Diana, 2L

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

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.

What a week! It is finally confirmed Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. I am more than elated about the outcome of the election. Throughout the semester the law school did a great job in organizing law students for volunteer opportunities with the Obama-Biden Campaign. A group of NUSL students known as Swingers for Obama headed to New Hampshire the last weekend before election day and devoted their time in providing critical campaign work for the Obama-Biden team. You can check out their blog that documents their experience at: http://swingersforobama.wordpress.com/

I finished my second legal memo, which I finally submitted on Tuesday. Now I have to make the decision of which legal memo to use as my writing sample. On another note, I only have four weeks left of classes before the start of final exams. Honestly, I am a little nervous but the law school offers a great academic support system. The Academic Success Program (ASP) works with the law students through one-to-one work, academic counseling, skills workshops, time management assistance, and with exam preparation materials. I will work with ASP these up coming weeks to prepare for the final exams. ASP is such a valuable resource and its primary goal is to prepare law students to perform to the best of their abilities. For more information check out the following link: http://www.slaw.neu.edu/asp/

I felt so inspired after watching the Emmy Award Winner documentary named "Made in L.A./Hecho en L.A." The documentary follows three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles' garment sweatshops who sue retailer Forever 21 for labor rights violations. The documentary was shown at the law school by the Northeastern National Lawyers Guild Student Chapter. The documentary personally resonated with me because my mother worked in garment sweatshops for over 18 years. Seeing how hard my parents worked to support my sister and I is what motivates me to work hard. One of the main reasons why I chose to become an attorney was to work with individuals on immigration-related issues. Watching this documentary reminded me what a privilege it will be to work as an attorney and to have the capacity to impact an individual's life through my work. To learn more about the documentary check out the website at: http://www.madeinla.com/

Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is trying to expand their immigration law curriculum. Currently, the law school is in the process of interviewing candidates to fill a faculty position for immigration law. NUSL offers a couple of immigration courses like Immigration Law and Refugee and Asylum Law. In addition, NUSL students can also learn about immigration law by working with various Co-Op employers who focus in immigration law. The law students are also very active and have started a group that meets on a weekly basis to discuss various immigration law issues. Personally, I am all for creating an Immigration Law Clinic. Nonetheless, the law school does offer an array of law clinics in other legal areas like: Criminal Law, Domestic Violence, Poverty Law, Public Health and Prisoner's Rights. Check out the link for more information on NUSL's clinics: http://www.slaw.neu.edu/clinics/clinics.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am currently writing to you from New Jersey where I am spending the Thanksgiving holiday with the family. But Thanksgiving is not the same when one is in law school. Gone are the days where I carelessly spent the Thanksgiving break doing nothing but eating, socializing and shopping. This Thanksgiving all I am thinking about is finishing up outlines for final exams. Why are outlines so important? The process of creating an outline prepares one for the final exams. The outline is also useful to have during exams to use as a reference.

As I reminisce about life before law school, I remember that this time last year I was working on my law school applications and visiting various law schools, which included Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL). Personally, visiting law schools really helped me hone in on the particular aspects that attracted me to certain law schools. This time last year after visiting NUSL's Open House, I knew what I liked best about this law school: the culture, faculty and the student body. This is the type of information you don't get from reading brochures or various law school guides. Attending the Open House affirmed my reasons for wanting to attend Northeastern University School of Law. For all prospective law school applicants interested in attending Northeastern, I highly recommend you attend NUSL's Open House scheduled for December 3, 2008. For more information here is the link:
http://www.northeastern.edu/law/admission/visit/info-sessions.html. Yours truly will be one of the panelists at the open house. So don't be shy to come up to me and introduce yourself and ask me any questions.

I am so sad that spring break is over. Moreover, I am so disappointed at myself for not getting more school work done this week. What happened? As I look at my upcoming schedule, I can't help but feel a little tense about not meeting my deadlines. I have a summary judgment memo due next week, class readings for the week, and social justice project items to finish as well. I wish I used my time during spring break more efficiently. On the bright side, I did accomplish other tasks such as booking my airfare to El Paso, TX, filing my income taxes, and completing the FAFSA for the next upcoming year. Uncle Sam was very generous to me this year in granting me a hefty return but that money will go directly to fund my summer Co-Op at El Paso, TX.

Sorry for the rant but I am just blogging out my frustrations for this week.

Till next time all!

Wow! Believe it or not, the end of my first year is creeping up. I don't know where the time went. Wait…I do! I spent it studying for hours without end. In a couple of weeks, I will have to pack, move my belongings to an apartment in Jamaica Plain, and fly out to El Paso, TX to start my Co-Op.

Speaking of Co-Op, today I submitted my Co-Op funding application. The law school offers free funding for students who do a public interest unpaid Co-Op. I also applied for other scholarships. Cross your fingers… hopefully I get some funding because I need to pay off some bills.

