Category: Student Organizations

Transitioning to Law School: The Importance of Balance

The beginning of your law school journey will feel like one of the most daunting experiences in your life. However, that does not have to be your reality. Transitioning to managing the workload in law school is difficult, but it is doable. While the workload is much heavier than in undergraduate programs, you can handle it by being intentional with your time and maintaining a balanced life. As a student who just finished their first year, I hope to provide you with some helpful tips to make it through your first year without burning out.

Going into orientation, I had no idea what to expect from law school. I knew nothing about what the experience would be like other than what I had seen in Suits and Legally Blonde; I am also a first-generation law student, so no one in my family could prepare me. I was scared that I would not be able to handle the workload or being cold-called, and I worried that my study skills were not where they needed to be to succeed. Feeling overwhelmed, I created one goal at the start of the school year: stay on top of my work to avoid falling behind. I knew if I did this, I would at least put myself in a good position to do well. After orientation and the first week or so of school, I quickly discovered that I could keep up with the assignments, but I would not be able to actually understand them or do well in class if I was doing work 24/7. I knew that I needed to take time away from schoolwork so that I could focus completely when I went back to it.

As a student-athlete in undergrad, I had experience with managing my schoolwork along with practices, team lifts, and games. I found that when I was playing or working out, I was able to clear my head and forget about school for a while. So, I decided to use this experience and apply it to law school; I scheduled time after the school day was over to either run or go to the gym. This has proved to be very valuable time for me when school gets more stressful than normal. Taking an hour or so to move my body is so beneficial for my mental and physical health. For incoming 1Ls, I can’t stress enough the importance of taking care of yourself first; this will ensure that you can put your best foot forward at school!

In addition to exercise, I make sure to balance my time in other ways. It may be harder to spend as much quality time with important people in your life, but you can still make it happen as long as you intentionally set aside time to do so. I try to see my friends regularly, and I still spend time with my family. I always try to make some sort of plan on the weekends so that I don’t get stuck doing work all day; if I did that, my brain would feel like mush and I would have no motivation. I love to get outside, maybe go for a hike, try out a new restaurant, get coffee, go shopping, or play board/card games. Doing any of these things allows me to get away from school for a while so that I can reset. What you choose to do to get away from school does not have to be complicated! Keep it simple, and do things that you enjoy.

It is so important to continue to do things that make you happy or excited during law school; it can get overwhelming at times, and having something to ground yourself will help tremendously in relieving stress. Law school will be a huge part of your life for the next three years, but it doesn’t have to consume it entirely. In order to perform your best and actually enjoy what you are doing, you have to find things that don’t involve school! Taking care of yourself comes first, and doing this will put you in a great position to succeed in law school. To the incoming 1Ls that are reading: Good luck! You can do hard things!

Outlining | Touching the Material

From the first day of law school you will hear a variety of ways to make an outline. Some people make a 2-5 page outline (a skinny), while others are well over 60 pages. ASFs are asked how they make theirs, and how it helped with their success. However, it gets overwhelming and confusing when they aren’t telling you exactly what they put into their outline, how they set it up, or how they incorporated their notes. After all, it is the first week of class when you start talking about the overall need for an outline. You don’t know any of the material, and are barely acclimated to the new environment of law school. It becomes even more stressful when you realize that your outline is going to be the key to your final exam, some representing 100% of your final grade.

However touching the material as much as you can throughout the semester will help you a lot in the long run. You don’t want to just be memorizing material the week before the exam, you want to know it.

So how exactly do you “touch the material” and commit the information to your long term memory? Well first, it would be helpful if you are not playing catch-up with your work. It’s beneficial to have time set aside where you can review the material that you have already seen.

After reading for class, close your book, and try to summarize the material and cases that you just read. Then right before class, skim through your readings again, and make small changes to your summary.

After a week of classes review your notes, and summaries. Create a separate document where you can list out concise thoughts, rules, and examples of the subject matter.

Once you have finished a sub-subject area, write out detailed CREAC citing to the case and examples from class. You can have your professor read this over to ensure that you understand the material, and can adequately explain it.

