also often develop their own co-ops, meaning that instead of applying through NUSL's co-op office, they apply directly through the organization or firm.

Co-ops do vary significantly in how much they pay. Oftentimes co-ops with legal services organizations or small non-profits come without pay, while co-ops with large, big city firms can be several thousand dollars per week. For those co-ops that pay little or nothing, there are a variety of supplemental funding sources.

Back to work -- memo, reading, and more reading. See you all next week.

Happy New Year! We were experiencing some technical difficulties with my blog, which meant that I wasn't able to post since finals. Finals seem like they happened eons ago. Taking 3 four hour exams is exhausting, particularly at the end of what was already a long semester, and as a consequence I think I enjoyed this break more than any other break I've ever had.

Technically we were back this past Monday, although our classes don't start until tomorrow. The first three days of the semester are spent doing intensive research for our LSSC project. However, I had jury duty this week, and actually found myself seated for a two-day criminal trial that ended up taking three days because of our deliberations. This was the first time I've been seated on a jury, and the experience was really interesting, and made me excited to start my second semester in law school. Going in I was convinced that, as a law student, I wasn't going to be selected to sit on a jury. So being seated ended up being a pleasant surprise.

Co-op is also on a lot of 1Ls' minds right now. Many of us are still in the midst of applying, with the next round of deadlines this coming Monday. I expect to turn in roughly a dozen applications to co-ops in Boston, New York, Washington DC, and possibly the Bay Area and Wisconsin.

As I mentioned last week, a few of us went down to the DC for Barack Obama's inauguration. It was an amazing event. After spending the night in DC, we got to the mall a little past 4 a.m., getting as close as we could (about half a mile by our calculations). It was an incredible experience -- not just being there to witness the historic event, but to also "see" the transfer of power between two administrations. Unfortunately on the way back we got stuck in several hours of non-inauguration related traffic, but the experience of being in DC was worth every second of time we may have lost on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Back here on campus, I'm continuing to interview for co-ops, and am really enjoying my classes this semester. Our LSSC project is really moving into high gear, with our Law Office splitting up into various sub-committees to deal what is turning out to be an enormous amount of work.

Off to continue my con law reading.

One of the difficulties with public interest co-ops at NUSL is that many of them are, unfortunately, unpaid. The Cooperative Income Sharing Program (CISP) raises money by selling NUSL merchandise, coffee and snacks, and hosting an annual No Talent Show. Proceeds are distributed to students taking public interest co-ops. The show is this coming Wednesday, and in it members of the NUSL community, including students and faculty, perform to raise money for CISP. There's actually quite a bit of publicity for the event around campus, including this YouTube video that recently surfaced of Professor Hackney. All of us 1Ls who had Professor Hackney first semester got a real kick out of it (although perhaps it's not quite as entertaining if you haven't met him).

Due to the idiosyncrasies of our quarter system, we have our spring break this week, much earlier that I ever did in college. Having spring break during the last week in February provides less opportunity (or if you're like me, spending virtually the entire break in Boston, no opportunity) to enjoy warmer weather. The first half of the break I spent catching up with friends, but I'm back at it this week, researching and writing a memo that's due a week after we get back from break.

This weekend my wife and I are going to New York on the Bolt Bus, a relatively new bus service that's supposed to be nicer than Greyhound, and provides free wi-fi. We'll see some friends, and on Saturday night we're going to see David Byrne, former front man for The Talking Heads, at Radio City Music Hall.

I've also been working hard at securing a co-op, and should have some good news to post on that by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.

Today has been the first 100%, honest-to-goodness, no doubt about it beautiful day that we've had all year (unless you're one of those people that likes the snow/sleet/slush/cold). Spring is definitely around the corner, which feels nice. Despite being a native New Englander, I always forget how nice it feels to experience the first true day of spring. My wife and I managed to spend the first few hours of the day out with some friends, and now I'm back at it, planning on spending the rest of this beautiful Saturday wrapping up the first draft of the summary judgment memo.

