Tag: writing

Tips to Rock an Interview

Going through an interview process can be a really stressful experience. It’s easy to feel like you answered a question “wrong” or you didn’t give the perfect answer that you should have. Rest assured, everyone has felt this way before. But interviews don’t have to be traumatizing experiences. Here are some things I keep in mind whenever I’m interviewing somewhere:

First & foremost, I treat every interview like it’s a casual chat over coffee with an acquaintance. Obviously, you must always remain respectful & professional, but there is nothing wrong with telling yourself that the interview is just a friendly, low-stakes way for the interviewer to get to know you better. If you ensure that you aren’t treating the interview like it’s the end-all-be-all of your legal career, you’ll be able to relax into the conversation more & really show the interviewer your best qualities.

This tip might be more controversial, but I never take an interview too seriously. I’ve interviewed for jobs that I have really, really wanted. It can be particularly heartbreaking if you convince yourself that this opportunity is the only one you’ll get & you have to land this job or else you’re doomed. That is rarely, if ever, actually the case. The law is constantly changing, & you never know what the next opportunity you will encounter will be; it could even be better than the one you’re interviewing for now! All of this is just to say that you shouldn’t put too much weight into your “performance” or the interview itself. What is meant to be will be, & the world doesn’t begin & end at the firm you’re hoping to join.

On the same thread of not taking things too seriously – I like to think of interviews as the greatest quizzes ever because I already know all of the answers! The questions will be about you: who you are as a student, as an employee, & as a person. You know all of those answers. The key is just being able to articulate properly what qualities & traits you want to present, & that skill just comes with practice.

Speaking of practice, talking out potential interview questions with a friend is always helpful. It’s just like giving a presentation – if you get in there & go off the cuff while thinking on your feet, you’ll probably do fine, but you’d likely do even better if you’d lightly practiced what you wanted to say first. I don’t suggest that you should go into an interview with a predetermined script of what you HAVE to say. I just mean that you might have a lot of ideas swirling around about how to best encapsulate yourself, & practicing what you want to say makes executing the conversation that much easier in the moment, which will help you feel less stressed.

Finally, my favorite tactic is the positive sandwich. If you have a fact that you want to minimize (like maybe your GPA wasn’t as high as you wanted, or maybe you have a gap in your resume, or literally anything!), use the positive sandwich technique. Start your answer with your first piece of bread: a highlight or positive takeaway you got from the negative experience. Then, the meat of your sandwich will be the fact that you want to minimize. Immediately follow it up with a second, even bigger, piece of bread filled with positive aspects about yourself that will make you a great employee & someone worth hiring. It might feel clunky putting the sandwich together at first, but this is a scenario where practicing with friends comes in handy.

Above all else, remember to have fun & be yourself! The right opportunity will come along. Good luck!

Evening Students: Embrace Opportunities

I began my educational journey later in life and had to balance a full-time job while pursuing education to begin a new career. While doing so, I took advantage of various opportunities to attend conferences that focused on my interests. At one conference I met a successful Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and after speaking about internships and getting involved with the profession, they said, “If you want to enter the profession, you need to get involved. If this is what you want, you need to prove it?” In the moment, the words felt harsh, but with the passage of time, how right he was. I needed to come to terms with the path I was seeking and knew it would require more involvement. Did involvement require the use of vacation time, evaluation of other commitments, and additional investment of my time? Yes, it did. However, getting involved has been the best investment ever, the return on investment continues to compound. So how to apply this life lesson to law school?

The reality of many evening students is we work full-time, have families, are involved in numerous activities, and are now trying to fit reading, briefing, attending class, reviewing class notes, outlining, and writing that first-year paper into our already busy, if not, overwhelmed, schedules. Here I am now encouraging evening students to embrace opportunities to get involved and recommending to get involved early in your time at law school, do not wait to you are a 2L or 3L. Four years sounds like a long time, but we all know how short of a period it truly is, law school will be over as fast as it began. I have noted, there is the passage of time in the real world and then there is the rate in which time passes while in law school. It is funny we use the same calendar, the same clock, and have the same number of hours in a week, yet time passes much more quickly.

As an extended division student, attending in the evening, working full-time, coaching my son’s baseball team, spending time in the gym, involving myself with the Student Bar Association, attending various programs on campus, maintaining a social presence, and, last but not least, making time to play guitar, I am busy, may be an understatement. However, the words of that CPA continually flood the frontal cortex of my mind, “If this is what you want, get involved.” My reason for stating this is, despite how busy we are as evening students; we can and should carve out time to get involved in events that will support our journey towards entering the legal profession. Where did I start and where do I suggest you start? The answer, the calendar “Campus Events – Master Calendar.”

The Campus Events – Master Calendar is a great place to begin planning your involvement. If attending in the evening, classes will be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (as a 1L). Perusing the Master Calendar and identifying events that are held on the same nights as class allows for taking advantage of the fact you are already on campus. Most events begin at 5 pm, with a presentation on a particular topic. If you can attend an event prior to heading to class, you will benefit. You will be provided opportunities to network with fellow classmates and potentially with the speakers, prior to their presentation, if arriving early enough. Further, if living closer to campus, take advantage of an event that is perhaps on a Wednesday and stay for the reception. Receptions are the best time to expand your network and to speak with not only attorneys, but with your professors, fellow students, and the dean outside of the academic environment.

