When Boston College Law School redesigned its first-year curriculum, it wasn’t just to check a box. It was to prepare students for the jobs they want and to get them hired.
“Recruitment has moved earlier and earlier in the law school lifecycle,” said Daniel Lyons, professor and associate dean for academic affairs. “We want our students to have real stories to tell — not just about what they’ve learned, but what they’ve done.”
That includes writing legal memos as if they were first-year associates, practicing oral arguments, drafting agency comments, and working on real-world legal simulations — all within the first year. BC Law requires all students to complete six credits of experiential coursework in the 1L year, the maximum required by the American Bar Association. That’s unusually front-loaded.
Students earn three of those credits in the fall through a course called Law Practice, which Lyons describes as “like legal writing, but in a law firm setting.” In the spring, they choose from electives such as Intro to Civil Litigation or Intro to Transaction Practice, where they begin honing specialized skills.
“We’re helping students go beyond memorizing black-letter law,” Lyons said. “They’re learning how to think critically — to analyze what a court did and why, and whether that was right. That’s what employers are looking for.”
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