A Leap of Faith
O’Rourke Scholarship opens doors for first-generation student.
Burak Sirrik (’25), Samantha Ligori (’25), and Sharon Mamuya (’25) met in Professor David Webber’s class their 1L year at BU Law. | Photo courtesy of Samantha Ligori.
A Leap of Faith
O’Rourke Scholarship opens doors for first-generation student.
When Samantha Ligori (’25) set out to become the first person in her extended family to attend law school, she faced a difficult choice. She could stay in Georgia and live with her family outside of Atlanta, comfortably commuting to a nearby law school. Or she could come to Boston University School of Law, try a new school in a new city, sight unseen, where she didn’t know anyone.
Ligori took a leap of faith.
“I chose Boston just having a gut feeling … this is where I should go,” she says. “It wasn’t until I got here that I fell in love with the city; I fell in love with the school, the professors, and the people around me. I love the winter, surprisingly. The snow is amazing.”
A significant factor tipping the scales toward BU Law was the financial support the Mary T. and John J. O’Rourke Scholarship offered her. The scholarship was created to honor BU Law Dean Emerita and current Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Maureen O’Rourke, a first-generation legal professional, and bears the name of her parents, who supported her journey.
Ligori’s parents have also supported her decision. Her dad is a school bus driver, and her mom works in technical support for a software company. She is the first person in her family to attend college, let alone law school.
“I think deep down they wanted me to stay (and go to school in Georgia),” she says. “But my parents are the people who want the best for me, so they took a step back and let me decide for myself. I’m very fortunate.”
Left: Samantha Ligori with her parents and siblings.
Right: Samantha Ligori with her cousin.
Ligori had wanted to go to law school since she was a little girl, when her family fought a legal battle to get custody of her younger cousin. The effort was not successful, and the cousin ultimately moved to Mexico to live with her paternal father, leaving the 12-year-old Ligori and her parents confused and with many questions.
“I was a bit frustrated with the whole legal system,” she says. Yet she was determined to turn the heart-wrenching experience into a positive one by learning as much as possible about how the legal system works.
“It led me to law school to get answers, and that continues with me. Law school is all about solving problems and getting answers to help fix the situation someone’s in.”
Ligori credits her two closest friends for helping her adjust to law school life in a new city. She met Burak Sirrik (’25) of New Jersey and Sharon Mamuya (’25) of Iowa on the first or second day of Professor David Webber’s civil procedure class. The three bonded over their shared experiences being first-generation law students.
“We were the blind leading the blind, I like to say. We all had no idea what was going on, so we kind of just stuck to each other and figured it out together,” she says.
I was a bit frustrated with the whole legal system. It led me to law school to get answers, and that continues with me. Law school is all about solving problems and getting answers to help fix the situation someone’s in.
In the classroom, Ligori learned to appreciate the demanding “cold calls” Professor Nancy Moore is known for doling out in her first-semester 1L torts class. The possibility of being unexpectedly asked to answer a detailed question about the case discussed in class that day kept Ligori and her classmates on their toes.
“Her strict cold calls, even though they’re so scary and nerve-wracking at the time, made every other cold call I had in law school feel like a breeze,” Ligori says. Likewise, Moore’s feedback on her written case briefs helped prepare her for the next two years of law school.
Ligori was also grateful for constitutional law Professor Jessica Silbey, who created a safe space for students of all political persuasions to discuss their feelings about the momentous decisions coming from the US Supreme Court. Professor Silbey made class fun by having each student select a song for the semester and choosing one to play at the beginning of each class. Ligori’s song: Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
Reflecting on her first year, Ligori recalls how hard she has worked to get here and how the scholarship has enriched her law school experience. “My parents don’t have that stress of trying to take out loans or me trying to take out more loans than needed, which has been very relieving,” she says.
That freedom from financial stress has allowed her to explore fantastic new opportunities. Ligori spent this past summer working for Greater Boston Legal Services and is interviewing for a summer associate position next year at one of the city’s top law firms.
She is already setting her sights on staying in Boston after graduation. She is also encouraging her brother, a high school senior, to consider Boston University for his undergraduate studies.
The best advice Ligori has for incoming law students is to remember that everyone feels a bit lost at first.
“If you put aside your pride or your ego and turn to someone, you’ll find out they’re probably in the same position as you, and you’ll be able to solve things together,” she says. “Law school isn’t meant to be managed by one person. It takes a village.”
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