Then, once you finished a section of material, you can combine these mini CREACs into an overarching explanation of the law.

You can read and review these CREACS before class, and after a week of new material to understand what you’ve learned, what you’re currently learning, and what is yet to learn. This constant repetition and review will aid you in grasping the material, committing it to your long term memory, and with your writing voice as you prepare for finals.

TIP: Make sure to take good notes on examples given in class, and provided for on Canvas. You can write sample exam answers for these as well and have your ASF or professor review them.

Now, you can put these together for an exam style outline, which will definitely help you be prepared to write out your exam answers. However there are a couple other ways that you can outline. You just have to find what makes the most sense for YOU. A generic Roman Numeral or “A,B,C” outline works for a lot of people. Some need all of their notes listed out with big subject headers, and comment throughout their document. Other find there bare minimum information to be all they need, so headers with a list of 3-4 elements under each. Personally, I am a more visual learner, so I like to make my outline in excel. I just merge cells together to keep content areas together. This way I am able to see how the topics flow together, instead of flipping the page of a standard outline. But again, that is what works for me. However, you prefer to go about it by rewriting, retyping, or rereading the material you are constantly touching it. So by the time exams role around, you will have already committed a substantial portion of the material to you long term memory, and you will definitely be more prepared. But remember, do what’s best for you. It can be stressful, and that’s okay, don’t be afraid to ask for help, or examples!

Academic Success and the People Who Foster it

One of the first things that I was told when I first came to Widener is that whether it be students, professors or other faculty, everyone wants you to succeed. At first, I didn’t buy it. I had this image in my head that law school was going to be this fight to death environment where everyone was fighting each other for the top spot and it was up to you and you alone to succeed. But what I started to realize as my first few weeks of 1L passed by, was that everyone really did want me to do well, specifically professors as well as a lot of students.

The reason why I came to realize this first came from the interactions that I constantly had with my professors. The one on one interaction you get with your professors at a small school is one of biggest benefits of a small school, and you truly get out of law school what you put into it. If I went to a professor with questions, every single one of them were receptive, helpful and willing to give me tips. But even on top of that, every professor for every class had an Academic Success Fellow, or ASF. An ASF is a student that took the class in the past and did very well so they are now tasked with helping other students in that very same class. Every week an ASF will hold office hours and a lot of them even sit in the classrooms during class time. The ASF program was what opened my eyes to the fact that other students at Widener do really want to see others succeed.

One of my favorite part of the ASF program is the relationships that students, especially 1Ls are given the opportunity to build with upperclassmen students. When I was a 1L, I used every opportunity taht I could to go to my ASFs and ask them questions. Most of the time I just needed something explained to me in a slightly different way and an ASF was always able to do this. But along with talking about subject matter and asking questions you are able to form relationships. Contracts was a daunting class to me when I was a 1L, so every single Monday morning I woke up and I went to my ASFs office hours and I learned about contracts and I also learned about my ASF. Now, over a year later, we talk almost every day and I am in her wedding. That alone was a testament to the relationships that can be built through the ASF program, and that is what inspired me to want to be an ASF.

Now a year later, even though Contracts was daunting to me, I am a Contracts ASF myself and I am sitting on the either side of the table. It is one of the most worthwhile jobs I have ever had because I get to work side by side with the Professor that helped me so much through my 1L year, but I also get to work closely with other students and build relationships of my own. All of this thanks to Widener’s focus on academic success and those who foster it!

Life of a VP Social

In law school, you need to find outlets that are going to help you thrive, not just as a student, but mostly as a person. For me, those outlets include SBA, PAD, books, and, of course, watching TV.

This year, I am one of the Vice Presidents of Social for SBA (student bar association). Within that role, my duties mainly include planning events such as Dean’s Picnic, Halloween Party, Barrister’s Ball, and 30 day party. As you probably know, this Friday is our annual Halloween Party.

So, what goes into the planning? I’m here to tell you!

First and foremost, a date for the party needed to be set. In previous years, the party has been on the Friday closest to Halloween. Tentative date? Check.

