Student Life

In some ways, student life has not changed that much since 1936, when Harold A. Stevens became the first Black person to graduate from BC Law. Although electives are more plentiful, 1Ls take Criminal Law, Contracts, Torts, Property, and Civil Procedure just as Stevens did (Constitutional Law did not become part of the curriculum until around 1965). Similar to their predecessors in the 1930s, students today have the opportunity to participate in activities like moot court, mock trial, and student government. Obtaining meaningful employment after graduation remains a primary goal. However, current students experience the joys and challenges of law school in a more diverse community with active affinity groups and robust clinical opportunities connecting law school learning to real world problems.

 

Academics

 

The Boston College Law School chapter of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) was formally created in 1984, but an informal chapter had been thriving since the 1970s, in the years following the establishment of the national organization in 1968. Student members engage in advocacy and programming and also support each other in adjusting to the rhythm and rigor of 1L life. The challenges posed by the first-year curriculum are eased with outline sharing, study groups, mentoring, and social outings. The focus on learning “black-letter law,” often untethered from the daily realities of how the law intersects with racial identity, can be alienating and disorienting. Even in the midst of the challenges of classes and thinking about future careers, many students urge professors to routinely integrate conversations about race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, class, and other facets of identity into class conversations about legal doctrine.

1L students Bouchra (Mimi) Danielkebir, Deja Bryant, and Sarah Diggins '25 engage with Professor Thomas Mitchell in their property class. Professor Mitchell’s scholarly and activist focus is on heirs’ property, a legal mechanism that has deprived people of color and poor people of real estate for over a century.

BLSA students have often led movements on campus to expand the curriculum to reflect the ways in which the law intersects with lived experiences of people of color. One example in recent years was student advocacy for a course on race and the law. This effort came to a head in May 2021, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Passionate student advocacy led to the creation of a mandatory course for all 1Ls called Critical Perspectives: Law, Context, and Professional Identity. The goal is to provide 1Ls the basic skills to begin to think deeply about the role of race, gender, identity, wealth, and power in the law, in law school, and in their own professional formation.

Student, faculty, and staff advocacy also have led to a more diverse faculty and a robust roster of classes on race and law for second- and third-year students. Indeed, these goals were pillars of a 2020 Call to Action Letter issued by BLSA. Some highlights:

  • In 2018, SJC Justice Geraldine Hines (Ret.) joined BC Law to teach a course on race and policing and has been an active member of the community and regular event panelist since then.
  • In 2021, the BC Law Civil Rights Clinic was launched with Professor Reena Parikh at the helm, an important complement to the BC Law Innocence Program and the Criminal Justice Clinic.
  • In 2022, public defender Jenna Cobb joined the faculty to direct the defense clinic where students represent indigent clients charged with crimes.
  • Also in 2022, the BC Law community was thrilled to welcome Lisa T. Alexander and Thomas W. Mitchell, preeminent scholars in property and community development law reform.

 

Picture of Professor Renee Jones taken on April 18th 2017. Picture of Professor Renee Jones taken on April 18th 2017 by Adam DeTour.

Professor Renee Jones worked tirelessly to add various courses on social justice, race, and the law during her tenure as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Assistant Clinical Professor Jenna M. Cobb

Professor Jenna Cobb directs the Boston College Defense Clinic, where she trains and supervisors student attorneys representing indigent individuals facing criminal charges.

Professor Lisa T. Alexander

Professor Lisa T. Alexander's scholarship focuses on U.S. housing law and policy, and the law’s role in making housing markets more efficient and more equitable.

Huber Distinguished Visitng Professor Geraldine Hines

Huber Distinguished Visiting Professor and former Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Geraldine Hines teaches “Race, Policing, and the Constitution” and has been a facilitator for the 1L Critical Perspectives course.

Law Review

 

In addition to learning in classroom and clinical settings, participation in law review provides an opportunity for experience and resume-building. Working on a student-run publication gives staff members editorial experience and a chance to write a student article or “note.” Boston College Law Review is the oldest scholarly publication at BC Law. In the decades since its founding in 1959, Black students at BC Law have served as staff members and editors-in-chief. In recent years, BCLR has made huge strides to diversify membership, and the numbers of students of color have increased dramatically.

BLSA member Renée Landers ’85 served as editor-in-chief of Boston College Law Review. Professor Landers now teaches at Suffolk University Law School.

