Student and Alumni Profiles

Professional Experience Prior to Law School:

I came to law school straight from undergrad (though I had a couple of 'legal' internships during the summers-policy group, DA's office...).

What I Am Hoping to Do with My Law Degree:

I plan on, at least for a few years, joining a law firm to gain some practical experience. Ideally I think I'd like to work in house (specifically for a fashion company).

My Best Experience at Penn Law:

Getting to know the professors. The professors at Penn Law are incredibly intelligent and talented people. To have the opportunity to get to know them in a more social setting, be it dinner at the White Dog Café across the street or just by chatting in the hallways, is great. I feel so lucky to be at a school that fosters this sort of collegiate environment with such impressive people.

Professor Who Influenced Me Most:

Judge Jordan, my trademarks professor, is simply amazing! As a professor is he demanding, but fair, and so clear cut—he takes these incredibly complicated cases and makes them something that I can talk fluidly about. And then, on top of his skill as a teacher he has so much real life experience that he is willing to share with my classmates and me.

My Favorite Course:

Divorce law, taught by New York City lawyer Bob Cohen, is an incredibly interdisciplinary class. Beyond family law the course covers tax, trusts and estates, contracts, torts, and more. It's really interesting to have a class that is more about the application and practical interplay of different aspects of law. And of course it doesn't hurt that we get to hear first hand stories about the divorce litigation of celebrities like Dina Lohan and Christi Brinkley!

An Example of How the Law School’s Cross-disciplinary Approach Influences My Legal Education:

The classes offered at Penn are extremely interdisciplinary in nature. This forces you to think about subjects outside of the topic themselves and in a more practical or application based manner. Obviously in the working world problems won’t be presented to us separated by topic so to have an academic background that prepares you for more of the ‘real life’ scenario is very helpful.

Meaningful Cross-disciplinary Experience at Penn:

I plan on completing the certificate in Business and Public Policy from Wharton. Being able to take advantage of one of the other graduate schools in the Penn community, as well as enhance my legal education with business perspective is sure to help in any professional endeavor.

Penn Law is known for its collegial environment. Why is collegiality important to a legal education? How has it affected your legal education?

Law school isn’t an easy endeavor. Having people around you who are not just doing the same thing, but supporting you in your efforts makes a huge difference. Coming to Penn upperclassmen were more than happy to share their old outlines and provide advice, and classmates are supportive as opposed to competitive. I simply can’t imagine going through the daily stresses that law school inevitably brings without this sort of community to help get me through.

My Favorite Philadelphia Moment:

The Phillies (finally) winning the World Series! When they won the city erupted—it was so much fun!

What I'm Most Proud Of:

Surviving my first ‘on-call’ experience. Even though you go through years of schooling participating in class, there is something about the law school Socratic method that sounds scary—it’s really not that bad (once it’s over)!

My Extracurricular Activities at Penn Law:

I’m on the Journal of Business Law.

What I Did For Public Service:

The Marshall Brennan Program—I teach constitutional law once a week at a Philadelphia high school.

My Favorite Place or Activity on the University Campus:

The reading room in the library is a picturesque law school library. It makes studying slightly less painful to be in such scholarly surroundings. 

Why transfer to Penn?

If I was going to have to figure out how to ‘do’ law school for a second time, I wanted to be in a place that was student friendly and collegiate. Coming in to Penn as a transfer has reaffirmed all that I heard about Penn being a collegiate law school. Classmates were eager to share their perspective (and even more helpfully, their outlines). Moreover, from deans to professors, I was made to feel a part of the community from the day I stepped on campus. Everyone was willing to go out of their way to make my transition to Penn an easy one.

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