What now? Make sure we have a space to host the event. In similar fashion, we looked at where the event had been held in previous years. We reached out to American Brewing Company (ABC) to see if we could host the event and if the date we wanted was available. Lucky for us, ABC was available on the date we wanted. Location and date? Done.

Okay, great! The place and date are set. We should be almost done, if not already, right? Not so much. The next few things happen simultaneously, some things taking precedent over others at times.

What is a party without food? A horrible one. FOOD. FOOD. FOOD. As a student, we all love hearing the words, “food will be provided!” It is always quite the incentive to go to an event. So now, you need to pick out food. Easy as pie. Just kidding! When picking out food, we needed to consider what people liked last year, common food allergies, common diets/accommodations (gluten-free, vegetarian, etc.), and, of course, the amount of food to coincide with the number of people. We looked at what we got last year, adjusted some things, and hoped the final number would be around the same amount. Spoiler alert: we were (pretty much) spot on.

At the same time food needed to be figured out, we needed to look at decorations. In full transparency, decorations are not my thing so I let my co-VP take the lead on that!

Okay great, we have food, location, date, and decorations done. We should be done, right? Still no. What is a party without music? Luckily for SBA, another executive member has a DJ friend who graciously made us an amazing playlist (if you’re reading this–THANK YOU AGAIN!).

Oh yeah, and there is that part with the math–the scary part. The cost. When planning an event such as this, we try our best to make it a price where students can afford it and SBA’s budget can cover the rest. This was a math game. How many people will end up coming? What is the total price for hosting the party at ABC? How much is left in the SBA budget? Math, math, math. Thankfully, our executive board (especially our treasurer) did the math–several times–to figure out the right numbers.

Hmmm, okay, now we DEFINITELY should be done. Not quite yet. There is still coordinating the little things with ABC, planning for setup and decorations, getting physical tickets, etc. Even as I am writing this, I am sure there is something small that still needs to be figured out or done.

Everything seems to be done, all the little things are getting sorted out with the help of all of SBA and ABC. So what now? Now, you prepare the best you can for anything you might have forgotten. Extra tickets? Paper to label food allergies? Extra printouts of people who bought tickets? Cash box for change if people buy tickets at the door? All things you try to prepare for, plus the multitude of other things that could occur. Even though I can prepare all I want, I still know something could go wrong. But in the meantime, it is time to pick out a costume and get ready to have fun!

If you couldn’t tell, party planning has never truly been my thing. However, I decided to give this position a shot and have enjoyed it very much so far. In this position, I have SO much support from my fellow executive members and all of the SBA representatives. This post may seem like it is a lot, but in reality, it truly is not. I have the guidance of previous executive boards to help make decisions. Dean Teplitz helps out whenever and wherever she can in the planning process + execution.

Now that the majority of the planning is done, it is time to take that much needed break from law school and enjoy the halloween party. I cannot stress this enough–TAKE BREAKS AND ENJOY YOURSELF! Law school is hard. It can feel lonely and impossible. It is absolutely vital you take your breaks from working and enjoy yourself.

If being busy and getting involved is your thing, I highly recommend you consider running for a position in any organization you’re interested in. It can give you a break from school and allow you to push yourself in ways you previously wouldn’t have considered. Try new things, go to those events. Simply, allow yourself to take a break and enjoy life. Law school is about more than just surviving it; you must make sure you are enjoying your life while you go through it.

Immigration Moot Court Competition

Have you ever signed up for something and during the process thought “never doing this again”? That was me for the past 2 months during our moot court competition. However, when everything came together at oral argument this past Friday (Feb. 12th) I enjoyed every second of it. Now that it’s over, I am so glad I put myself through that experience. This competition was 100% the most difficult I had ever been involved in, but also the most rewarding.

