Diana, 2L

Mid-Point Mark

So far, I am half way through my first semester of law school and I made it this far without running to the hills! What have I accomplished thus far? I submitted my first legal memo a couple of weeks ago and am currently working on my second memo. I learned how to use Westlaw and Lexis Nexis to conduct legal research. I learned how to effectively read cases and note take. I attended a training session to learn how to educate the youth on their Fourth Amendment Rights and I volunteer for the Domestic Violence Institute. As time passes by the inevitable is unavoidable– final exams!

The majority of our grades are based on the final exam and a small percentage is based on class participation. A lot of pressure is placed on the final exams, but of course, Northeastern will not leave us out to dry. Next week the law school will be administrating a Practice Civil Procedure Exam to assist us in getting a little taste of what a final exam will be like. Thus, as a good law student should, I will spend most of this weekend studying for the practice exam and working on my second legal memo.

One of the benefits of attending Northeastern University School of Law is their grading system where there is no GPA and no class rank. Rather than alphabetic or numeric grades, the law school uses narrative evaluations from professors and co-op employers. This grading system cultivates an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect which helps me hone my skills through constructive feedback. The law school's grading policy was one of factors that attracted me to attend Northeastern University School of Law. Based on my nine week experience, the no GPA and no class rank policy definitely minimizes the competitive, cutthroat experience that is seen in most law schools. This grading policy makes preparing for the final exam a less stressful experience because the class is not competing with each other for ranking purposes. As a prospective law school student one should take into consideration what kind of school environment would be most conducive to your learning style. If anyone has any questions about the no grading and no ranking policy feel free to conduct me, the admissions office or check out the law school's website at http://www.slaw.neu.edu/affairs/requiredeg.html.

Posted by Diana at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I chose to attend law school with an interest in working with victims of domestic violence. When I heard that the Domestic Violence Institute (DVI) was accepting applications for the Interview Advocates position I jumped on the opportunity. The Domestic Violence Institute at Northeastern University School of Law is an education, service and research organization dedicated to combating partner abuse. DVI has a unique interdisciplinary collaboration with the Boston Medical Center. Law students are placed in the Emergency Room located at the Boston Medical Center to interview women patients and assist in identifying victims of domestic violence in need of services.

Fortunately, my application was accepted and I was required to attend a two-day training. The two-day training was held at the law school and at the Boston Medical Center. Since DVI is open to all law students within the Boston area, it was a great opportunity to meet law students from various Boston law schools. The training also included a volunteer fair where many not-for-profit organizations located throughout the Boston area came to provide us with referral information. The fair was also organized to expose law students to various public-interest employers for prospective law-school internship opportunities.

As a volunteer for DVI, I committed to volunteer for 6 hours every other Thursday. Each volunteer is assigned to a group of three or four law students. I was assigned to a group of 3 law students; one student from Northeastern and the other from Boston College. The group is headed by a team leader who is an upper level student. The team leader's role is to guide us in gaining information and experience interviewing patients, and providing direct legal advocacy services to patients who identify as battered women.

So far, I have volunteered two nights and the experience is incomparable to what I have done before. What makes this experience unique is working in the Emergency Room(ER). As a volunteer, my main function is to interview women in the ER and ask for their thoughts on the issue of violence against women. The goal is to obtain information pertaining to womens' opinions about the issue of violence against women and to hopefully identify victims in need of services. What I enjoy about participating in the program is getting the opportunity to work with people again. After working in legal services for two years, I miss the client interaction. Volunteering at DVI will definitely help me improve my client interviewing skills. I also enjoy getting out of the law school routine for a couple hours to do other activities which helps me feel more grounded.

I am looking forward to the experience and hopefully I will share more as time progresses. For more information on the Domestic Violence Institute click on the following link: http://www.slaw.neu.edu/clinics/dvi.html

Posted by Diana at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello everyone,

Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to read my blog. The goal of this blog is to inform you, the lovely audience, about the Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) experience from the perspective of a current law school student. Let me start by briefly introducing myself. I'm from the Garden State, also known as New Jersey, and graduated from college five years ago. The first three years out of college I worked as a financial analyst for an insurance company. For the last two years, I worked as a legal advocate assisting victims of domestic violence. My experience as a legal advocate is what motivated me to attend law school.

I cannot believe I actually started law school. Sometimes I have to pinch myself just to make sure I am not dreaming. As I walk down the halls of Dockser and Cargill, I remember the feeling I got when I first stepped foot inside the law school; it just felt right being at this school. After studying for the LSAT, completing law school applications, and finally having to make a decision on what law school to attend, it's almost surreal that I have actually began this journey called law school.

I chose to attend Northeastern for two main reasons: for their commitment in promoting public interest law and for their famous Co-op program. I am amazed by the diverse student body and by the faculty's enthusiasm and energy in teaching the courses. As a 1L, I have no control in choosing my first year courses. I am taking the following courses this Fall Semester: Torts, Property, Civil Procedure and Legal Skills in Social Context, also known as Legal Research & Writing.

With only a couple weeks of experience as a 1L, I am learning day by day the unique qualities of Northeastern. The Legal Skills in Social Context course is very unique to Northeastern. The 1L class is broken into groups known as law offices, which consist of approximately 12 students in each office. The course is comprised of two parts: one is the Legal Writing and Research component and the other is a Social Justice Component. In the Social Justice Component, each law office will work together as a group on a research project for either a community-based or public-service organization. The opportunity to work with a client in a group setting as a first-year law student is unheard of in any other law school legal writing curriculum. For more information on this course, please click on the link: http://www.slaw.neu.edu/course/lssc.html.

Posted by Diana at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)