A crucial part of the history of law journals at BC Law involves advocacy by Black students. In April 1977, BC Law hosted a symposium called Entertainment Law Symposium from a Black Perspective. The hugely successful event was organized by BLSA students, led by Charles "Chuck" Walker ’78. Unfortunately, plans to publish the proceedings in UCLA's Black Law Journal were thwarted by technical difficulties with transcription. Students turned misfortune into an opportunity. They began working to create a BC Law publication where similar types of scholarship on “populations underserved by the legal academy” could be published in the future. Students also envisioned such a journal providing opportunities for minoritized law students who were underrepresented on mainstream journals such as BCLR.

“I had a brainstorm [and] said, ‘Let’s do a symposium on entertainment law from a Black perspective. . . Professor Howe became the advisor to it. And I said, at the end of it, ‘We can have our own law journal.”
Charles “Chuck” Walker ‘78

A diverse group of 35 students, led by Maurice Hope-Thomson ’80, worked with Dean Richard Huber to establish the Boston College Third World Law Journal. In addition to BLSA members, the group included members from the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) and Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA). The new journal was dedicated to publishing scholarship on "peoples, cultures, and institutions that have suffered a history of colonialism, oppression, underrepresentation, violence, or marginalization." The first issue was published in 1980.

 

Boston College Law School Black Law Journal Symposium on Entertainment Law

Cover of a flyer advertising the Boston College Law School Black Law Journal Symposium on Entertainment Law.

Thanithia Billings ’17 (center) served as editor-in-chief of the Boston College Law Review when the subject-matter journals such as the Journal of Law and Social Justice were consolidated into the main review. Here, she passes the baton to her successors, KG Gasseling (left) and Caitlin Toto (right).

Thanithia Billings ’17 (center) served as editor-in-chief of the Boston College Law Review when the subject-matter journals such as the Journal of Law and Social Justice were consolidated into the main review. Here, she passes the baton to her successors, KG Gasseling (left) and Caitlin Toto (right).

Professor Ruth-Arlene Howe ’74 served as a faculty advisor of the Third World Law Journal until her 2009 retirement. Former BCLR editor-in-chief and BLSA member Renée Landers (now a professor at Suffolk University Law School) also returned to BC Law after graduating in 1985 to teach and served as a faculty advisor alongside Professor Howe. After years of considering the changing implications of the term “Third World,” the renowned journal underwent a name change in 2011 and became the Boston College Journal of Law and Social Justice. In 2017, it was folded into the flagship Boston College Law Review with a commitment to continue publishing articles on law and social justice. 

Beyond the Classroom

 

Part of what makes life at BC Law enjoyable and meaningful are the relationships that develop and experiences that occur outside of the classroom: social events with peers, opportunities to bond with professors and alumni, networking, and participation in extracurricular activities. BLSA students and their classmates join a variety of student organizations, including the Law Student Association (LSA), LAHANAS (the umbrella organization for BC Law affinity groups), and the Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF). Students also participate in advocacy programs like moot court and mock trial.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, BLSA leaders redoubled efforts to build and expand community beyond the classroom. In addition to monthly general body meetings for Black students, there are regular luncheons and social events such as Red Sox games. Frequent nights out are held at local bars and restaurants, including a local tavern owned by BC Law alum Arianne Waldron ‘14. BLSA members engage in service projects like winter clothes drives and outreach to local high school students. There also are opportunities to connect with mentors, both alumni and upper-level students. Additionally, students can engage in professional development events, as well as networking sessions and workshops that provide support such as resume review and interview coaching.

Each year in late summer, at the beginning of the school year, BLSA and the BC Law Black Alumni Network (BAN) host a barbeque that includes the incoming 1Ls, returning 2Ls and 3Ls, and alumni communities. This beloved tradition provides an opportunity for new students to meet each other, their upper-level classmates, and our active alumni community. Newly minted law students mingle with seasoned judges, academics, law firm partners, and public servants to begin creating long-lasting social and professional ties.

BLSA hosts an annual conference with programming and an opportunity to explore the state of the Black community at BC Law. Topics have included community policing, gentrification in urban neighborhoods, fighting for social justice from the private sector, and the importance of Black lawyers in Boston. The conference ends with the annual Ruth-Arlene Howe Heritage Banquet. The banquet brings together students, faculty, staff, and alumni to enjoy an evening of connection and celebration. The night’s festivities include an awards ceremony and the annual changing of the guard for the BLSA executive board as newly elected 2L leaders take the reins.

 

FULL PHOTO GALLERY

 

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