Academic & Student Resources

Academic Events

BU Law hosts numerous academic events throughout the year. Types of events include:

  • Brown-bag lunches with professors, prominent outside speakers, and alumni discussing current legal topics.
  • Symposia celebrating the publication of new books by our faculty, featuring distinguished scholars from law and other fields as commentators.
  • Lectures by visiting experts in BU Law’s Intellectual Property Speaker Series and Law & Economics Seminar Series.
  • Major conferences, such as “Shapiro Lecture: Ground Zero for Justice,” in which Naval Commander Suzanne Lachelier (JD’92) discussed her experiences as a member of the JAG Corps representing Guantánamo Bay prisoners, or “The Role of Fiduciary Law in the 21st Century,” a conference inspired by the work of BU Law Professor Tamar Frankel.
  • Focused programs and events such as Diversity Week.

Student Organizations

The Student Government Association (SGA)

The SGA is the governing body for students at BU Law. The SGA is responsible for planning schoolwide events, advocating on behalf of students, and allocating funds from student activity fees to student groups. Each year, two LLM students are elected to serve in a non-voting capacity on BU Law’s Student Government Association, keeping the LLM community involved.

Additional Student Organizations

There are many student organizations at the School of Law. These include:

  • American Constitution Society
  • Art Law Society
  • Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
  • Black Law Student Association
  • BU Law Foodies
  • China Law Society
  • Communication, Entertainment & Sports Law Association
  • Education and School Law Association
  • Environmental & Energy Law Association
  • Federalist Society
  • Health Law Association
  • Human Rights Law Society
  • Immigration Law & Policy Society
  • Intellectual Property Law Society
  • International Law Society
  • J. Reuben Clark Law Society
  • Jewish Law Student Association
  • Latin American Law Student Association
  • Law Christian Fellowship
  • Law Students for Reproductive Justice
  • Legal Follies
  • Muslim Law Students Association
  • National Lawyers Guild
  • National Security Law Society
  • Native American Law Students Association
  • OutLaw
  • OWLS (Older Wiser Law Students)
  • Phi Alpha Delta
  • Public Interest Project
  • Running Club
  • Scotch Club
  • Shelter Legal Services
  • Softball
  • South Asian Law Students Association
  • Women’s Law Association

Journals

BU Law hosts six legal journals run by JD students. These publications invite scholarly work from the legal community and afford students the opportunity to make their own contributions.

  • Boston University Law Review
  • American Journal of Law & Medicine
  • Review of Banking & Financial Law
  • Boston University International Law Journal
  • Public Interest Law Journal
  • Journal of Science & Technology Law

Libraries

BU Law’s Pappas Law Library contains one of the largest law school research collections in the United States. Students have access to more than 675,000 volumes and thousands of licensed electronic resources for both legal and interdisciplinary research. Students may also use other Boston University libraries, including Mugar Memorial Library, adjacent to BU Law, and the Pardee Management Library.

Law librarians teach basic and advanced legal research classes; provide daily research assistance to law students in person, by chat, and by email; and meet with students in research consultations for papers. Library news and updates are available through a popular library blog, Facebook, Twitter, and a mobile website.

The Law Library is a member of several consortia with other major law libraries in New England and New York that share scholarly resources through document delivery services.

Technology

BU Law houses four computer labs with Windows 7-based computers. A wireless network is available in the School of Law and in many coffee shops and gathering places on campus with service to the Internet, email, LexisNexis, Westlaw, a wide variety of web-based research resources and interactive products from the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction. Students also have free access to a wide variety of computing resources through Boston University’s Information Services & Technology.

Career Preparation

The Career Development & Public Service Office

The Career Development & Public Service Office (CDO) provides students with the advising and resources to achieve their goals. Our career advisors are experienced attorneys with diverse legal backgrounds who will work with each student throughout his or her three years as well as after he or she graduates. The CDO’s online appointment system allows students to make appointments easily and at their convenience with their advisor of choice.

Through individual advising and scores of programs each year, students can work with our CDO team to identify their unique career goals, explore the world of law, learn how to approach a job search, and take advantage of the many resources available inside and outside of the law school with alumni and other employers.

Our career programs introduce students to the vast range of career options and practice settings in the United States and around the world. We host attorneys from private practice in large, mid-size, and small law firms; public interest organizations; federal, state, and local government agencies and legislatures; federal and state courts; businesses; and other alternative career paths.

Along with meeting attorneys, students can attend workshops that will help them master the nuts and bolts of the job search, for internships and permanent jobs, including conducting research about employers, networking, preparing résumés and cover letters, and honing interviewing skills.

More than 250 employers from across the country participate in BU Law recruitment programs. A large number come to the BU Law campus to interview students through our Fall On-Campus Recruitment Program. Many additional employers interview BU Law students in our regional recruiting programs in New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Chicago; Miami; San Francisco; and Los Angeles—as well as through our two major government and public interest job fairs held annually in Boston.

Finding a Niche

First-year students are given the opportunity to participate in a three-step program designed to help them find their own niche in the legal profession. Students take the Myers-Briggs (MB) questionnaire, an assessment tool that is used around the globe to help individuals and teams understand how their personality preferences affect communication style, decision-making preferences, ways of processing information, and more. It is a particularly powerful tool in career planning as it helps people analyze and understand the elements of the best “fit” in the workplace in light of their natural strengths and preferences. CDO staff help students understand what the MB results mean, and discuss how this process can help students understand themselves as they navigate law school and explore career options. Later in the year, a consultant will discuss some of the key factors that lead to career satisfaction as well as the correlation between MB personality types and legal practice areas.

LLM Career Advising

BU Law has an unwavering commitment to the career success of its LLM students. We offer a variety of programs and job search activities for LLM students, including workshops on job searches, professional etiquette, résumé and cover-letter drafting, networking, and interviewing skills. We also organize career-related panels and speakers from specialized areas of practice. The Graduate & International Programs Office includes a full-time assistant director for professional development who works exclusively with LLM students. Students receive individualized counseling to help them design job searches and market themselves to the legal community.

Students will be in touch with the world of U.S. legal practice through the annual “LLM Discovery Series” consisting of visits to law firms, companies, courthouses, and government agencies where BU Law alumni practice.

LLM students and alumni have access to BU Law’s online job posting site, which includes openings for internships and permanent positions. Foreign-trained LLM students are invited to participate in the annual International Student Interview Program (ISIP), which draws more than 200 potential global employers to New York City each year.

Students enrolled in the Graduate Tax Program participate in our annual Tax Attorney Recruiting Event (TARE)—held in Washington, D.C.—a job fair targeted to recruiting by law firms, government agencies, corporate legal departments, and all “Big 4” accounting firms. LLM students also have access to BU Law’s comprehensive career resources library and receive materials specifically tailored to their unique job search needs. After graduation, individual career advising remains available to support your lifelong career development.