Julia Boland ’27 was always interested in law, but working for civil rights and criminal defense organizations deepened her passion.
After studying political science and psychology as an undergrad, Boland worked for the Brennan Center for Justice. There, she advocated to expand access to voting rights and combat partisan gerrymandering. She then joined the Innocence Project as part of their strategic litigation team. Boland’s team was dedicated to ending the use of unreliable forensic evidence in court, a leading cause of wrongful convictions.
After watching lawyers in action on behalf of both individual clients and broader structural reforms, Boland was surer than ever: “I wanted to go to law school to continue this work,” she said.
Boland was drawn to Yale Law School specifically for its emphasis on public interest law. She is looking forward to joining law student clinics — where students work on real cases with real clients — as soon as possible. At Yale, that could be as soon as the second term of her first year.
Meanwhile, Boland is settling into her classes, where she’s enjoying seeing connections and overlap between courses. She is especially excited about studying civil rights, criminal defense, and criminal legal system reform.
“It’s incredible to learn from professors who are preeminent experts in their fields and are also deeply invested in getting to work with students,” Boland said. “I’m surprised at how often they ask for our opinions, and push us to develop our own views of the law even though we’re new to this field.”
She is also impressed by her classmates, whom she calls both brilliant and kind, as well as the School’s more seasoned students.
“It’s great to be around so many new people with shared interests. 2L and 3L students have also been generous in sharing their knowledge and experiences, which I’ve really appreciated,” Boland said.