Xavier F. (1L)
Xavier F. (2L)
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Undergraduate: University of California, Los Angeles, BA in Philosophy
Areas of Interest: Securities Litigation
Activities: American Journal of Law & Medicine (AJLM); Black Law Student Association
Week at a Glance
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Tuesday
10:00 – 10:15 am – Commute to BU: I take the subway or a bus from my apartment in Allston. My commute takes about 15 to 20 minutes, and I try to get to school 15 minutes before my first class.
10:40 am – 12:40 pm – Securities with Professor David H. Webber: I’m very interested in securities as a future area of practice. I did policy work before law school, and I want to practice in a field that is heavily regulated. I’m particularly interested in litigation. Professor Webber is an expert in the field and he has helped me network.
12:40 – 6:00 pm – Lunch and homework: Most days I usually bring lunch from home. If not, I’ll eat at Chipotle, Crispy Crepe, or the hot bar at Whole Foods. I usually study for several hours after class in a study room at school, where I can play music, or at the library with other students. As a 1L, most of my homework involved reading and writing case briefs. I still spend about two hours reading for each class, but as a 2L, homework also involves research and writing papers. Research and writing takes longer because it’s about finding the right information, understanding the framework of the law, and articulating your ideas.
6:00 – 6:15 pm – Commute home
6:30 pm – 12:00 am – Dinner at home; relax and spend time with my partner: I love to cook, so I will make dinner and relax with my partner. I don’t usually study past 8:00 or 9:00 pm. But I’ve been a night owl since childhood, so I go to bed at midnight at the earliest.
Wednesday
7:45 – 8:00 am – Commute to BU
8:30 – 10:30 am – Critical Race Theory with Associate Professor Ronald Wheeler: This course discusses the ways in which political institutions, law, and social dynamics reinforce the oppression of the minority. Topics include rights discourse—the language that’s used to talk about individual rights versus collective rights—and how cases like Brown v. Board of Education may have limited the remedy given to the minority community in relation to equal access to education.
10:40 am – 12:40 pm – Evidence with Lecturer Stephen Donweber: I thought this class would be boring, but Lecturer Donweber puts in a valiant effort teaching and is funny and sarcastic.
12:40 – 5:30 pm – Lunch and homework
5:30 – 5:45 pm – Commute home
6:00 – 7:00 pm – Dinner at home
7:00 – 8:30 pm – Work out: I go to the Boston Sports Club. Working out is important because law school requires a lot of discipline and focus. To give it everything you need, you have to be levelheaded and emotionally stable. If you’re stressed and not doing anything for yourself, it could result in not being able to dive into what’s in front of you.
9:00 pm – 12:00 am – Relax: Hang out with my roommate, who is also a BU Law student from California.
Thursday
7:45 – 8:00 am – Commute to BU
8:30 – 10:30 am – Public Health Law with Professor Nicole Huberfeld: This is a requirement as a member of AJLM. The topics we cover are really cool and interesting and shows that public health covers a broad swath of issues. That class is atypical because of the content and class style. A partner and I had to teach a 2-hour class. We picked the topic of drugs and alcohol. Today, I had to present the research paper I wrote for the class. I wrote my paper on how to incorporate justice/fairness into emergency response management by using Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as a case study.
10:40 am – 12:40 pm – Securities with Professor David H. Webber
12:40 – 5:30 pm – Lunch and homework
5:30 – 5:45 pm – Commute home
6:00 – 7:00 pm – Dinner at home
8:00 – 11:00 pm – Bar review: Different student groups will host nights at bars around the city. This week the Latin American Law Students Association hosted at Lolita Cocina & Tequila Bar in Back Bay.
Friday
11:00 – 11:15 am – Commute to BU: I don’t have classes on Fridays, but I still go to campus because I’m more productive there.
11:30 am – 6:00 pm – Non-class assignments: I use Fridays and Saturdays for non-class assignments. This can include AJLM work, like checking footnotes and making sure sources support the paper’s proposition, and writing my AJLM note. As a 2L, I work on my note the whole year. My note topic is about how to sue a manufacturer over an artificially intelligent device for product liability. I chose to work on this journal because it is a prestigious publication that people in the field read. I will also spend time on Fridays and Saturdays outlining in preparation of finals. You outline so you can summarize the course and understand structurally what was discussed and the substantive theories presented in class.
6:00 – 6:15 pm – Commute home
7:00 pm – 12:00 am – Dinner and go out: I usually go out to dinner on Friday night with my partner and friends. If I have something going on the next day, I might do something low key, like bowling. If not, Good Life is a great place to go downtown. In terms of food, I like Felipe’s Taqueria and The Sinclair, both in Cambridge.
Sunday
12:00 – 1:30 pm – Church: I either attend a service or, if I’m tired, I’ll stay home and watch the service on my computer.
1:30 – 1:45 pm – Commute to school
2:00 – 6:00 pm – Lunch and homework: On Sundays, I will usually spend some time outlining as we get closer to finals. I will also read for my Monday and Tuesday classes.
6:00 – 6:15 pm – Commute home
6:30 – 7:30 pm – Dinner at home
7:30 – 9:00 pm – Work out
9:00 pm – 12:00 am – Spend time with my partner and watch TV.