Adrienne Langlois (’17) Clerks for the Rhode Island Superior Court
Langlois is taking advantage of the yearlong clerkship to develop her litigation skills before seeking a position as a civil litigator.
Adrienne Langlois (’17) chose Boston University School of Law because she wanted to be a public-interest litigator, and her initial plan was to break into that field right away.
But when she worked as an intern in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division between her second and third years, some of her colleagues recommended she consider a clerkship instead.
“They spoke very highly of clerkships as an opportunity to really enrich your practice and prepare you for a career in public-interest law,” she recalls. “So I thought, I’ll check it out and try to apply.”
Now, nearing the end of a yearlong clerkship with the Rhode Island Superior Court, Langlois is glad she made the decision to do so.
“It has been a great opportunity to deepen my understanding of trial practice, to get to work with judges one on one, and to really improve my legal research and writing,” she says.
In her assignment with the trial courts in Providence, Langlois works with several judges who handle everything from civil and criminal trials to appeals of administrative agency final decisions. Because Langlois wants to be a civil litigator when she moves on from her clerkship, her supervisor has steered primarily civil cases her way, involving issues such as the extent of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission’s jurisdiction over local legislators, whether plaintiffs can use the equitable tolling statute to toll the statute of limitations in a negligence case until witnesses come forward, whether tenants in Rhode Island have the right to a jury trial in eviction cases, and, in an administrative hearing, whether the admission of certain hearsay evidence is prejudicial.
In her work, Langlois regularly draws on lessons from her BU Law professors and classes, including Contracts and Evidence with Professor Mark Pettit Jr. and Criminal Procedure with David Rossman, director of Criminal Law Clinical Program.
But, when thinking about which experience at BU Law best prepared her for practice, she says “I always come back to the Civil Litigation Program,” specifically, the Housing, Employment, Family & Disability (HEFD) Clinic with Clinical Associate Professor Naomi M. Mann.
“I will sing their praises day in and day out,” Langlois says. “The attorney professors who practice in the clinics are so dedicated. To have the opportunity not only to work with real clients and make a difference in their lives, but to work one on one and really develop a relationship with a practicing attorney who’s invested in your success and education—that is invaluable.”
In the HEFD Clinic, Langlois helped a woman finalize a divorce to end an abusive marriage and worked on two other housing-related matters, including one in which she represented an elderly disabled man at risk of being evicted from his trailer park. In part through her efforts, the client was able to stay in his home and pay off his debt.
Mann says Langlois stands out because of her passion for social justice and her ability to be an effective advocate.
“It’s easy to sort of parrot the legal standard,” Mann says. “It’s much harder to actually apply legal standards in real-life cases. Adrienne was always very adept at mediating between legal theories and the actual facts of the case.”
After teaching Langlois in the clinic, Mann hired her to work as a research assistant for a paper she was writing on Title IX and college sexual assault cases.
“I didn’t want to let her go,” she jokes. “I’d still have her if I could.”
Mann says Langlois “has passion, maturity, and an ability to really work well with everyone around her. When you’re pushing for social change, those are important qualities.”