I thought I would write this week's blog piece about one of the most important opportunities that NUSL has afforded me: the Domestic Violence Institute (“DVI�). DVI has two primary components: the emergency department project and the court clinic. Today, I'll write a bit about the former.

DVI's emergency department project is a program through which first year law students are placed in the Boston Medical Center emergency department. There, they interview women about their thoughts and opinions on domestic violence and provide advocacy and support where experience with domestic violence is disclosed. Students are also referred to patients that are hospitalized as a result of domestic violence.

I think this project is a terrific opportunity for first years to get real world experience and provide a much-needed service to the Boston community. During my first year, I participated as an interviewer/advocate and had an amazing experience. In fact, it was probably the most formative experience that I had as a 1L. I was pushed (in a warm and affirming way, of course) to step out of my comfort zone and speak to women about an incredibly pervasive issue that is often “swept under the rug�. This work can be challenging and I think that, as a man, I found it particularly challenging. By the end of the program, though, I emerged with a profound sense of solidarity with women who cope with daily violence in their lives. I also gained new perspectives on my own ability to connect with people, across the boundaries of gender, age, race and income. It was quite a deep experience.

After that first year as an interview/advocate, I came back last year as a team leader. This opportunity was equally powerful, but very different. My team of first year students were a diverse lot. Within that small team, I had three students with a wide swath of experiences. I really enjoyed guiding them through the process of speaking about domestic violence and advocating for those dealing with violence in their daily lives. Watching these students confront their own thoughts about domestic violence gave me fresh perspectives on the issue and I was able to connect with each of my students on a personal level.

Just like last year, I am back as a team leader. This year, my team is comprised of three first-year law students from the Boston area. So far, we have had three six-hour shifts in the emergency department. The program is just getting into the swing of things, and I am really enjoying it. This is particularly the case because I know it will be last year of participation in the program: graduation is six months away!

This past week has been a whirlwind. I have been quite busy with obligations, both law school related and otherwise. On Thursday, my teammate and I rode down to Connecticut, where we represented NUSL at the National Trial Competition. It was wonderful that the competition was in Connecticut, because it allowed some of my family members to come out and watch me compete. I had a lot of fun at this competition. I'm quite happy that I participated in both a trial competition (this year) and a moot court competition (last year) while in law school. I really benefited from each. Moreover, each netted me a plaque to hang in my office!

On Monday, NUSL held its annual "No Talent" Show. The show is a great event and this year I actually played a small role in one of the skits. It was a lot of fun. The No Talent Show is always such a fun event.

On Tuesday, I had my last day of coop at the Public Health Advocacy Institute. I have enjoyed my time there. To celebrate the end, the attorneys there took me out to a lunch, which was a nice touch. Once I left work, I attended a team leader meeting for the Domestic Violence Institute. When I got home, I set out to spend the next couple of days recovering from the past couple of weeks. In particular, working full-time and getting ready for the National Trial Competition ended up wearing me down.

Today, it's Valentine's Day, and I am taking my wife to see When the Road Bends at the MFA. Tomorrow, my friends on the other rotation are celebrating the end of their final academic quarter. Other than that, though, I will be laying low until classes begin.

This week has been exciting and busy. I have met law school friends for an intimate dinner, sat as a judge for two colleagues representing NUSL at a moot court competition in which I competed last year, and discussed the District of Columbia v. Heller case with friends. I have been also occupied with school work and extracurricular activities. I have started teaching high school students about the constitution, though the Marshall-Brennan program.

I also received a comment on this blog! I thought I would share my response as the answer might interest others. The question was:

What exactly are your duties as a team leader for the NUSL Domestic Violence Institute? Does the school grant you some type of scholarship when you participate as a team leader?

In terms of my duties as team leader, I oversee the efforts of a team of two first-year students, who work a six-hour shift every other week. During each shift, we go into the emergency department of Boston Medical Center ("BMC"). BMC is a large non-profit hospital and serves a diverse community of patients. During our shifts we interview women in the emergency department about their thoughts and opinions on domestic violence. When I conducted such interviews as a first-year law student, I found it tremendously instructive. I learned a lot about building rapport with all sorts of people. When our interviewees disclose experience with domestic violence, we offer our services as advocates. In addition, the nursing staff frequently refer to us patients who are hospitalized as a result of domestic violence. Accordingly, the program has two components: interviewing and advocacy.

