Annika Mirchandani ’26
Annika Mirchandani ’26
JD Student
Hometown
Weston, Connecticut
Undergraduate Institution
Bates College
Undergraduate Major(s)
Environmental Studies
Year of Undergraduate Graduation
2023
Area(s) of Legal Interest
Family Law, Youth Advocacy/Juvenile Justice and Education Law
In terms of support and resources, what do you recommend to prospective students considering Northeastern Law?
I recommend connecting with a current Northeastern Law student who has similar interests. I find that it’s easier to envision your life in a place/at an institution when you talk with people whose backgrounds and passions align with yours.
What extracurricular activities have you been involved with at Northeastern?
Women’s Law Caucus, Middle Eastern and South Asian Law Student Association and Northeastern University Law Review
Annika’s Journal
A Day in the Life of a Northeastern Law Student During the Summer Semester
7:45 AM: Wake up, drink coffee and get ready.
8:00 AM: Get my backpack and books all set for the day.
8:15 AM: Catch the T and head to my workout class!
8:45 – 9:45 AM: Workout class.
9:45 AM: Take the E line or the 39 bus to NUSL from Copley!
10:00 AM: Stop at Wollaston’s and grab a breakfast sandwich or a smoothie.
10:10 AM: Brush up on readings and notes for the day, especially if preparing to be cold called!
10:45 AM: Head up to the classroom in Dockser Hall. My friends will likely be sitting in class too, so I will have about 20 minutes to socialize or review my notes before class starts.
11:10 AM -12:35 PM: Class. On Tuesdays, this is Professional Responsibility.
12:35 PM: Lunch outside with friends! Typically, I will pack my lunch and use one of the microwaves in the common spaces to heat it up.
1:15 -2:40 PM: Class in Dockser Hall. On Tuesdays, this is Juvenile Courts.
3:00 PM: Take the T home.
3:30 PM: Get homework for the following day done. Use remaining time to chill, take a walk, or watch a TV show!
6:00 PM: Meet NUSL friends at a restaurant in Fenway to eat dinner before a Red Sox game (the best part of summer)!
7:00 PM: Red Sox game!
9:30 PM: Get home and prepare for the day ahead tomorrow. Make sure all homework and assignments for the following day are done before going to bed.
Reflections on the Legal Skills in a Social Context Program Law Office
Without a doubt, my favorite part of my 1L year was the Legal Skills in a Social Context Program (LSSC). In particular, the project class portion of the class was a unique and rewarding experience.
In your Law Office (LO), you collaborate in a class of between 10 and 15 individuals throughout the year. I am personally a big fan of smaller class sizes because it allows you to get to know your classmates and your professor better than a 70-person seminar class does. Every week in LO, the class begins with Rose and Thorn. Your “Rose” is something that you enjoyed earlier in the week, or even something you are looking forward to in the coming days. A “Thorn” is something that isn’t going as well, or something you are not looking forward to. I really enjoyed this reflection period at the beginning of class because it gave me a moment to process what I am going through in law school and in my personal life, and to learn more about my classmates and their lives.
As I mentioned above, your LO is the Project Portion of the LSSC Program. Throughout your first academic year at NUSL, each LO works with a community partner on a specific legal issue that is important and pressing to the organization. This past year, my LO had the pleasure of working closely with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, based in Dorchester, Mass. The Peace Institute’s mission is “to serve as a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss.” Throughout the year, my classmates and I were afforded opportunities to visit the Peace Institute many times to meet with survivors and families of violence.
The issue that my LO sought to improve was the Massachusetts Victim of Violent Crime Compensation Scheme (the Scheme), which is run through the Attorney General’s Office. At the Peace Institute, many survivors and families seek access to the Massachusetts Victims of Violent Crime Compensation Fund to cover expenses (ie: medical bills, lost wages) that arose because of a violent crime. This process, we learned from survivors, could use some major improvements.
Throughout the year, we worked with the Peace Institute to provide recommendations to the Attorney General’s Office on how to improve the Scheme for survivors in Massachusetts. The culmination of this year of partnership was a 50-page report, written by myself and my 11 peers, and reviewed by our professor and lawyering fellows (LF’s). In addition, we had a full house at our end of year community presentation. The community presentation was a one-hour long presentation followed by a Q+A from community members. It was great to present our recommendations to individuals from the Peace Institute, the Attorney General’s Office, peers and even family members, who could attend in-person or via Zoom. Pictured below is a snapshot of what my portion of the Community Presentation looked like!
Every Law Office is different, but I had an excellent time working with the Peace Institute and with my Law Office throughout my 1L year.
Reflections on the Summer Semester
As the summer semester comes to a close, I wanted to reflect on my experiences during these past 15 weeks at Northeastern Law.
One of the most popular questions I get on tours is: what are some differences and similarities between 1L classes and 2L summer classes? The first major difference is that you get to choose your schedule as a 2L, whereas you have your 1L classes and schedule assigned to you. This was a double-edged sword for me, because on the one hand I loved not having to think about making my schedule or register for classes during my 1L year, but I have really enjoyed choosing my classes during the summer semester. One major benefit to choosing my classes was that I had no Friday classes this summer! This was a happy accident, because the classes that I was interested in taking just happened to fall on Mondays through Thursdays.
In addition, assignments are a bit more chill during the 2L summer semester. I am in the middle of finals right now (done with 3/5 of them!), and all my finals this semester are take-home. Many of my professors are practicing attorneys or retired judges, so it was very cool to learn from them this semester, and three of my finals are 15–25-page essays. That sounds daunting, but the professors scaffolded the deadlines throughout the semester, which made this finals week much easier for me. As an upperclassman, I am finding finals to be less stressful for sure! 1L finals are primarily taken in a seminar room, whereas most of my 2L finals are essays or open-note take-home exams (and most of them are untimed).
This fall, I am looking forward to being on my first co-op. I will be working with The Lawyering Project, an organization that specializes in abortion litigation and other reproductive justice issues. I am so excited to have the structure of a 9-5 job in my schedule, and evenings without doing homework. For context, by doing my first three semesters of classes in a row, I now only have two semesters of class remaining! This fall, I look forward to working remotely and scheduling some travel to visit family.