Benny, 2L

My apologies for taking a while to post. Law school has the tendency to occasionally consume everything in its path, and that's exactly what happened the last couple of weeks.

Despite the challenges, one of the main reasons that I'm really enjoying my first year in law school is all the opportunities to get involved on campus. I wasn't involved much in campus activities when I was an undergraduate, and I was amazed to see how many opportunities there are to get involved here at NUSL.

There are a few types of student organizations here at Northeastern. The first focus on issues/topic areas, such as labor law, international law, and family law. I've joined both the NUSL chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Constitution Society. Although I personally haven't done so, there is lots of opportunity to get involved in the direct governance of these groups by being elected Chair, Treasurer, etc. Because of NUSL's co-op system, a lot of the responsibility for managing student groups falls on 1Ls (at any given time, half of the upper level students are off campus on co-op).

There are also groups that represent the needs of specific cultural and ethnic groups, such as the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA), the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), the Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA), and others.

Finally, students can also get involved through student government via the Student Bar Association Council (SBAC), which is the formal elected representative body for NUSL students. Students representatives on the SBAC interface with the administration on a wide array of issues, including admissions, co-op, and curriculum, and also represent law school students on the university-wide graduate student senate.

I hope everyone enjoys this last weekend before this election. Next week I'm thinking of talking about the co-op application process (which we 1Ls are just starting), but let me know if you have any suggestions or things you would like to hear about.

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).

I'm not sure who actually reads my blog, but I'm guessing that if anyone reads it, it's prospective students. Approximately a year ago, I was in the same position as you -- weighing admission offers from various law schools. Being a 1L is definitely a stressful experience, and I think that the application process is a close second. There's lots of information coming at you from different directions, and lots of different factors to balance in making your decision.

It's important to remember that there is no right decision. Deciding where to go to law school, like the law itself, is a human decision, and there are pluses and minuses to every choice we make in life. But that said, you need to think about what is important to you in a law school. I picked Northeastern because I wanted to attend a school with a strong public interest tradition, a school that valued my ambitions, and I school that wasn't overly dependent on using competition to motivate it students.

That said, remember that wherever you choose to go to law school, you will be challenged. You will have long nights, the frustrations of group projects, and by this time next year, serious bags under your eyes (or at least I do). But at the same time, it is an amazing experience, and in these few short months, my perspective on where I came from, and where I'm going, has changed immeasurably.

Of course, if I were making the decision for you, all of you would be coming to Northeastern. The students are interesting and motivated, the professors never cease to amaze me, we have a beautiful new building and classrooms, and most importantly, NUSL stands on an ethic that I can truly get behind. In the end, though, the decision of where to go to law school is a profoundly personal one, so regardless of where you all choose to go, congratulations on getting this far in the process. As always, if you have questions about NUSL please don't hesitate to post them, and I'll make sure to answer them.

I have to admit, it feels really, really nice to be done with my first 1L year. My final exam yesterday (Criminal Justice) was an 8 hour marathon, and unlike any exam that I've ever taken. For the sake of brevity, I won't provide any details, except to say that I've never taken an exam that demanded so much of my (quite limited) creative talents. The festivities last night were way more subdued than those after 1st semester, in large part because I think everyone was really exhausted at what was the end of quite a long year.

I'm excited to start my co-op at GBLS on June 1, but am definitely looking forward to having the next three weeks off. My wife and I will be be traveling in Latin America until then, so I'll be back on here starting the first week on June.

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.

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!

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.