Hello Class of 2020 – Congratulations on your acceptance into the Peter A. Allard School of Law! My name is Michelle, I am an incoming 2L, and I speak on behalf of many of my upper year peers when I say that we cannot wait to welcome you into the Allard Law community.
There is no getting around that you are going to encounter debatably too much advice this coming fall; advice telling you to join the Law Students Legal Advice Program (“LSLAP”), or not to join LSLAP, or sign up for the Legal Buddies program, do Legal Education Outreach (“LEO”), Women’s Caucus, try out for Law Games, AND run for a 1L representative position on the Careers committee, Allard Law Students’ Society (“ALSS”), or Law and Business Society. Overwhelmed yet? I sure was.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret I definitely wish I knew during Orientation last year: the vast majority of upper years you will meet during the beginning of 1L, be it your upper year mentors, legal buddy, small group leaders, or even your peer tutor, you know, the ones who are so excited for you to get involved… well, they tend to be the exception to Allard Law involvement, not the norm. Whether you meet the Co-Presidents of Women’s Caucus, the captain of the Legal Eagles, the Ombudsperson and Co-Coordinator of Pro Bono Students Canada (“PBSC”), or the upper year who will swear her favourite experiences in 1L were being apart of the ALSS, Women’s Caucus, LEO, PBSC, intramural sports, law games and becoming an executive in not one, but two student organizations (guilty), just remember that these students are hyper involved because they wanted to be, and that doesn’t need to be what you want too. This year it is so important to find a rhythm that works best for you.
Did you come to Allard Law because you’re eager to get practical legal experience outside the classroom? LSLAP or PBSC could be your perfect place to start.
Are you interested or even potentially interested in going to work at a large national firm after graduating from law school? The networking exposure you’ll get as a member of the Law and Business Society is second to none.
Are you interested in researching, writing, or the academic side of the law? Check out Law Review. How about acting? Check out Law Revue! Or maybe event planning is your thing, in which case the Allard Law Students’ Society welcomes eight first year representatives every September onto their Social Council.
Or, like many other upper years, you may already have ongoing commitments outside of the law school, be it family, friends, employment, community involvement, or athletics, and don’t have time for involvement in Allard Law outside of class. Great! Hold onto those commitments and enjoy them, because they will get you through the day when you need a little break from anything and everything law related.
The point of all of this is to say that yes, if you want to immerse yourself in the community then there are a million and one ways to do so that I have loved, and I hope you will love too. But if you don’t, well, that’s cool too. My favourite thing about the Allard Law community is that each individual gets to choose a law school experience that works for them, and at the end of the day the peer support is overwhelmingly positive regardless. So get involved, or don’t, but definitely get excited for everything awaiting you come September. This is going to be a year to remember.
