Boalt Students Lay Down The Law in ‘O.C.' Club

It started with a few flyers posted around Boalt Hall School of Law last semester, extending open invitations to join third-year student John Kim watching Fox network's "The O.C." every Thursday.

The first week, about 12 people showed up. The next week, about 20 people gathered around a television in a Boalt Hall classroom. Since then, Kim has captured the interests of more than 60 students devoted to the teen drama and thus, "The O.C. at Boalt" was born.

Members of Boalt Hall's newest club meet every Thursday, the day after the latest episode airs, to munch on lunch and popcorn, rewatch their favorite show and analyze the latest developments in Newport Beach.

Kim founded the club because he was bored with all the "serious clubs" at Boalt Hall.

"The point of the club is to have fun," Kim says. "It's a parody of law school clubs."

The officials structured their club as a dictatorship, with their own secretary of gossip and prime ministers of party. Kim stands at the helm of the club as commander-in-chief.

The club's membership is divided between occasional viewers, who appreciate the show more as a guilty pleasure and the hard-core "O.C." addicts.

"If you think about these shows, and think about the diagram of the evolution of man, ‘90210' may have been the genesis, but standing upright at the end of the scale, you have ‘The O.C,'" says Secretary of Gossip Brendan Cody, a third-year law student.

At a recent meeting, Commander-in-Chief Kim gave newer members a recap of every episode off the top of his head, incorporating quotes and highlighting recurring themes.

He then completed his presentation with a Shakespearean character web, beginning with the "Houses of Cooper and Cohen" and interrelating the show's major players.

Still, most of the analysis of the show is tongue-in-cheek, club officials say.

"A lot of people like being part of an organization that doesn't take things so seriously," says Minister of Information Lesley Pena, a second-year law student

But the group isn't all about parties and fashion.

The club is working to set up the Sandy Cohen Fellowship, a scholarship that will send a selected student to work in the Orange County Public Defender's Office this summer.

The scholarship was created in honor of Sandy Cohen, the father figure on "The O.C.," a Boalt Hall graduate and a former Orange County Public Defender.

The club has invited Peter Gallagher, the actor who plays Sandy Cohen, to eventually attend the presentation of the fellowship.

In an attempt to raise money for their scholarship, the club's leadership has declared Feb. 23 to Feb. 27 "O.C. Awareness Week," and has dedicated the week to festivities that celebrate the show, including a Boalt fanzine release party and a "Totally Awesome Prom."

Members of the club are promoting Awareness Week by donning custom-made, bright orange "The O.C. at Boalt" T-shirts and tank tops, as well as orange ribbons above their hearts.

The O.C. at Boalt fanzine consists of features that include a Summer vs. Anna analysis that compares two of the show's main rivals and do-it-yourself O.C. fashion tips.

The fanzine's release party will be complete with wine, snacks and an "O.C."-inspired band-Orange Crush.

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