Widener Law Commonwealth's Podcast

Welcome to a subseries of the Widener Law Commonwealth Podcast called Widener Wordsmith. 

In episode two, Widener Wordsmith host and Adjunct Professor Pam DeMartino sits down with Professor John Dernbach. The two discuss the story behind how Dernbach wrote and published A Practical Guide to Legal Writing and Legal Method and Writing Essay Exams to Succeed in Law School: Not Just to Survive.

Read the transcript for this episode. (PDF)

Music by runfirestop (Pond5)

Welcome to a subseries of the Widener Law Commonwealth Podcast called Widener Wordsmith. 

In episode one, Widener Wordsmith host and Adjunct Professor Pam DeMartino sits down with Visiting Professor Dionne Anthon. The two discuss the story behind how Anthon wrote and published The Bluebook Uncovered: A Practical Guide to Mastering Legal Citation.

Read the transcript for this episode. (PDF)

Music by runfirestop (Pond5)

Host Julie Sheldon sat down with podcast producer Steph Engerer on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, to discuss the changes that are coming to the Widener Law Commonwealth podcast.

Music Credit: LeChuckz

2019 John Gedid Lecture Series

The speaker this year was Gillian Metzger of the Columbia Law School. She will present, 1930s Redux: The Administrative State Under Siege, which was recently published in Harvard Law Review.

In the article, she addresses the fact that the national administrative state is under attack today to an extent not witnessed since the New Deal. In particular, constitutional challenges to key features of administrative governance are surfacing in the Supreme Court. Taking a historical perspective, the lecture will argue that the current constitutional challenges are fundamentally misguided. These challenges not only risk the institutional legitimacy of the Court, but also they ignore the extent to which the national administrative state is constitutionally beneficial and even obligatory.

Gillian Metzger is the Stanley H. Fuld Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where she is also a faculty co-director of Columbia’s Center for Constitutional Governance.  She writes and teaches in the areas of federal courts, administrative law, and constitutional law, specializing on separation of powers, federalism, and privatization. Click here to read more about Metzger.

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Shelton sits down with Professor of Legal Methods Amanda Sholtis and 3L student Sarah Rothermel to discuss the live critique method. The two recently presented on the topic at the high impact practices fair on main campus in Chester, PA. 

Music Credit: LeChuckz

This lecture entitled, Bail: Risk Release & Reform, was be presented by Chief Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab, United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The following individuals served as experts on the lecture panel:

Hon. Richard A. Lewis 
President Judge 
Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas 

Heidi Freese 
Federal Public Defender 
Middle District of Pennsylvania 

David J. Freed 
United States Attorney 
The United States Attorney's Office 
Middle District of Pennsylvania 

Nyssa Taylor, Esquire 
Criminal Justice Policy Counsel 
ACLU of Pennsylvania

Judge Susan E. Schwab was appointed Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 2012.  She assumed the role of Chief Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 2017.

She spent 11 years in public service with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Auditor General, Deputy Chief Counsel and Deputy State Treasurer for Administration for Treasury, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration and Deputy Chief Counsel for the Democratic Caucus of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Prior to that, Judge Schwab was in private law practice with Rhoads & Sinon, LLP in Harrisburg and Semanoff, Orsmby, Greenberg and Torchia, LLC in Huntingdon Valley.

Judge Schwab is from Wilkes-Barre, Pa. and graduated summa cum laude from Wilkes College. She was a member of the inaugural class of the Harrisburg campus of Widener University School of Law, where she served as an Internal Editor of the Widener Journal of Public Law. She graduated magna cum laude and was the law school’s first valedictorian. 

Judge Schwab has been a member of the Board of Overseers of Widener University School of Law and the Chair of the Widener University School of Law Harrisburg Campus Diversity Advisory Board. 

For more information about Widener Law Commonwealth's podcast, visit commonwealthlaw.widener.edu/podcast.

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Sheldon sits down with Widener Law Commonwealth's Assistant Dean of Students Randi Teplitz and students Gabriella Romeo and Shannon Costa to discuss what to expect during the first year of law school. They provide some tips on how to not only survive but thrive as a 1L. This episode is helpful for anyone considering applying to law school or who is already in the process of preparing for law school.

Mentioned in this Episode

Student Life and Wellness at Widener Law Commonwealth

Office of Student Affairs

Law Library's Reading List 

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Sheldon sits down with Widener Law Commonwealth's Associate Dean of Admissions and Administration John Benfield and Director of Admissions Tom Foley to review helpful tips and information for accepted applicants.

Mentioned in this Episode

Financial Aid Office

Cost of Attendance

Accepted Applicants Page

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Sheldon talks with Associate Professor of Legal Methods David Raeker-Jordan about evidence based study tips for law students. Research suggests the various ways students studied in undergrad may not be effective in law school. 

For more information about the podcast, visit commonwealthlaw.widener/podcast.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Law Library Study Aids

Music Credit: LeChuckz

This episode, recorded in September 2018, is the final installment of a three-part series featuring Eden Mandrell, Director of the Career Development Office at Widener Law Commonwealth in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In this episode, Eden and Host Julie Sheldon discuss internships and externships for law students. 

Mentioned in this Episode:

Career Development and Job Search Tools

Widener Law Commonwealth Externships

Symplicity Job Bank

Music Credit: LeChuckz

This episode, recorded in September 2018, is the second in a three-part series featuring Eden Mandrell, Director of the Career Development Office at Widener Law Commonwealth in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In this episode, Eden and Host Julie Sheldon discuss tips for resumes and cover letters for law students and recent alumni. 

