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successful
On the cover: Robin Morse ‘10 Law Clerk, The Honorable Boyce F. Martin Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 2010-2011 Summer Associate, Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP Summer 2009 Legal Intern, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division, Summer 2008
Robin was an outstanding student throughout her law school career. She spent her first summer at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division. During her second-year summer, Robin worked as a summer associate at Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP, where she will return after her clerkship. At BU Law, Robin served as the Note Development Editor for the Boston University Law Review, worked as a student attorney in our Criminal Clinic, and was a member of the National Security Law Society. For our pro bono program, she assisted Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP with a civil rights claim. Robin excelled academically, earning recognition as a Paul J. Liacos Distinguished Scholar as a result of finishing among the top 15 students in her 2L class. Prior to attending law school, Robin graduated cum laude from New York University and worked as a correspondence unit writer in New York City’s Office of the Mayor.
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A federal appellate clerkship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that enhances any legal career, whether
in the private or public sector. I particularly look forward to working closely with a judge, continuing
to improve my research and writing skills, and gaining insight into the judicial process. Thanks to my experience at BU Law—from the First-Year Writing Program, to Law Review, to the many excellent courses and professors—I am well prepared for the challenges of clerking and beyond.
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BU Law: A Leader in Legal Education For 138 years, BU Law has been a leader in legal education. Many of our alumni have enjoyed distinguished careers as judges. Even more alumni have served as judicial law clerks, making significant contributions to the courts while beginning their careers. Having substantially reduced the size of our entering classes in recent years, we are able to select students who are among the most talented in the country. We prepare these gifted students for the rigors of the legal profession by offering them a robust curriculum that purposefully emphasizes writing, research and practical skills. Additionally, we have a superb faculty who constitute the greatest strength of a BU Law education. Our faculty members, many of whom served as law clerks themselves, are widely regarded as extraordinarily dedicated teachers and outstanding scholars. Through this combination of smaller classes, a highly qualified student body and remarkable faculty, BU Law continues its tradition of academic excellence. I hope that you find the brochure to be informative and that you will consider BU Law students when you select your law clerks.
Maureen A. O’Rourke
Dean, Boston University School of Law
#4 Health Law
U.S. News and World Report
#6 Tax Law
U.S. News and World Report
#4 Intellectual Property Law U.S. News and World Report
#22 Overall Ranking
U.S. News and World Report
#13 Super Lawyers
Based on the number of BU Law grads selected as Super Lawyers
#17 Library
National Jurist
Top 4 for Support of Public Service National Jurist
BU Law Is a Top Tier School... BU Law students are graduates of prestigious colleges and universities who come from around the country and the world. In addition to possessing the highest academic credentials, BU Law students bring a wealth of real-world experience. Before coming to law school, 60 percent of our students took one or more years after college to work, volunteer, travel or earn graduate degrees.
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The faculty at BU Law is amazing. Professors make
themselves available to students in and out of the classroom to answer questions and ensure that each student understands the material. I am confident that my professors’ willingness to work through difficult concepts with me substantially helped me achieve academic success.
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Claire Superfine ‘10 Law Clerk, The Honorable Margaret H. Marshall, Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2010-2011 Law Clerk, The Honorable Richard G. Stearns, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 2011-2012 Summer Associate, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Summer 2009 Legal Intern, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Summer 2008
...That Prepares Students to Excel as Judicial Law Clerks BU Law’s top-ranked faculty uphold the highest academic standards, challenging and assisting our students to develop superior analytical, research and writing skills. Through our six journals, intensive upper-class writing seminars and competitive Moot Court Programs, every student has the opportunity to work closely with faculty members to expand upon the solid foundation built during 1L year. BU Law students also eagerly immerse themselves in the legal profession by participating in our extensive clinical programs, externships and Semester-in-Practice program. These programs allow students to learn core legal skills by representing clients in all phases of civil proceedings, by prosecuting and defending criminal cases, or by drafting legislation. It is this essential combination of academic rigor and practical experience that makes BU Law graduates ideal judicial law clerks and excellent attorneys.
BU Law Journals American Journal of Law & Medicine
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Boston University International Law Journal
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Boston University Law Review
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Journal of Science & Technology Law
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Public Interest Law Journal
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Review of Banking & Financial Law
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John MacVane and William Davison, Class of 2011. John and William won the Best Team Award in the 2010 Homer Albers Prize Moot Court Competition, an honors competition for second-year students. This year’s final round was judged by distinguished jurists from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Third and Sixth Circuits.
BU Law: Recognizing Talent, Ensuring Academic Excellence and Graduating Leaders in the Profession for 138 years After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Ward Farnsworth served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard A. Posner, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Farnsworth then worked as a legal adviser to the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague before joining the BU Law faculty in 1997. He now teaches courses on torts, contracts, civil procedure and rhetoric. He is the author of The Legal Analyst, a manual that examines analytical methods and the process of legal thought for lawyers; Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric, in which he collects and discusses the great masters of English prose to analyze common rhetorical devices; and the co-author of Torts: Cases and Questions.
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One of my goals as a teacher is to train great clerks. Working for a state
or federal judge is an honor that comes with serious responsibilities, and my colleagues and I are thinking about that possibility from the moment our students arrive. We’re focused on teaching them the kinds of analytical skills and work habits that will make them fit to serve with distinction in a judicial chamber.
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Ward Farnsworth, Nancy E. Barton Scholar, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Law B.A., Wesleyan University J.D., University of Chicago, with high honors
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