From: OutLaw
Date: January 2
Subject: OutLaw Mid-Winter Update


Hi, all!

Happy New Year!! While it may be a new year, it is the same OutLaw, so we have a bunch of upcoming events to put on your radar. As a reminder, remember to keep an eye on RSVP deadlines. If any of you are interested in joining OutLaw for our office visit to Goodwin later in the month or to Cooley in March, make sure to register on Law Docket!! Before the section on events, I'm going to include a message on winter-break reflections from our friends at BU HOMES (if you've already read the letter, feel free to just ignore and scroll past!).

Our first OutLaw event of the semester is Thursday, January 23rd from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. We will have snacks and lots of advice for your job search. Make sure to check out the OutLaw Job Search Supplement here in the meantime for more tips and tricks!

Hi all,

I hope this open letter finds you all well. The winter break of my first year of law school was a really pivotal time for me, and so I wanted to reach out to you all and share some reflections. While this letter is primarily addressed to 1Ls, I think it could apply to all law students. I know a lot of us came to law school with the goal of trying to make the world a better place. However, the 1L experience—and possibly even the whole law school experience—can be incredibly disillusioning. I know this because I’ve experienced it. Your first year, you have no control over your classes or seemingly anything about your legal education. Maybe you had to take out student loans or work a job in addition to classes to make ends meet. With the state of the economy right now, it is perfectly reasonable to be preoccupied with the job hunt. In fact, you should be preoccupied with these things, and this letter is not intended to imply otherwise. I know that many of you come from intersecting marginalized backgrounds, and the desire to provide for the people you love and care about can be powerful. I would never advise anyone to abandon their community. Our relationships with the people we love are what make this all worth it. This letter is just about the importance of context.

Regardless of your political views, you probably have heard the Kamala Harris meme/quote “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” As comical as it might sound, Kamala was getting at a valid point. You do not live in a bubble. Your actions have consequences, and those consequences exist in a context as well. We live in a society that has been shaped by systems and institutional structures that were built over centuries to privilege certain groups—primarily straight, white, cisgender men who come from money—while marginalizing others, including people of color, women, the working class, and queer individuals. Even though some laws have changed, these systems continue to affect access to opportunities like education, employment, housing, and especially access to justice. Our lives are all shaped by this context. Some people benefit from unearned privileges because of their identity, while others face barriers they didn’t create. Privilege does not mean that your life has not been difficult or that you have not faced challenges or that you have not had to work long and hard to get to where you are today; rather, privilege means that there are certain obstacles you have not had to face because of your race, gender, class, or other aspects of your identity. Recognizing this is not about assigning blame or inducing guilt but about responsibility. The importance of context lies in understanding how our actions and behaviors impact the world around us and either challenge or sustain existing structures of oppression.

As law students, we all have had access to some level of privilege that has enabled us to pursue a legal education. Regardless of whether or not you recognize it, being able to attend law classes at BU and devote three years to study is a massive privilege. You all have definitely worked to earn your spot here, and I want to emphasize that none of this is being said to in any way diminish your achievements. Instead, it is meant to highlight that these achievements have been possible, at least partially, because you have not had to face certain kinds of identity-based discrimination. Many of you have likely been shielded to a degree from the impacts of discrimination because of your class (being middle class or wealthy) or your geographic location or any number of other factors. To be clear, this is not inherently a bad thing. Discrimination in all forms is bad, and no one deserves to be oppressed. But, as Spiderman’s uncle Ben has put ever so succinctly, “With great power comes great responsibility.” You have a responsibility both as law students and as human beings to wield your privilege with historical and societal context in mind.

Therefore, while you are being wined and dined by countless big law firms, I want you to ask yourself what impact your work at any of these firms would have on the world around you. Many of you probably do not even understand the full consequences of the work many of these firms do, but if you are going to profit substantially from these consequences, then you have a moral duty to actively inquire about their context. As a 1L, I had an extremely limited grasp of what many of these practices even do, and I admit my knowledge is still limited, but we all have an obligation to investigate. I have attended numerous networking events for firms that I will not name, where partners have basically bragged about how they have successfully represented and defended clients who were engaged in anything from large-scale deforestation efforts in South America to domestic union-busting activities. Fields such as private equity, which might seem fairly straightforward, often have multiplicative harsh consequences for the working class and people of color. These consequences become even more dire when viewed in the context of historical processes and systems that continue to perpetuate inequalities. Regardless, the onus is on you to seek out what these consequences are and decide whether your work as a lawyer will attempt to mitigate or sustain their harmful impact.

