Robert Rossi: 2016 Best and Brightest

Robert Rossi
Boston College Law School
Hometown: Lexington, MA
Undergraduate School: Boston College
Undergraduate Major and Minor: B.S. in Management, double concentration in Finance and Marketing, magna cum laude
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During Law School: Dean’s Scholars Program (Full tuition merit scholarship awarded based on law school application materials); Executive Board, Boston College Law Review Volume 57 (Invitation to join journal received after finishing 1L year with one of top five GPAs in 1L section; Elected to E-Board by editors and staff writers for Volume 56 of BCLR); BC Law Ambassadors Program; Resident Assistant, Boston College Office of Residential Life; Graduate Assistant to the Director of Campus Recreation; BCLawImpact.org; Captain, BC Law Beantown Shootout and Intramural Basketball Teams; Chair, Law Students Association Social Media & Communications Committee; 2014 Gulf Coast Recovery Spring Break Trip
Where have you interned during law school? Ropes & Gray LLP, Boston, MA, Summer 2015; Community Enterprise Clinic, Boston College Legal Services LAB, Waltham, MA, Summer 2014
What practice area will you be specializing in after graduation? Corporate law
Why did you choose to attend law school? When I was a senior at Boston College, my resident assistant was a second-year BC Law student. He introduced me to administrators, let me sit in on his classes, and walked me through the process that led him to an associate position at a large law firm in Boston. He had the job that I wanted, and he genuinely seemed to enjoy his law school experience. I started working through LSAT practice problems and found myself enjoying them more than my business class assignments. I decided that I wanted to get a law degree and put it to use in a business context.
What was your favorite law school class? Secured Transactions with Professor Ingrid Hillinger. I could just as easily pick her Contracts or her Business Bankruptcy classes, but I chose Secured because I found the material to be the most challenging, the classroom atmosphere to be the most motivating, and the learning experience to be the most rewarding. Secured pushed me to put in more time and effort than I ever had for a class, even as a 1L, and my work ethic grew stronger as a result.
Which attorney do you most admire? My father, John Rossi. He is a sole practitioner who has built a practice that financially provides for our whole family. Not only did he show me firsthand how to support your family with a career in law, but he also taught me the importance of focusing on each individual step on the path to your ultimate goal, whatever it may be.
What have you enjoyed most about law school? The people! Since my first day at BC Law, I have had great friends to have fun with outside of school and to challenge the way I approach class material in the lead-up to exams. I’ve had professors who have not only pushed me in class, but helped me enjoy the learning experience and feel valued as a student. And I’ve had tremendous help from the staff members in the Career Services office, who’ve guided me each step of the way towards landing the exact job that I’d wanted since I first enrolled.
What word best describes your professional brand? Student. The most valuable components of my internships in law school have been the opportunities to learn from extremely accomplished attorneys. I see my most important role as a young attorney as continuing to learn from those successful people when I start to work full-time.
If you were debt free, how would you spend your first paycheck after landing your first law job? I’d help my younger sister pay off her loans from school and help pay my younger brother’s tuition – he’ll be a freshman in college when I start work in the fall.
“I knew I wanted to go to law school when…I met Dean Tracey West from BC Law and she gave me an honest explanation of the BC Law experience and the opportunities coming here would provide for me professionally.”
“If I didn’t go to law school, I would be…somewhere close enough to come home for the holidays (hi Mom!).”
Which academic or personal achievement are you most proud of? Receiving my job offer from the firm for which I will be working. It was both the most exciting and the most relieving phone call of my life.
Fun fact about yourself: I played point guard for the King’s College London basketball team when I studied abroad in Fall 2011.
Favorite book: Doing the Truth in Love: Conversations About God, Relationships and Service by Michael J. Himes
Favorite movie: The Godfather
What are your hobbies? Playing guitar, rooting for Boston sports teams, and swapping theories about Game of Thrones.
What made Robert such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2016?
“From the moment Rob Rossi set foot on campus, he has been an essential and valued member of the BC Law community. From his work in the Law Student Association and the Law Review, to his founding membership and management of the new BC Law student blog Impact and the new BC Law Student Ambassador Program, Rob has thrown himself with energy and enthusiasm into the life of the law school.
Although a lot of what he has done is well known, some of it is behind the scenes and known only to administrators. Rob accepts leadership roles with a smile, consistently comes forward with innovative ideas, and can be counted on to step up and do whatever it takes to help make the school, and his class, a success. He has accomplished all of this while maintaining one of the higher GPAs in his class.
I cannot imagine a better candidate for Best and Brightest.”
Nate Kenyon
Director, Marketing and Communications
Boston College Law School