““Co-op was not just about exploring the legal areas I found interesting, it was also about which settings were a fit.”
Taz Islam ’17
After earning a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan, she would go to law school to combine her passion for helping families with the legal skills necessary to create social change. Then, she went on co-op with a law firm that had practices in business litigation and employment, and the plan went poof. Though she foresees a future that involves pro bono work, she has turned her attention to a pursuing a career on the private side.
“Before law school, I saw myself working in family law or child welfare, but what I learned at Northeastern is that family law requires an emotional endurance I do not possess,” says Taz. “It was difficult to come to terms with the idea, but when I went on co-op with a medium-size firm that had practices in business litigation and employment law, I realized it was a perfect fit. Specifically I fell in love with employment law, because it requires both critical legal analysis and empathy to assist clients.”
After completing a prestigious clerkship with the Massachusetts Appeals Court, Tax found her niche with Robinson + Cole in Boston.
US Attorney’s Office, Boston, Massachusetts
On her first co-op, Taz jumped into researching various issues relating to an employment discrimination jury trial, the Fifth Amendment, mail and wire fraud, physical restraints of students and a complex asset forfeiture case.
- Federal Courts and the Federal System
- Immigration Law
- Administrative Law
- Rights of Non-Citizens
- Sex, Gender and the Law
US Department of Labor, Boston, Massachusetts
Working with attorneys in the Office of the Solicitor, Taz assisted with projects related to litigation involving Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and case law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), among others.
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice
Taz investigated a 1939 murder in Florida to determine if it constituted the legal definition of a lynching.
Meehan, Boyle, Black and Bogdanow, Boston, Massachusetts
At a firm that specializes in personal injury cases, Taz drafted motions, prepared and outlined depositions, wrote demand letters and helped with a 10-day trial at Suffolk Superior Court.
Lawyering Fellow
Burns & Levinson, Boston, Massachusetts
For her final co-op, Taz turned her attention to a medium-size firm where she drafted articles for publication on substantive developments in ERISA — a growing area of interest for her — and intellectual property law, among other activities.