Tagged: 2L

What Kind of Lawyer

I came to law school because I wanted to be a lawyer, and I knew that to be a lawyer I had to go to law school first. When I enrolled at BU, I thought law school was an obstacle: to do the thing I want to do (be a lawyer), I have to go [...]

A Pitcher for PIP

Some cases I had while working at Greater Boston Legal Services last summer were complicated, involving me muttering (okay, cursing) under my breath about inscrutable Social Security regulations and the like. Occasionally, though, I got a case where someone was so cruelly and illegally being taken advantage of that all it took was a few [...]

Detroit, Pt. 2

He asked if I minded if he ate breakfast while we talked. Of course not. First, he started eating an apple, trying to keep the juice from spraying the property tax bill I pushed across the desk towards him. But then he pulled out one of the most delicious smelling pieces of bread I have [...]

Moot Court: Patents and Antitrust and Feedback (Oh My)

I have now spent fifteen minutes haranguing on about a per se illegality rule as applied to reverse payment settlement agreements. Seriously. Reverse payment settlement agreements. Sounds unbearably dull, admittedly. But actually, in what I assume is some form of Stockholm Syndrom, I’m finding it pretty interesting. Idea is this: brand-name drug company puts out Drug A. [...]

Oh right, that’s why I came to law school

I doubt you’ve ever been in the Massachusetts statehouse. If you had, you would (I think) agree with me that it is one of the most confusingly designed buildings that ever existed. Gorgeous, don’t misunderstand me, but the floor plan is absolutely perplexing. And there’s a place there called the “bullpen.” I’m still not entirely [...]

Halfway There

I am halfway finished with law school, which is mostly exhilarating with a dash of terrifying. But rather than look forward to what I’ll be doing come mid-May 2014, which is something I think about constantly, I thought I’d take a moment to consider what I’ve learned over the past year and a half. Here [...]

Dear Court, You’re Wrong. Love, Elizabeth

In 1926, the Supreme Court was in a striking-down laws mood. But then something kind of weird happened. The Court heard this case, Euclid v. Ambler Realty, about zoning. Though zoning seems totally normal verging on boring today (apologies to any burgeoning city planners), at the time whether zoning was constitutional was an open question. [...]

A different kind of law student

The beginning of 2L year is a busy time for many students.  In August, summer internships wind down and soon after students are busy with recruiting, which means resume collections, interviews, and eventually job offers. After classes start, many 2Ls find themselves submerged in work for their journals, researching for their notes and endlessly revising [...]

Learning by Doing

The Division of Unemployment Assistance’s (“DUA”) Boston office is unnecessarily intimidating. When you walk in, a police officer behind the desk instructs you to provide photo ID, which they check, and then they hand you a guest badge. You’re pushed through a metal detector and your bag goes on a conveyor belt through a scanner. [...]