The law students at Northeastern are very active in organizing events to expose and educate students on different cultural issues. On Tuesday, I attended my first Passover Seder which was organized by Northeastern’s law student organization Jewish Law Student Association. I wish I took pictures so I can demonstrate how nicely organized this event was. In addition, the Latino Law Student Association (LALSA) in conjunction with many other student organizations is conducting a fundraiser to raise money to purchase undergarments for women in detention centers. Sadly, many of the women living in detention centers are only provided with one pair of underwear. For more information on this issue check out this link: http://www.amnestyusa.org/immigrant-detention/page.do?id=1641031

That is all for now till next time.

I apologize for my MIA status but I spent the few weeks of my remaining summer relaxing and catching up with family and friends.  But now I am back!!

The summer has ended and it is official: I am a 2L (second year law student).  I started school last Tuesday and what a hectic week it was.  I moved in to Boston last weekend and I love my new place located in Jamaica Plain.  I am subletting a friend's room who is currently in Quito, Ecuador working on her first Co-Op. My commute to school is only 15 minutes max and I am guaranteed a seat on the train every morning because I get on the first stop of the train.  I can't ask for anything better than that!

Unlike the courses of my first year in law school, which were chosen for me by the school, this year I had the full liberty to decide which courses to enroll into.  On Tuesday, I finalized my schedule and enrolled into the Domestic Violence Clinic, Family Law, Immigration Law and §1983 Litigation (learning how to sue police officers).   In addition, I will also be a teaching assistant for Professor Hackney's Torts Section.  

All my courses seem to be very exciting and it is apparent from the first week of class that the required reading for 2L courses is much less demanding compared to the 1L courses.  In addition to preparing for school, all 2L's across the country including myself are preparing for interviews with law firms for summer associate positions for next summer.  

I am very excited about all my courses but I am especially excited about the Domestic Violence Clinic.   As part of the Clinic, I attend class once a week and work at the Dorchester Municipal Court twice a week.  While at court, I will work as an advocate to assist victims of domestic violence with the process of applying for a restraining order. One of my responsibilities is to stand alongside a client as she/he petitions for a restraining order in court. One of my main reasons for wanting to be an attorney was to work with victims of domestic violence and now thanks to the Domestic Violence Clinic I will get a little taste of that experience.
Till next time.

As a law student at the Domestic Violence Clinic, I am trained to be a advocate, and this service is so vital for the petitioners who come to court to file a restraining order, many for the first time.  The majority of the petitioners are women, specifically women of color who may not be fluent in English.

As part of the Domestic Violence Clinic, I visit the Dorchester Municipal Court twice a week.  Last week at the Dorchester Municipal Court, I worked with two clients who both filed restraining orders against their partners.  Working with victims of domestic violence is not a new experience for me but assisting them with filling out a complaint for a restraining order and standing with them as they speak to the judge is definitely a new experience.  

Both clients were afraid about the consequences of their actions and as their advocate, it was my job to inform them of the pros and cons of filing for a restraining order.  The most important question to ask a petitioner is how will the batterer/defendant react when he is notified of the restraining order.  The most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence is when she decides to leave her partner/batterer. So, an important part of my job is to inform my clients about these dangers and create a safety plan with the client in case the batterer decides to retaliate.

My two clients did obtain a restraining order, but it is only valid for 10 days.  My next responsibility will be to prepare my clients for their next court date where the defendant will most likely appear to defend himself.  My clients both are seeking to obtain a one-year restraining order.  In order to accomplish this goal, I will work with my clients in obtaining any evidence that will support the incidents on their complaint and preparing them to speak with the judge. Wish me luck!!  

Till next time.. 

I want to provide my blog readers with some tips and advice about gifts a law student would love. Trust me, the law student in your life will thank you for these gifts.

Every first-year law student should have the follow items to help them get through the first year of law school:

(1) Lots and lots of highlighters- highlighting is essential when reading the multitude of pages required during the first year curriculum. Find out if there is a color highlighter the student prefers. For example, I went through one highlighter every two weeks and I preferred yellow highlighters.

(2) Black's Law Dictionary - this dictionary is essential for a first year law student because of the numerous new legal words that are not found in a regular dictionary. The Black's Law Dictionary can be found for free on Westlaw but it is always handy to have the actual paperback dictionary on hand.

(3) Durable Write-On Page Tabs - the first year law student taking the required Civil Procedure course will thank you for the durable write-on page tabs. These tabs will help the law student organize and find certain pages and sections of the book, especially in Civil Procedure, where the Rules Book is the bible. These tabs will assist the law student in finding the appropriate rule in a nick of time during final exams.

(4) Coffee Travel Mug - there is nothing like a warm cup of coffee or tea to start off a day as a first year law student. I could not live without my coffee mug!!! There is nothing like sipping my coffee during my 8 a.m. class.

(5) Gift Card to a nearby Coffee Shop - Find out what coffee shop is near the law student's campus and buy gift cards from that coffee shop. The law student in your life will thank you for this gift on those late nights when caffeine is a necessity.

(6) Water Bottle- this helped me save money on purchasing water. I just filled my water bottle from the water fountain and went about my day.

(7) Backpack-last but definitely not least no law student should ever go without a durable backpack. I personally invested in a backpack that came with shock absorbent shoulder straps that distribute much of the weight from the heavy law books away from my shoulders and back.

This is not an exhaustive list but these are a few items that were essential in making my law school experience more pleasurable.

Till next time..