Organize Me
The Law School recently held a student organization fair in the courtyard. The fair, an annual tradition, highlights the rich extracurricular offerings of the School and gives students a chance to receive more information about different student organizations, speak with representatives from each group, and sign up for email lists if they’re interested in becoming involved. Most groups have introductory meetings at the beginning of the year, but the fair is great opportunity to “one stop shop” all of the groups’ offerings.
The Law School has an amazing selection of student organizations, particularly for a school of slightly over 600 students. Many groups have a web presence and most are listed here. The nine student journals are listed separately; you can find them here. All of the organizations, including most of the journals, are open to 1Ls. Since the required curriculum is limited to the first term, and even that is Pass/Fail, 1Ls have plenty of time to become involved.
There is a wide range of activities with which to become involved. Understandably, most have a legal focus like the Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals, the Yale Environmental Law Association, and the Initiative for Public Interest Law at Yale. However, there are many without any tenable relation to law, such as College Acceptance, Yale Law Revue (no, not that law review), and Six Angry Men which, contrary to popular belief, is an a cappella group, not a faculty workshop. I encourage you to view the list of organizations online, since there are too many groups to list in this posting.
New groups are formed each year as students, and their interests, change. For example, College Acceptance was started last year by a group of 1Ls. It’s relatively easy to start a group and to secure funding for it from the School. However, with such a diverse selection of student organizations, the problem students usually face is how to pare down their lists.
