Student Life

Law Review Legacy

Aryssa Harris (LAW’26, GRS’26) will head the BU Law Review as editor-in-chief 

At the time Bruce attended BU Law, she was the only Black woman in her class and would later become only the third Black woman admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. While the landscape of legal academia has changed significantly since the 1920s, the journey toward true equity and representation is far from complete. As the only Black person on Law Review during her 2L year, Harris was confronted with the realities of navigating a predominantly white space. Rather than being discouraged, she sought to use her position to create an environment where students of all backgrounds could feel seen and valued. Harris recalls a time when another Black student told her that, after seeing her in the position of editor-in-chief, participating in Law Review felt possible, and the student decided to participate in the writing competition.

“It’s important that people feel like Law Review is an attainable goal for them,” Harris says, reflecting on her journey. “Even if I don’t always feel represented, I want others to know that they can still make a space for themselves and advocate for their own representation.”

She acknowledged the efforts of the 2024-2025 Editor-in-Chief Crystal Hsu (’25), who is the first student of East Asian descent to lead the BU Law Review. “I really appreciate the work that the previous board has done to make Law Review an inclusive space,” Harris says. Under Hsu’s leadership, the Clara Burrill Bruce Writing Competition—a rigorous application process for placement on Law Review—was named to honor Bruce’s legacy. “Bruce—she’s a pivotal moment for BU,” says Harris. “Just being in history with her is exciting.”

Like Bruce, who began law school in her forties with three grown children, Harris’s path to law school was different than that of many of her peers. On top of her law degree, Harris is also pursuing a PhD in Political Science, and while BU Law offers several dual-degree programs, it does not have an established JD/PhD track. But that didn’t stop Harris from forging her own path.

“I always wanted to go to law school … but then, during undergrad, I started to fall in love with researching and the idea of creating knowledge and contributing to what people get to learn in schools,” Harris says. “I applied to the BU PhD program in Political Science.”

After being accepted to the PhD program in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GRS), Harris informed the department that she also wanted to attend law school. The political science department reached out to the Dean’s Office at the law school and submitted a letter of recommendation on her behalf. Shortly after applying, Harris received a call from Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig with good news—the law school would admit her.

“People were so kind and so thoughtful in making this process as smooth as it could be, even though it was foreign to everyone involved at the time,” Harris recalls.

As students, both Bruce and Harris have been recognized by classmates and teachers for their contributions to BU Law inside and out of the classroom. An inscription beside a photo of Bruce in BU Law’s 1926 yearbook reads, “All, hail to the conqueror! That is the way this lady should be addressed. Not only is she an honor student of first rank, but she has achieved a distinction never conferred on a woman before—she is editor-in-chief of the Law Review.”

A century later, Harris is similarly admired by her professors. Professor Marni Goldstein Caputo, who has worked closely with Harris as both a student and a Lawyering Fellow, attests to her academic and leadership qualities, sharing that “Aryssa is exceptionally intelligent, hardworking, and dedicated. Her capacity to analyze complex legal problems and to construct impeccable legal arguments is high and makes her a standout,” says Goldstein Caputo. “Perhaps even more importantly, Aryssa is a wonderful leader, teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend to many in her midst. Aryssa possesses the kind, empathetic heart I hope all lawyers will bring to their practice.”

Harris sees her role on the Law Review as a pivotal moment in connecting her PhD research with her legal studies. “I feel like I’ve been able to bridge my PhD to my JD for the first time in a clear, tangible way…I get to be around all this legal scholarship, which is so exciting, and use these skills that I’ve been developing over the past four years and put them into practice,” she says.

Harris’s dissertation examines how Black communities are conditioned to avoid interactions with police, even in the absence of personal negative experiences. She connects this research to Commonwealth v. Warren, a Massachusetts case that ruled a Black man’s decision to flee from police in Boston is not sufficient evidence of guilt. Rather, the court ruled that, because of a history of racial profiling by the police, Black men “might just as easily be motivated by the desire to avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled as by the desire to hide criminal activity.”

Building on this work, Harris’s Law Review note explores the legal implications of avoidance, particularly the criminalization of flight. “For my PhD research, I can explore many different factors in avoidance, but the only one the law really focuses on is flight,” she explains. “So, I’m developing the concept of avoidance through flight—arguing that flight should not be criminalized, because it’s rooted in fear.”

Outside of Law Review, Harris is deeply involved in the BU Law community, serving as co-president of the BU Black Law Students Association, a Lawyering Fellow, and an ASPIRE Scholar. She is also involved in the Women of Color Collective, First Generation Professionals, the Public Interest Law Society, and the Women’s Law Association.

Associate Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Engagement Amber Woods emphasizes Harris’s leadership and dedication. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Aryssa in her role as co-president of the Black Law Students Association. What impresses me most about her leadership is the combination of commitment, reliability, care, and discipline she brings to the position. These qualities all stem from her deep dedication to the communities she is part of and supports. Aryssa is the kind of leader who will always work alongside and not just ‘above’ her team because, as the saying goes, she doesn’t just ‘talk the talk’—she walks the walk.”