In terms of the remuneration that I receive for serving as a team leader, I receive no compensation. In fact, I think this is one of my favorites aspects of the program. The program has a large number of students participating in it, particularly first-year law students (who are usually strapped for spare time). The fact that the program enjoys an enthusiastic level of participation, despite the lack of academic credit, tuition assistance, or other compensation really speaks to the social justice values that many students bring to NUSL. In fair disclosure, though, I should also add that although the program is run by NUSL, students from other Boston schools participate. For instance, both of my team members go to different schools in Boston. If you want more information about the Domestic Violence Institute, you can go here.

I started today off by doing some reading for jurisprudence. The material was so dense that I had to read it last night and then wake up early today to re-read it. After reviewing the assigned reading, I had a coffee and read the latest issue of The New Republic, which just arrived and (as an aside) had a very disturbing photo morph cover. Before I knew it, it was time to hit the road. My first class of the day - legal interviewing and counseling - was about to start. I really like this class; I have been conducting interviews ever since I got involved in the domestic violence institute as a 1L and now have a great opportunity to think about what I have learned in the past two and a half years. I am enjoying the retrospective that this class provides and am discovering changes that I can make to make my interviews better.

After legal interviewing and counseling, I had to rush over to NUSL's clinic offices, which are currently located a few minutes from the law school building. Once there, I met the professor who runs the domestic violence clinic for lunch. We had lunch together with her teaching fellow. We spent our time talking about the Dorchester Court project, which I involved in this quarter. I had a great time talking with this professor. She is one of my favorite NUSL personalities and is my most valued mentor. It was great to talk things through with her, but I had to literally run out of the building; jurisprudence was beginning in seven minutes.

Shortly after jurisprudence, I was in civil trial practice. During today's class, we covered direct and cross examinations. I was assigned to conduct a direct examination, which I thought went pretty smoothly. Although I hit a few snags, I think I have come a long way from where I was just a few months ago. One of the things that has really helped me get more comfortable in a courtroom setting is the National Trial Competition. Truth be told, I wish I were only a 2L so that I can do it again! I will have an opportunity for some more experimenting with courtroom advocacy in a "safe" setting this weekend, when I participate in a a trial advocacy workshop.

When I got home, my wife and I had some dinner and finished watching The Staircase, which is a six-hour documentary about North Carolina v. Peterson, which was a high-profile murder case that took place in the fall of 2003. For all you prospective students with a Netflix account, I would highly recommend putting it on your queue. The documentary was riveting and allows its audience a real inside perspective into the criminal defense team. If you're interested in the case, you can check out the CourtTV website here, but be aware that it contains major spoilers. I thought The Staircase was phenomenal and I am going to recommend it to all my friends.

Now I have to do my reading for tomorrow. I had better get going!

I am really enjoying this semester, particularly its lighter courseload. This past Tuesday, for instance, I went to go see Saul Williams with two law school friends. Although I am a big fan of Saul Williams, the show was not as good as I had expected. It was still nice to get out and do something unrelated to the law, though. Saul Williams did two spoken word pieces, which were incredible. His music, though, was not to my tastes. On Thursday, my wife and I are having date night. It's also a fact-finding mission: we are going to try a restaurant before we make the dinner reservations to follow my graduation ceremony. Then on Friday, one of my favorite NUSL professors, Lois Kanter, is hosting a dinner party for my wife and me, in honor of the fact that we're expecting our first child. On Saturday night, I am getting together with some law school friends for game night. I am going to dominate over all of them! On Sunday, I am meeting law school friends for a brunch and then working my final shift ever at the Domestic Violence Institute at Boston Medical Center. With all this social activity, my final semester stands in stark contrast to my first year, which was almost entirely devoted to studying. It's a really nice to wrap up my time at NUSL. Next week, I will be back with my thoughts on worthwhile extracurricular activities during law school. Until then, take care!

