Meeting 1/13-Student Panel

On the 13th we hosted 4 current law school students for a panel about the application process, law school itself, and a general overview of life in and out of the classroom. Sarah and Igor, student from Moritz and Sarah M. and Sam, student from the University of Dayton, graciously joined us for over an hour of questions and answers from our members.


Sarah and Sam are both 1-Ls so they discussed the changes in time managment and studying from undergrad to law school. Sarah M (2-L) and Igor (3-L) also emphasized the importance of staying on schedule with reading, outlining, and having a good student group. All four also highlighted how important it is to find a study style that works for you, whether it's during the week or the weekend, at home or the law library, in a group or alone, on a laptop, or by hand, they thought it was important that you find your own system!


All four had great tips for how to decide on the right law school through the application process. Igor talked about thinking about the city in which your school is located and whether it is close to where you would like to practice. Sarah M. focused on the importance of making sure the school you attend is strong in programs you are interested in and can provide you with the right academic support. Each student very much supported visiting schools before you decide to attend them to give a better idea of what that law school will be like!


A topic of great interest to our members centered on the importance of balance. How to make sure that school work doesn't completely overwhelm your life, while still maintaining strong grades. Igor underscored the fact that your first year, and even your first semester grades, are by far the most important, so to be sure to come in prepared and hit the ground running. Sarah M. makes sure she takes at least one night a week off to spend time with friends and family. Sarah emphasized a similar work-play balance, again encouraging students to stay on top of the reading to avoid the end of the semester cram-sessions. Sam also suggested making specific time when you do something other than study to stay engaged and excited about the material.


This was an interesting and enlightening program for Phi Alpha Delta! If you have questions or would like to know more about what we talked about, feel free to leave a comment and one of the officers will get back to you!

The Fun of Autumn Quarter

Phi Alpha Delta had a great autumn quarter getting to know new members, entertaining a variety of speakers, and visiting Case Western School of Law. Below is a quick review of everything we did!

We started the quarter meeting new members and re-acquainting ourselves with old faces. Even though the involvement was soggy, we still had great success recruitment many first year students and getting to know them better through officer interviews.

Social Chair Caroline Power graciously opened her home for a PAD barbeque. This was a lot of fun despite some struggles with the grill and a TP war with the neighbors. It was a exciting start to the quarter.

Maggie, Melissa, and Caroline talked about how they got involved with unique and adventurous study abroad programs. Maggie worked for the State Department in Bolivia, Melissa studied law at Oxford, and Caroline worked for the Canadian Parliament. It was a great opportunity to exchange stories and strategies for finding study abroad programs on campus!



Gordon, a veteran teacher from Testmasters, gave our members a sample lesson and auctioned off several thousand dollars in course money! We learned a lot about how Testmasters is different from and similar to other testprep companies. It was a great opportunity for PAD members getting ready for the LSAT to learn more about their options.


In November we were incredibly fortunate to take a tour of the Ohio Supreme Court and were able to meet Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O'Connor. Former Phi Alpha Delta President Mike McWeeney gave us a brief tour of the Court and answered some questions about its day-to-day functions. We were then introduced to Pierce Reed who is the Senior Judicial Attorney for Justice O'Connor who talked to us about his personal experience moving from corporate law into the judicial arena. Finally, Justice O'Connor answered questions ranging from the general about her career and work-life balance to the specifics about her opinions on appointed judicial officials and casinos.

This fall we also had a major fundraising event coordinated by Rachel Martin. Applebee's donated 10% of the bill for diners who brought in a Phi Alpha Delta flier all day on November 18th. Not only was this a big financial success for PAD, it was also a delicious opportunity for fraternal bonding.

We also spent most Sunday afternoons of the quarter cleaning up several campus blocks down Indianola Avenue. We earned $300 for PAD through these efforts and contributed to the off-campus community! Hopefully this will be repeated in the Spring.

The highlight of our quarter was our trip to Case Western Law School in Cleveland! Case put together a great program for Phi Alpha Delta where we sat in on either Torts or Criminal Law, got a tour of the law school's building, and did Q&A with students and professors. We were also treated to lunch and a meeting with the Dean of Admissions.

Phi Alpha Delta had fun and productive fall quarter! Hopefully we will see all of you for the exciting meetings and travels we have planned for this winter. And of course, if you want more information on anything we did please email us at pad.ohio.state@gmail.com!

Meet the Officers

President-Maggie DaRocha


Maggie is a senior majoring in Political Science, International Relations, and Spanish. She will be spending the next year in Columbus working before heading on to law school. Maggie is also a die-hard Redskins fan and gives tours to prospective OSU students!

Vice President-Melissa Marino


Melissa is in her final year at OSU majoring in Criminology and minoring in Business. She loved her time in England with the Oxford Law program and will be heading to law school in the fall. Last year Melissa also found time to start a new OSU tradition...graduation tours of campus highlights!

Secretary-Alex Armitage


Alex will graduate in June with a degree in History. He is still waiting to hear where he will be this coming autumn. Alex can't wait to get back to distance running after knee repair surgery in the spring!

Treasurer-Talor Green


Talor is a senior majoring in psychology and criminology. He will be entering the Marine Corps as an officer upon graduation and going JAG. Talor spends time cheering on Tyler Hansbrough.

Fundraising Chair-Rachel Martin

Rachel is a junior majoring in Sociology and Criminology. She will be working with SARNCO, the Sexual Assault Response Network this year. This internship will be a great asset to her career interests with the FBI.

Recruitment Chair-Ammara Hashmi


Ammara is a fourth year majoring in Economics and Finance. She is involved with various Fisher organizations and the Pakistani American Student Association. Ammara currently works as a page at the State House!

Social Chair-Caroline Power

Caroline is a sophomore majoring in Political Science. She had an amazing experience working for Parliament in Canada and using her French language skills. Caroline's next linguistic adventure is learning Arabic which she is already using to help the immigrant community in Columbus!