The final installment in the series will be a discussion about and internships and externships. 

Episode Transcript (PDF)

Mentioned in this Episode:

Career Development and Job Search Tools

Music Credit: LeChuckz

This episode is the first in a three-part series featuring Eden Mandrell, Director of the Career Development Office at Widener Law Commonwealth in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In this episode they discuss networking and professionalism for law students and recent alumni. 

Upcoming episodes in this series will include discussions about resume building and internships and externships. 

Mentioned in this Episode:

Pennsylvania Bar Association Law Student Membership
Dauphin County Bar Association
Career Development and Job Search Tools

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Sheldon talks with Widener Law Commonwealth Director of Admissions Tom Foley and discusses how prospective law students can prepare to take the law school admissions test (LSAT) and general tips for law school preparation. 

Mentioned in this Episode:

LSAC

LSAT

Free Mock LSAT at Widener Law Commonwealth

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Sheldon discusses the law library resources available to students with Susan Giusti, Brent Johnson, and Ed Sonnenberg. 

Mentioned in this Episode:

Law Library Webpage

Contact Us Page

Law Library Hours

Law Library Student Services

Large Collaboration Room Reservation

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Commonwealth Professor of Law and Government and Director of the Law and Government Institute Jill Family sat down with host Julie Sheldon.  Professor Family discussed a letter she co-authored and sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressing concern about new quotas for immigration judges.

The letter was signed by more than 120 immigration and administrative law professors.

Mentioned in this Episode: 

The Letter
https://commonwealthlaw.widener.edu/ag-sessions

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Sheldon sits down with Widener Law Commonwealth's Associate Professor of Legal Methods David Raeker-Jordan to discuss the process of and strategies for bar exam preparation. Their conversation covers everything from where to start, knowing your learning style, what costs are involved, and more.  Hear from an experienced professor about how you can set yourself up to pass the bar exam.

For more information about Widener Law Commonwealth's podcast, visit commonwealthlaw.widener.edu/podcast.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners
Comprehensive Guide to Bar Exam Requirements
Greg Kihn Band - Jeopardy
Weird Al Yankovic - I lost on Jeopardy

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Our first Wayback Wednesday episode in celebration of Earth Day on April 22 is a recording from a 2016 lecture by Jerry Taylor.

This event was co-sponsored by the Environmental Law and Sustainability Center and the Law and Government Institute.

Jerry Taylor is president of the Niskanen Center, during which he provides the case of why conservatives do themselves a disservice by ignoring the risks of climate change. A little about the speaker: Prior to founding the Center in 2014, Mr.Taylor spent 23 years at the Cato Institute, where he served as director of natural resource studies, assistant editor of Regulation magazine, senior fellow, and then vice president. Before that, Mr. Taylor was the staff director for the energy and environment task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Over the past two decades, Mr. Taylor has been one of the prominent and influential libertarian voices in energy policy in Washington. He is the author of numerous policy studies, has testified often before Congress, and his commentary has appeared in The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other prominent print and electronic outlets.

https://widenerenvironment.wordpress....

Learn more about the ELSC

Music Credit: LeChuckz

The lecture this year, Immigration, Race and Rights in the Trump Era: Lessons From the Muslim Ban and DACA Termination, was presented by Muneer I. Ahmad, Clinical Professor of Law and Deputy Dean for Experiential Education at Yale Law School.

Professor Ahmad is Deputy Dean for Experiential Education, a Clinical Professor of Law, and the Director of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School. He co-directs the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic (WIRAC) and teaches courses related to immigration, human rights, and development.

In WIRAC, he and his students represent individuals, groups and organizations in both litigation and non-litigation matters related to immigration, immigrants’ rights, and labor, and intersections among them. The clinic’s recent work has included Darweesh v. Trump, the first lawsuit to challenge the first Muslim Ban executive order, which resulted in the issuance of a nationwide stay within 24 hours of the ban; and Batalla Vidal v. Nielsen, which challenges the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA).  Professor Ahmad has represented immigrants in a range of labor, immigration, and trafficking cases, and for three years represented a prisoner at Guantánamo Bay; he has written on these and related topics.

His scholarship examines the intersections of immigration, race, and citizenship in both legal theory and legal practice.  Recent scholarship includes Beyond Earned Citizenship, 52 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 257 (2017), which critiques the dominant approach to comprehensive immigration reform.

Previously, he was Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. Prior to joining the faculty at American in 2001, he was a Skadden Fellow and staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles. He clerked for the Hon. William K. Sessions III in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.

For more information about Widener Law Commonwealth's podcast, visit commonwealthlaw.widener.edu/podcast.

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Host Julie Massing interviews Widener Law Commonwealth's Director of Student Organizations Mary Catherine Scott and Student Bar Association President Genna Moscato. Their conversation includes information about the types of student organizations available at Widener Law Commonwealth and the benefits that come from participating in them.

For more information about Widener Law Commonwealth's podcast, visit commonwealthlaw.widener.edu/podcast.

Music Credit: LeChuckz

Professor Randy Lee details Harry Potter`s lessons on rules, justice, forgiveness, honor, and the magic in practicing law.  This is a recording of a 2017 CLE from homecoming weekend.

For more information about Widener Law Commonwealth's podcast, visit commonwealthlaw.widener.edu/podcast.

Music Credit: LeChuckz