I'm excited to report that on the co-op front, I secured a position for this summer with the Greater Boston Legal Services Consumer Protection Unit. Started a couple of years ago to provide legal services on a wide array of consumer issues, the unit's current focus is the foreclosure crisis, including litigation, policy advocacy, and education/outreach. I'm really looking forward to working there this summer for a couple of reasons. First, I've always had a strong interest in consumer issues, and except for a short internship after my freshman year of college, I haven't had a chance to work on these issues. Second, I feel as if anti-foreclosure work -- education, policy, and litigation -- is at the core of what we need to be doing to stabilize our economy so we can get things moving in the right direction. There is so much need in communities throughout Boston for these types of services, and I'm looking forward to having a busy summer.

On a side note, we had a guest speaker in our Criminal Justice class this past week. Billy Moore was on Georgia's death row for over 17 years, and was released over a decade ago. From the moment he was arrested, Moore admitted his guilt, and was released by the parole board because of supportive testimony from the victim's family, with whom he built a strong relationship during his years on death row. Regardless of one's personal views on the death penalty, the experience helped put a human face on a lot of the material we have studied this year. Moore speaks at NUSL every year because Professor Givelber served on his legal team. Moore has since chronicled his experience in I Shall Not Die: Seventy-two Hours on Death Watch

Hard to believe, but we only have one week of classes to go before reading week. It seems as if, all of a sudden, everybody is gearing up for finals -- outlining, taking practice exams, etc. Going through this process a second time will hopefully be a bit easier, because I have a sense of where to allocate my time. First semester I spent a lot of time putting together detailed outlines, and now I'm realizing that I, and many of my classmates, may have gone a bit overboard, or at least didn't put allocate our resources as efficiently as we could have.

Today is the nicest day we've had all year -- high 60s or lower 70s. Unfortunately, most of us are in the library or at home studying, not lucky enough to actually enjoy the weather. This is a long weekend, with Patriots Day (otherwise known as Marathon Monday) coming up. I actually have a couple of friends running this year, but I probably won't head down to watch the marathon because (you guessed it), I'll probably be studying.

So that said, I may not be posting as much over the next couple of weeks. But when I do emerge from this finals-induced cocoon, I will be a 2L, starting my co-op GBLS, ready to tell you about how I'm applying everything I've learned this year to real legal challenges and issues.

My apologies for not posting in a few weeks. A couple of days after finals, we went on a much needed vacation. We spent nearly three weeks in Peru, which was a great way of relaxing after my 1L year. We visited lots of amazing sites, including Machu Picchu, the floating Uros Islands of Lake Titicaca, and the cities of Cusco and Arequipa.

After getting back this past weekend, I started my first co-op at the Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) Consumer Rights Unit. GBLS is a large, dynamic, and active organization that provides legal serivces to indigent clients in a variety of areas, including housing, health and disability law, family law, and of course consumer law. There are a lot of interns here this summer (at least 60), including quite a few NUSL students. The Consumer Rights Unit is one of the smaller ones here at GBLS, and although it handles a vareity of cases, the focus right now is on foreclosure prevention.

Although I have only been here a couple of days, I am already getting a sense of how complicated these cases are going to be. Because of the securitization of mortgage loans (a concept I'm still trying to get my head around), it is extremely difficult to sort out the facts of these foreclosure cases. Furthermore, in the past few months the Obama Administration has instituted several new policies that are designed to help people avoid foreclosure. So even when litigation is not appropriate, our unit is helping educate potential clients and other attorneys about the availability of these programs.

Tomorrow night I'm getting together with a bunch of NUSL friends to hear about how their first co-ops are going, and it should definitely be interesting comparing notes.

For those of you who have been in Boston the last couple of days, you know that the weather has been pretty awful. I wish I could report that we're experiencing some sort of oppressive summer heat, but unfortunately all we've had the last couple of days (and all we're going to have for the next few days) is rain. Although I grew up here, getting used to our unpredictable weather patterns is still something I'm not quite used to.