A lot of you may be wondering why HOMES advertises so many events outside of the law tower, when attending these events is likely both inconvenient for students and not conducive to obtaining employment. The reason is this: by removing yourself from the ivory tower and actively getting involved with local community organizations, the context that I have been going on about for the entirety of this letter becomes a whole lot clearer. I highly suggest that everyone with some free time on a Tuesday or Wednesday night attend a City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU) meeting or another community event—even if that event has nothing to do with your long-term career goals. If you don’t have free time, then make free time. Regular attendance is by no means necessary, although it is encouraged if possible. What you will observe at a CLVU meeting is a large group of working-class individuals—the vast majority of which are BIPOC—actively fighting against displacement and gentrification in their communities. In eviction cases in Massachusetts, over 90% of landlords have legal representation in housing court cases. In comparison, only 3% of tenants facing eviction have access to counsel. This gap is both incredibly alarming and deeply systemic. We are taught consistently throughout law school that everyone deserves access to counsel, and yet all too often our services are allocated to the highest bidder—simultaneously bolstering the position of parties that have been upholding and profiting off historical systems of injustice while denying marginalized parties access to assistance. A lawyer’s job is to effectively advocate for their clients, but we have some level of control over who those clients are.

To conclude, I am not trying to dissuade anyone from going for a job in corporate law or as a summer associate in a firm. All I ask is that you consider context as you go about your job search. When balancing the costs and benefits of different career paths, keep that context in mind. Your actions have consequences. You cannot always predict what these consequences will be, but I genuinely hope that you will all strive to be a force for good. Make time for things outside of your comfort zone. Whether you go to a CLVU meeting or maybe practice some pro bono (yes, it is possible to do pro bono as a law student), open yourself up to opportunities that shed light on different societal contexts and help you better understand your place in the world. Be aware of how you impact the lives of the people around you and try to leave the world a slightly better place than it was when you found it. Use your intellect and argumentation skills to help and not to harm. As always, the members of the HOMES board and all of our 1L reps are here if you have any questions about getting involved. Please be kind to yourselves and take care of yourselves this holiday season; make time for the people that matter to you. Best wishes.

In solidarity,
Chloe & The HOMES Board

P.S. January 7th & 8th as well as January 14th & 15th are great opportunities to attend a CLVU meeting while you have a minimal workload. The link to the weekly sign-up sheet to attend a City Life/Vida Urbana meeting can be found here! Although, feel free to attend without signing up. The sheet is simply to help coordinate transportation :)
Upcoming Networking Events:

Boston:

 

Other Cities:

That's all for now! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Enjoy the rest of your break!

 

With care,

Your OutLaw E-board

 

OutLaw

Boston University School of Law

Jam Hammond, Co-President

Chloe Buck, Co-President

Emma Ferdinandi, Vice President

Caroline Crawford, Secretary

Max Gildred, Treasurer

Audrey Chu, Advocacy Chair

Alexis Luckett, Outreach Chair

Thank you to our firm sponsors!

OutLaw Office Hours: Welcome Back Snacks & Trivia Logo

EVENT

OutLaw Office Hours: Welcome Back Snacks & Trivia

Thursday, January 23
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Private Location (sign in to display)
Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

Come ring in the new year with games, snacks, and chats! There will be some trivia games with cool prizes, so come check it out!
REGISTER
OutLaw Office Visit to Goodwin Logo

EVENT

OutLaw Office Visit to Goodwin

Tuesday, January 28
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Private Location (sign in to display)
Link
Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

We will be visiting Goodwin's office. This will include a tour of the office, the chance to talk informally and in a small group with Goodwin attorneys, and light bites!
REGISTER
OutLaw Office Visit to Cooley Logo

EVENT

OutLaw Office Visit to Cooley

Tuesday, March 4
5:00pm - 6:30pm
Private Location (sign in to display)
Link
Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

We will be visiting Cooley's office. This will include a tour of the office and the chance to talk informally and in a small group with Cooley attorneys. Dinner will also be provided!
REGISTER
OutLaw General Body Meeting: Elections Logo

EVENT

OutLaw General Body Meeting: Elections

Friday, March 7
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Private Location (sign in to display)
Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

Join us for OutLaw’s General Body Meeting, where we’ll be electing the new board for the upcoming year and voting on an update to our Constitution! This is a great opportunity to get involved, meet fellow members, and help shape the future of our organization. Don’t miss your chance to be part of the leadership team and make a difference!
REGISTER
Thanks for this email!