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Maggie Peiffer walked into law school sure she was headed for a career in criminal prosecution. Today, the third-year Widener University Commonwealth Law School student is reviewing rough cuts for network shows, answering on-set legal questions, and catching sunrise call times as part of an entertainment law team.

The shift was not dramatic so much as honest. It happened slowly, then all at once.

“I had a bit of a crisis,” Peiffer said, smiling at the memory. “I wanted to help people, but I realized I didn’t have a passion for that kind of work long term. I started wondering what was going to be interesting, what was going to be fun, what was going to give me that burn to keep going.”

Peiffer grew up in Waynesboro, the small Pennsylvania town tucked along the Maryland border, and still makes the long commute from home to campus each day. She majored in criminal justice, volunteered with domestic violence organizations, and even worked in a law office before applying to law schools. Back then, criminal prosecution felt like the clear next step.

An externship with a Maryland state’s attorney’s office changed that. The work mattered, and she cared about the victims she met, but something felt off.

“I appreciated the work, but I could tell it wasn’t going to be my thing forever,” she said. “I needed something I could pour myself into.”

She didn’t expect entertainment law to be the answer. In fact, she didn’t know it was an answer at all.

That changed the day entertainment attorney and Adjunct Professor Todd Shill ’93 spoke on campus.

“That talk stuck with me,” she said. “He told me to take his sports and entertainment law class in the spring. I signed up, and honestly, everything just clicked.”

Shill remembers that class well. For him and fellow Adjunct Professor Kevin Gold ’93, giving students access to an industry that feels far from central Pennsylvania is part of the purpose.

“We offer our students a very practical and honest view into what it takes to work in television and film and as an NFL agent,” Shill said. “Leveraging our decades of experience, and the lessons we have learned from both our successes and failures, we give the students a real-life glimpse into how we each cracked the high barrier to entry in these fields, as well as our day-to-day work and work challenges. It is very important to Kevin and me that we bring the real world and real-world expectations into the classroom. Armed with both the practical and legal knowledge we impart over the semester, students who want to pursue these fields will be many steps ahead of where we were when we graduated law school in 1993.”

For Peiffer, that introduction opened a door she had not even known to knock on. She showed up early for class every week, often racing another student to get there first. She tried not to get her hopes up about grades, but Shill emailed her as soon as they were released.

“He said, ‘Aren’t you excited?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I got an A,’” she said, laughing. “And he said, ‘No, Maggie. You got the highest grade in the class.’ I had no idea.”

By May 2025, Peiffer had arranged an internship with Shill’s entertainment law practice. And that is where the real learning began.

“There’s no such thing as a typical day,” she said. “I was never on the same project for more than a week.”

Some days she researched statutes or administrative regulations. Other days, she screened rough cuts for true crime programs and flagged language that could be defamatory or misleading. She reviewed logos that needed to be blurred, footage that required licensing, and scripts that needed legal clarity before an episode could move forward.

“Every piece of media you see in a show is cleared by somebody,” she said. “We track it all. Where it came from, whether we have permission, and whether there’s a fee. If we don’t have a release for a scene we end up needing, that can become a big problem.”

She was also pulled into the practical side of production. Drone regulations. Property rules. Logo placement. Release forms. She spent weeks learning to recognize issues before they reached the network.

“I learned so much about cameras, drone laws, angles, everything,” she said. “You’d be surprised how much law goes into a single 42-minute episode.”

Then came the days on set.

“I loved it,” she said. “You get there early, stay late, and everything is happening at once. Tensions can run high, and that’s where people skills really matter.”

Shill said Peiffer’s success was no accident.

“There is a very high barrier to entry for anyone who wants to work in television and film,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a twisty, nonlinear path, and sometimes it takes luck, which in this business is defined as preparation meets opportunity. Those who have had success in this business have one trait in common: initiative. Maggie has initiative in spades. She approached me as a 2L, then took our class, and then earned the CALI, which is given to the student with the highest grade in a law school course. She stood out to me for this reason, and that is why she ended up as my extern. Simply put, she had initiative and the results to back up her efforts.”

For him, mentoring students like Peiffer is a meaningful part of returning to WLC.

“If I am able to expose students to what I do as a television and film lawyer, and introduce them to others who work in the business, they will be light years ahead of where I was when I graduated law school,” he said.

Peiffer’s Widener Law Commonwealth education shows up in her work every day. Even though entertainment law looks unconventional compared to the classic doctrinal curriculum, the foundation is the same

“You’re still reading statutes, researching regulations, writing memos, thinking through state versus federal issues,” she said. “The fundamentals matter, even in a field that looks completely different on the surface.”

Her earlier experience in a prosecutor’s office helps too, especially on true crime projects that involve court records and evidence.

“I know what I’m looking at because I’ve seen case files before,” she said. “It’s not just this PDF. I know if it’s a transcript from a preliminary hearing or a motion, and that context matters.”

Outside the legal work, Peiffer’s life is just as full. She serves as chief justice for Phi Alpha Delta, participates in the Business Law Society, commutes more than two hours a day, and coaches youth field hockey in her hometown.
“There is not a day I’m not busy,” she said. “I coach, I commute, I’m in class, I’m working. And we have a life at home too.”

Her time management system is part discipline, part survival.

“I have a color-coded planner, and I pretty much know what I’m doing hour by hour,” she said. “I try to protect Friday nights and Saturdays. You need at least one window to reset.”

Her field hockey coaching is where she finds balance.

“I get to mentor these girls through the hardest years of their lives,” she said. “Their problems are so different from mine, but they’re real to them. Sometimes it’s something like, ‘Your homecoming dress is terrible,’ and I’m like, ‘OK, we’ll fix it.’ It’s nice to step back and just be the person they can lean on.”

That instinct to mentor comes from the support she has found at Widener Law Commonwealth, especially from Shill and Gold.

“I always say Todd is the best mentor you could ask for,” she said. “He’s kind. He’s patient. If I make a mistake, he reminds me it’s OK to learn. That matters in a field where you feel like you’re supposed to get everything right the first time.”

Gold brings that same steady presence.

“They’re real,” she said. “They listen. They make jokes. They show you what it looks like to be a good attorney and a good person at the same time. And they show friendship matters. They’ve been friends since law school and still show up for each other now. That means more than people realize.”

For Shill, coming back to Widener Law Commonwealth was always about investing in the next generation.

“I am very thankful to Widener Law Commonwealth for not only taking a chance on me as a young student, but for encouraging me to pursue my dreams as daunting as they may have seemed,” he said. “Professor Randy Lee gave me the confidence to think outside the box when it came to pursuing an unusual career path from central Pennsylvania. After decades in this field, including developing and working on hit television shows and films with many A listers in New York and Los Angeles, I wanted to use what I have learned to give students the tools to pursue their dreams the way I did.”

Looking ahead, Peiffer is applying to entertainment law positions with Shill’s guidance. She knows the field is competitive, but she is all in.

“It’s hard to break into,” she said. “You really do have to know someone. But I hope that’s where I land. If it doesn’t happen right away, I’ll circle back, because this is the work I want to do.”