I just wrapped up my third week at the GBLS Consumer Rights Unit. There is an army of interns and volunteers at GBLS, so for the first two weeks I was sitting on a different floor than the rest of my unit. This week, I finally managed to find some space downstairs on my unit's floor, which has made communicating with my colleagues much easier.

Although the primary focus of any 1L curriculum is legal reasoning and doctrine, I am realizing how important research skills are. Virtually every question that comes across our desks is a novel one, because the facts of each case are unique. At the same time, it's really easy to get bogged down with a research project, because there is so much material on each issue, as narrow as the issue may seem at first. I'm relying a lot of what I learned on some trainings I went to this spring that were put on by WestLaw (one of the two major online private legal research services that are the lifeblood of any law school student).

I'm also starting to think about my next co-op. There are actually a few deadlines rapidly approaching in mid-July, so I need to start getting my resume in order to apply for those if I decide I want to do that. It's making me realize how quickly this summer is going to go by.

Now I hope you're all experiencing nicer weather than I am.

This has been one brutal summer weather wise here in Boston. While Boston isn't necessarily known for scorching summers, we expect our fair share of sun. Unfortunately, with some rare exceptions, it's basically been cloudy for the last month. I had plans with classmates to go out for drinks to a different bar with outdoor seating each week. But about half way through the summer, we've only been able to do this once.

The internship is going well. I've got a couple of very interesting cases that I'm working on, and I've had the opportunity to meet with a couple of clients, do field research, and draft legal memos, letters, etc. Unfortunately GBLS, like all legal services agencies in Massachusetts and across the country, is experiencing budget problems, just as the demand for its services is peaking due to the recession.

My wife and I went to Madison, WI a couple of weekends ago to visit my brother and his family, including our new baby niece (only one month old). My brother and I, being only 1 1/2 years apart, are very close, and my two nieces are only 2 years apart, so as a younger sibling it was interesting to see their budding sororal relationship. They're coming to town this weekend for a wedding, and I'm excited to have the chance to hang out with them again.

I'm curious: are any incoming 1Ls reading this blog? If so, feel free to ask me questions. Now that my 1L year is in the rearview mirror, perhaps I'm a bit "older and wiser" and can help answer any questions or concerns you may have. Enjoy your few remaining weeks of freedom!

Before I get into the rest of my blog entry for this week, I got a question on last week's entry about the types of clients we serve at Greater Boston Legal Services. Because we provide free legal services, we use income guidelines to determine who is eligible to receive our services. I'm not familiar with the exact specifics of the guidelines, but just because a potential client fits within the guidelines does not necessarily mean that we will take on their case. In addition to the income guidelines, we also look at the strength of their legal claims, to make sure that we can actually help them, if we do decide to take on their case. Cases get assigned to specific units, such as the Elder Law Unit, the Immigration Law Unit, the Welfare Unit, the Housing Unit, and my unit, the Consumer Rights Unit.

I usually use this blog to write about the student experience at NUSL, but on occasion it's also helpful to give you a glimpse of what our professors are up to. Professor Peter Enrich, who was my 1L Contracts professor, is an expert on state and local government issues, including state and local budget and fiscal issues. He was recently interviewed for our local Fox TV affiliate, where he discussed how a relatively new tax credit for film production isn't as good a deal for the state and its municipalities as we've been led to believe. The clip is below. Interesting stuff, at least for those that are interested in state and local policy issues.

We finally have had a stretch of a few beautiful days, so everyone in Boston is in a way better mood. This weekend I'm trying to spend as much time outside as possible, opting for the bike instead of the car, and spending time with friends and family. Tonight we're going to see Sacha Baron Cohen's new Bruno movie, which I've been excited about ever since the Borat movie came out a few years ago.

Yesterday I turned in an early application to co-op in the winter for a judge on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. I have no idea how hard it is to get those co-ops, but I figured it would be a great opportunity to continue improving my legal research and writing skills.

Have a good weekend, and for those of you in the Boston area, enjoy the weather!