A little background.
Moot Court is an honor society to which you can “grade on” or “write on”. Once in the organization, you sign-up for a competition. I chose immigration because my ultimate goal is to become an immigration attorney. The excitement begins when your problem “drops”. My partner and I received our problem on December 18th. Our brief was due January 31st and, you guessed it, we researched and wrote up until the last second. But wait there is more. Then came oral argument preparation. We had 1 day to prepare our argument outlines because we began “mooting” the following day. Our coach had several moots lined up for us. We had no time to lose because oral argument was in less than 2 weeks. Even though we are currently completely virtual, our professors and Widener staff were more than willing to help us moot. We were even allowed to do our oral argument on campus. Having the technology and court-like atmosphere helped mentally prepare us for what was coming. We had 3 oral arguments and it was absolutely amazing because I was able to demonstrate that I knew the law and that we, as respondent, had the better argument.- Obviously!

Final thoughts.
This competition absorbed so much of my time, but all the time and work I put into the competition allowed me to enjoy oral arguments because I knew I was prepared. I am in my final semester of my 2L year and this competition has been one of the best experiences. There were many times during this competition that I questioned myself- did I find all the relevant cases, am I missing something, how should I answer that question, how do I organize what I want to say, etc. I am so proud of myself for getting through my fears and this competition. I’m so thankful to be a part of the Widener community. The support we received from all the professors, staff, alumni, and administration was unbelievable.

Definitely give Moot Court a try, you might regret it during the process, but I assure you – it will be one of the best things you do in your law school career.

Get Involved!

I am Daina Pizarro, a 3L at Widener. I am involved in several extracurriculars on campus and off campus.

I am the President of the Federal Bar Association, the Vice President and Treasurer of Trial Advocacy Honors Society, Vice President of Criminal Law Society, Vice President of the Latin American Law Student Association, Vice President of the Veterans Association, Student Ambassador, and on the schools National Trial Team.

I intern at Crisp & Associates, LLC which is a military defense firm, and nanny for two families part time.

There are many reasons I am so involved. 1) I love to be busy, staying busy forces me to have great time management; 2) extracurriculars make you well rounded and set you apart from others; 3) I love taking leadership, being on the executive board of the organization I am a part of gets me a chance to move the org in the direction I want them to go; 4) it gives me experiences you can’t get solely in the classroom; 5) it gives me a break from law school work; and 6) I can am linked up with other students who have similar interests as me!

I am here to tell you, get out there, try new things, and try things that you are interested in. It is possible be involved and still get good grades. So go for it! Go to the interest meetings, go to the happy hours, and get involved. It has made be a better law student, a better future lawyer, and an overall well rounded person. There is a organization on campus for anything you can think of and anything you are interested in. If there is not an organization, you can start one!

A Small Campus that is BIG on Student Engagement

I am Randi Teplitz, the Assistant Dean of Students at Widener Law Commonwealth.  I am so pleased to write this post so I can brag about our campus community, and most importantly the students who make our law school such a special place. 

I am fortunate that I get to work directly with our students on a daily basis. Because of this, I get to witness both their passion towards the law and their education, as well as, the compassion and generosity that they regularly show each other. Law school can be a competitive environment that inhibits the forming of friendships and the building of meaningful community. However, that is not who we are. I am proud to say that is not the culture of Widener Law Commonwealth.

Our students help each other. They recognize the value of lifting each other up, rather than tearing each other down. Upperclassmen mentor the 1Ls, they serve as peer advisors, Academic Support Fellows, and are always willing to offer their wisdom by participating in student panel discussions, recording podcasts, or by blogging. Time is a limited commodity as a law student, but our students always make time for each other.

Our students also lead active and robust student organizations. Are you interested in Law & Government, Business Law, Criminal Law, or Environmental Law? We have the organization for you! Looking for something more social? Check out the Student Bar Association or the Program for Health, Exercise & Wellness (PHEW). Passionate about community service? The Public Interest Law Society will be right up your alley. Ready to tackle social justice and inclusivity issues? Join the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA), the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA), or the Women’s Law Caucus! These are just SOME of the organizations that we have on our campus and if we do not have it–CREATE it.

At Widener Law Commonwealth, we offer a small personalized environment that is BIG on student engagement.

I have the best job in the world because I get to work with our amazing students. I can’t wait for you to meet them!