I thought I would spend this week's blog piece talking about activities that are available to first-year students. Because most blog readers are interested in my specific experiences as a NUSL student, I will limit my comments to activities that I have been directly involved in. Accordingly, there are lots of student activities and organizations that I am omitting. I should also note that the first year of law school can be pretty demanding, the upshot of which is that there are more interesting activities than there is free time. As such, I only got involved in three student organizations during my first year.

First and foremost, I participated in the Domestic Violence Institute. This experience was one of the greatest highlights of my time at NUSL and I would recommend that all first-year students seriously contemplate getting involved in the program. You can get more information about it here. As a first-year student, I also ran for inaugural president of NUSL's chapter of the American Constitution Society ("ACS"). ACS is national organization committed to progressive principles of law and policy. One of the great things about getting involved in a national organization like ACS is that participation facilitates tremendous network-building and quickly integrates a first-year law student into the broader legal community. For instance, I attended the past two national conferences in Washington, which were great opportunities to meet other law students and attorneys from all over the country. Moreover, ACS provided me with unique opportunities like serving as editor-at-large of ACSBlog. Finally, it gave me opportunities to distinguish myself through its moot court competition in constitutional law.

As a 1L, I also got involved with the work of the Innocence Project. I was first exposed to the Innocence Project through the LSSC program. After attending the national conference and meeting people in the innocence movement, I decided as (as a second year) to volunteer to screen a lengthy criminal case for the review board of the New England Innocence Project. Although reviewing this case and drafting a proposal took lots of work over several months, I found it tremendously rewarding and would recommend it to anybody, although not to first-year students.

When thinking about what activities to devote time to during a busy 1L year, I would recommend that perspective students consider three things. First, it is often a good idea to consider activities that complement your career interests. For instance, as a somebody who is interested in appellate litigation, I got involved in ACS because I knew it hosted a moot court competition and ran a highly-regarded constitutional law blog.

Second, there is tremendous value in activities that connect you to the broader legal community. When I would go on interviews, it was terrific to be able to talk about the activities I was pursuing and have the interviewer understand exactly what I was talking about. Organizations like ACS and the Innocence Project are hardly obscure; they have general recognition throughout the legal community. Other prominent examples that come to mind are the Federalist Society and the ACLU. Most people in the legal community know what these organizations are and what they stand for.

Third, it is always a good idea to try to find activities that are emotionally rewarding. 1L can be a stressful time and it is important to have some sense that you are not just spending all of your time reading casebooks. The Domestic Violence Institute gave me that feeling. Getting into the emergency department and seeing how the legal response to domestic violence directly impacted human lives right here in Boston proved a nice reality check for me.

Well, that is all I have for this week. See you next week.

The bar exam is approaching ever-more rapidly. This past week, I did a simulated, all-day bar exam. If it had been the actual bar exam, I would have passed, albeit not by a wide margin. In the remaining weeks before the exam, my focus is going to be on making a "final push" before the test. The past few weeks have been pretty intense, with lots of studying crammed into days that always seem to end too soon to get it all done. I'm certain that the coming weeks will be quite similar.

Over the past few weeks, I have gotten quite a bit of perspective on NUSL and the ways in which it prepares its students (and sometimes, doesn't prepare its students) for the bar exam. For those readers who will be 1Ls in the fall, I would suggest that you really make sure to enjoy your time as a first year student. It's a special time, and going through a bar review course that focuses on "just the law" has made me appreciate the social justice context that NUSL gave me. I learned "the law," but also gained an appreciation for the ways in which it affects people's lives. I could not imagine being a lawyer without that aspect of my legal education.

Out of all the classes I took at NUSL, my favorites were the ones that were not on bar topics. The classes that I took on bar topics were good, but I think you could learn the "just the law" from BABRI. As most soon-to-be-law students won't know what BABRI is, I guess I should give you some context. The entire bar review review enterprise is quite interesting. It is dominated by one company, BABRI, which runs a two-month bar review program. It's almost entirely conducted via video. As such, I (along with a large majority of the roughly 56,000 bar applicants in the United States) get up each morning and go to an auditorium, where I watch a four-hour DVD with about a hundred other students. It's a surreal experience that makes me yearn for my NUSL days, or, alternately, yearn for the day when I actually begin the practice of law.