A bunch of my non-law school friends decided to do a movie night this summer, so every Wednesday night we get together at a friend's house and watch a movie that we all picked. It's become a really fun tradition, and every week we pick somebody's name out of a hat. That person picks three potential movies for the following week, and we all vote on what we want to see. Tonight? I'm not sure what the final vote tally is, but I voted for Ishtar, which, from everything I've read, is supposed to be one of the worst movies (or at least biggest box office bombs) of all time. My friend who put the movie on the list, though, swears by it, and is convinced that it's thoroughly underrated. Hopefully I'll be able to form an opinion in a couple of hours.

I'm staying at work late today because I'm trying to help a client get a loan modification from her bank, and I needed her to come in and sign some paperwork. It's meaningful and exciting to do this work with clients, and to try and keep them in their homes. At the same time, I've realized over the last couple of months at GBLS how much of an uphill battle we face. We are seeing people's real struggles every day, and all of the financial institutions we work with are just concerned about the bottom line. Taking my several clients' experiences, and multiplying it over the millions of Americans who find themselves in similar straits, quickly makes me realize the rough shape that our economy actually is.

Moving onto more exciting (or at least less depressing) topics, I'm heading out to Bumpkin Island (I know, awesome name) this Friday to camp with some friends, including a law school friend. Bumpkin (I just can't get enough to saying/spelling it out) is part of the Boston Harbor Islands, which is part of the national park system. Virtually forgotten by Bostonians for a long time, over the last decade or so they've become a great destination for people who are looking for a quick, cheap, and really interesting day trip.

With my summer co-op at GBLS wrapping up next week, I thought I'd offer a few random snippets of where I've been, what I've been up to, and what I've been thinking about for the last couple of weeks:

Went to Berkshires in Western Massachusetts this weekend with my wife and a friend. We camped for a night, checked out some of the cute small historic towns, and then spent Sunday at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. For those of you that have never been out there, it's really beautiful, and quite a spectacular experience to hear world class classical music out in the open (even if it was raining).

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My fall schedule is starting to take shape. I'm probably going to be taking Evidence, Professional Responsibility (the only required class after 1L), Advanced LSSC, and doing an independent study where I will be looking at state tax law and policies. Advanced LSSC basically means that I will be teaching a 1L section of Legal Skills in Social Context, which I spoke about a few times during my 1L year. So, that means that I may be teaching some of you that are reading this blog.

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On the co-op front, I was fortunate to secure a co-op for the winter quarter, once I'm done with classes in the fall. I'll be a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Norman H. Stahl, a Senior Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit here in Boston. As it turns out, the other Judicial Intern will be one of my nearest and dearest friends from law school, which is also pretty exciting. The experience promises to be an intense and challenging one, as I'm going to write approximately 20 memos over 10 or 11 weeks.

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Movie night again tomorrow night -- very exciting. I voted for How to Get Ahead in Advertising, which I've never seen, and frankly, know little to nothing about.

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On another note, Red Sox fans around here are reeling from the revelation that our favorite Red Sox hero, David Ortiz, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. The test results were never supposed to be released, and were merely meant to measure how bad the problem was before the union and Major League Baseball decided what to do about it. Still, it's reconfirmed for many of us that the current generation of baseball players will forever be tainted by this scandal, whether they tested positive or not.

Last week I wrapped up my first co-op. It went by really, really quickly, and it's making me realize that being on a quarter system is going to be VERY different from being on the semester system my 1L year. All in all the co-op went really well, and I spent the last week wrapping up some memos, tying up loose ends, and passing on any open cases I was working on to my co-workers.

So I have a couple of weeks off, and I'm trying to spend as much of it relaxing as possible. Today my wife and I got a new toilet installed (yeah, exciting stuff), and tomorrow morning we head out to Madison, WI (affectionately called "Mad Town") for a week to visit my brother and his family. My wife and I are actually ice cream junkies (for those of you not from Boston, despite our cold climate, we have some of the best around), and when we get into Milwaukee and pick up our car, we're going to head straight to Leon's Frozen Custard. Midwestern style frozen custard, which I've never really seen on the east coast, is a much creamier, richer, and undoubtedly unhealthier version of our soft serve ice cream. We've had it a few times, and in this oppressive August heat, it's all I can seem to think of.