As I write this, some key social events have already been added to the calendar, the Dean’s Picnic, September 20, 2025, and the Harrisburg Heroes Run, October 11, 2025. These events will certainly afford opportunity for networking, conversation, and some relaxation. Please note the calendar fills in as the year progresses, I personally found it beneficial to review it for updates at least every other week, there will be a plethora of events to choose from. I cannot encourage everyone enough to make plans to attend at least one professional event in addition to attending at least one social event per semester. Time is a precious commodity, and through proper planning we can manage our commitments and embrace available opportunities.

Finals Are Coming: Study Tips From a Fellow Law Student Who’s Been There

With finals creeping up faster than we’d like to admit, I wanted to share a few study strategies that have really helped me (and others I know) get through this high-stress season. Law school exams are challenging—they test how well you can think, not just how much you’ve memorized. But the good news? With a solid plan, you can crush them.

Here’s how I’m tackling finals this semester—and how you can, too.

1. Start Early (No, Really—Do It)

I know everyone says to start early, but it truly makes a huge difference. The material builds up quickly, and cramming doesn’t work when your exam is an issue-spotting essay.

➢ My approach: I start outlining and reviewing about three weeks before finals. I break each course into sections and assign specific days to review and practice. And yes—I actually schedule in breaks and “off” days to avoid burnout.

2. Active Learning > Passive Reading

Just reading case briefs or flipping through flashcards won’t cut it. Law exams are all about application.

➢ What works:

Outlining: Making my own outlines helps me connect the dots between rules, cases, and policy.
Hypos and past exams: I try to do at least one hypothetical per topic. It’s the best way to practice thinking like a lawyer under pressure.
Study groups (if you like them): Teaching a concept out loud to someone else is a great way to realize what you don’t fully understand yet.

3. Use Commercial Outlines—But Don’t Depend on Them

Barbri, Quimbee, Themis—they’re great for tricky concepts or as a sanity check. But they’re not a substitute for understanding how your professor teaches and tests the material.

➢ Tip: Use commercial outlines as a backup. Your own outlines (and your class notes!) should be the main event. And if your professor has shared past exams or sample answers—use them!

4. Know the Format Before You Study

If your exam is multiple-choice, your prep should look different than if it’s all essays. Don’t make the mistake of preparing the wrong way.

➢ What I do: I try to mimic the format of the exam during practice. If it’s timed essays, I actually time myself and write full answers. If it’s MCQs, I drill with practice questions and focus on spotting traps.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

Law school resources exist for a reason—take advantage of them!

➢ Go to ASF/faculty office hours, attend review sessions, and dig into past exams. Professors want you to succeed, and sometimes a quick 15-minute chat can clear up something you’ve been stuck on.

6. Take Care of Yourself

It’s tempting to pull all-nighters and live on coffee during finals. But honestly, that is a fast track to burnout. Your brain needs rest to function well.

➢ My self-care checklist:

Sleep: 7–8 hours (yes, even during finals).
Move: I take a walk after long study sessions—it really helps me reset.
Eat real meals: I try not to skip meals, especially on exam days. Fueling your brain matters.

7. Confidence Is Half the Battle

Finals are intense, but so are you! Remind yourself how far you’ve come this semester. Trust the work you’ve put in thus far.

➢ My mindset trick: When I start spiraling, I breathe, reset, and remind myself: I know this stuff. I’ve prepared. I’ve got this.

You’ve Got This!

Finals aren’t easy, but they’re doable. Start early, study with intention, and take care of yourself. You’re capable, prepared, and stronger than you think.

Wishing you a smooth finals season and some well-earned rest on the other side!

Make changes as you go to find what works best for you!

Endeavoring into law school can be completely overwhelming as it often requires a lifestyle change. Although this often includes having less free time to do the things we ordinarily would like to do and focusing more on the path in front of you, learning to appropriately manage the workload along with out-of-school challenges is something that won’t come naturally to most people. However, as I have learned from my three years here, what is most important is to find what works best for you and not base how you structure your time in law school off of what someone else does.

Everyone has different ways of learning and managing their time, and from my experience, even an individual’s strategies can change drastically from semester to semester. This can include changing where, how, or who you study with and that is perfectly okay as long as you are figuring it out as you go.

On a broader note than simply changing your study habits, implementing an entire lifestyle change while in law school may be required for you. An example of this stems from a personal anecdote of mine; before attending law school I was working full time as a paralegal, which I fully intended to continue doing while going through law school because I lived on my own and fully supported myself. Before law school, the idea of quitting my job, going to school full-time and taking loans to cover my living expenses seemed like the wrong personal choice for me.

I initiated my law school path at Widener Commonwealth in the extended (night-time/part-time) division and continued to work full-time as a paralegal during the day. As I quickly found out for myself at the end of the first semester, this was not going to work for me. The next semester, I let my job know I needed to focus on law school, switched into the regular (full-time/day-time) division, and took loans to cover my expenses. This was a huge lifestyle change that I went through, but it was what worked best for me and now I am flourishing in law school.

All of this to say, if something isn’t working for you, it’s totally acceptable to make changes as you go! When people say it’s a marathon and not a sprint they really mean it, so take it one day at a time and don’t feel bad about changing things as you go!