I stopped by the law school today to deal with some paperwork and pick up some things, and it made me excited to be back in class in a few short weeks. Unfortunately the heat is really preventing me from thinking right now, but I'll try to put up some thoughts before class starts for 1Ls about what to expect, and how to get through what is a very exciting, difficult, and exhilarating year.

My last couple of weeks have been consumed by preparing all sorts of project documents for my Law Office (for those of you unfamiliar with NUSL lingo, "Law Offices" are the small sections -- 12-14 students each -- that 1Ls are split up into for their social justice project). It's been really interesting doing preliminary research on the issue that we're working on for our client, but it's also been taking up a huge share of my time.

And like that....Fall is here. This wasn't much of a summer weather wise, but as I look out my window right now it's very clear that summer is over. The leaves are changing, it's cooled down quite a bit (especially at night), the NHL season has started up again (go Bruins!), and the Red Sox are about to start the playoffs (go Sox!)

Oh!....before I forget. I got a question on my blog from a prospective student who was wondering about schedules. In an earlier blog posting I mentioned that I had a 3 week break after my 1L year, but the student didn't see this long a break on any officials NUSL calendars. I took this break right after my second semester was over this past spring. Although the break may have looked shorter on the calendar, students sometimes have flexibility in putting together their schedules. So in my instance, I took a longer break at the beginning of the summer, as my employer was happy to have my start June 1, but I also ended later than some of my friends that were on co-op. I had some friends that started their co-op as soon as exams were done, so they had a lot more time off at the end of the summer. As long as you get the requisite number of weeks in, then you're generally fine. Hope this clarifies things.

It's hard to believe, but I'm starting to think and apply for co-ops for next summer. Right now I'm considering going down one of two roads -- either working for a state or municipal agency, or for a small law firm that works in an area that I'm interested in, such as municipal law. The first co-op application deadline is in a couple of weeks, so I really need to strategize about what I want to do for my last two open co-ops.

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On the LSSC front, I can't believe that I only have 3 weeks left with my Law Office. Tomorrow morning they're actually meeting with our client, who is flying in from the west coast to meet with them. It should be a great opportunity for them to engage on a deeper level with the project.

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In Professional Responsibility today we talked about the ethics of attorney's advertisements, and we watched a couple of videos of ads from different states. Unfortunately there are a small but visible minority of lawyers out there who, in my opinion, give the legal profession a bad name, and this one in particular caught my attention (although I have to admit that it's entertaining in its own right).

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And yes, the World Series is starting tonight. Although I'm bummed that my Red Sox won't be there, I can't say that I'm surprised that they didn't make it this far. Although they scored a decent amount of runs this year, I never felt that this year's team had the lineup go all the way. So I guess I'm rooting for the Phillies. . .

This quarter is rapidly coming to a close. In a few minutes I actually start my last class of the quarter (I have a pretty great schedule -- only have class on Monday and Wednesday, but with this Wednesday being a holiday, today is my last day of class). Luckily, I only have one in class exam, and then a couple of out of class exams/assignments.

I'm starting my co-op search from scratch for next summer, and there's a good chance that I'm going to create my own co-op. I've also identified a couple of really neat fellowships that I'm going to apply for, so I'm going to be working on those over Thanksgiving break.

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A couple of weeks ago my LSSC Law Office met with our client, which went really well. This coming week the Law Office is going to be meeting with and interviewing a "key informant," essentially, an individual that can help shed some light on the group's project. It's our last meeting as a Law Office, and, reflecting back on my experience, I've really enjoyed working with my 1Ls. It's been amazing seeing their transformation over the course of the semester, and I'm excited to see what the end up doing, both in co-op and through their careers in the law.

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Is this the time of year when people start applying to law school again? Hard to believe that I was going through this process a couple of years ago, but if folks have any questions, please ask away.

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We had our monthly movie night with some friends last week, and watched The Very Same Munchhausen, a Soviet telling of the classic Baron Münchhausen story. It was....interesting, to say the least.