By the time 19 Widener University Commonwealth Law School graduates raised their right hands, they had already shared years of demanding classes, late-night studying and the anxious wait for bar exam results. They took the oath together recently, too, entering the profession alongside people who knew what it had taken to get there.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice P. Kevin Brobson, a 1995 graduate of Widener University Commonwealth Law School, presided over the swearing-in at the Supreme Court courtroom in the state capitol on Nov. 10. Families, professors and employers joined the celebration, including alumni now helping the new attorneys find their footing in practice.
Cheri A. Sparacino, a 2018 graduate and associate attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, formally moved for the graduates’ admission to the Pennsylvania bar.
For 2026 graduate Brooke Jones, the support was easy to spot. Her entire Harrisburg firm, Weisberg Cummings P.C., had come to watch.
“They know what an achievement it is,” Jones said.
An associate practicing employment law, Jones had worked at the firm since her second year of law school. Its attorneys, all Widener alumni, were there for a milestone she was still trying to take in.
Weeks earlier, when she learned she had passed the bar, she went straight to her mother.
“I ran to her, gave her a big hug, and said, ‘I passed,’” Jones said.
The relief was followed by the joy of telling the people who had supported her. Coming to the ceremony, she hoped the accomplishment would finally feel real.
For Jones and fellow 2026 graduates Gianna Ianni, Aubrey Morris and Brent Finkbeiner, the occasion offered a chance to celebrate where their education has taken them. All four have begun building careers, drawing on relationships formed through law school, internships and an alumni community that is becoming their professional community.
Ianni is already thinking about how to pass that support along.
An associate at Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli & Tipton LLC, she has been working on litigation and municipal law matters. Starting practice brought plenty of questions, including how to handle the everyday tasks that come with representing clients.
Experienced attorneys have welcomed those questions. A partner who also graduated from Widener has taken her under his wing.
“I think it’s important, as I get into this practice further, to uplift newer attorneys, like I’m being uplifted right now,” Ianni said.
Just days after the ceremony, she planned to join another attorney from her firm in a Widener Law Commonwealth classroom. She would be returning to the place where professors had helped her develop the confidence and composure she now needs in practice.
Before the ceremony, Ianni described how a goal that once seemed far away had become real through a succession of milestones: graduation, the bar exam, passing and now the oath.
“It’s just the most rewarding moment of my life to this point,” she said. “I’m very proud.”
For Morris, becoming an attorney has meant learning to navigate a profession no one in his family had entered before him.
“I had to learn how to write like an attorney. I had to learn how to read like one,” he said.
His family and friends helped him through the emotional demands of law school. His confidence in his choice of profession grew gradually, including on difficult days when he had to remind himself why he wanted to keep going.
An internship helped him find the work he wanted to do. Now practicing immigration law at The Shagin Law Group LLC in Harrisburg, Morris said he had wanted to stay with the firm since his time there as a student.
“I like what I do. I like helping the people that I help,” he said.
Waiting for bar results, however, brought what he called “absolute, unequivocal panic.” Passing felt like stepping off a roller coaster, shaky knees and all, and trying to catch his breath.
At the swearing-in, he could share the next milestone with friends who understood that feeling.
“I get to experience this big day with some of the people who I’ve worked alongside and been friends and commiserated with for the past couple of years,” Morris said.
Finkbeiner, an Army veteran, recognized something familiar in those relationships. He had missed the camaraderie of military service and found it again among people working through the challenges of law school and entering practice.
“We have the support from each other. We have a close community here,” he said.
His path into state government began with an internship through the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of General Counsel after his first year of law school. The experience confirmed that he wanted to pursue that work. He now works in the Pennsylvania Insurance Department through the Office of General Counsel.
The job has brought opportunities to learn and more time with family after the demands of law school and bar preparation.
It has also shown him how often Widener Law Commonwealth connections turn up at work. While helping an alumna prepare for litigation, he discovered that one of his professors had been her classmate.
“Almost anywhere you go within state government here in Pennsylvania, there’s someone from Widener that’ll support you,” Finkbeiner said.
Jones, who grew up in central Pennsylvania hearing about Widener Law Commonwealth, has experienced a similar welcome. Alumni connections have helped open doors to employment, and she continues to meet attorneys eager to embrace new graduates at bar association events.
“I have no regrets, and I’m so grateful,” she said.
During the ceremony, Dean andré douglas pond cummings thanked the families and supporters who had helped the graduates reach the milestone day. He encouraged the new attorneys to use their training to give people a voice and make a difference in their clients’ lives.
Brobson drew on the courtroom’s murals to place their entry into practice within the broader history of the law. He emphasized honesty, credibility and the responsibility to keep learning throughout their careers.
He also acknowledged, with some humor, that taking the oath doesn’t necessarily settle a new attorney’s nerves. Recalling advice another lawyer had given him, Brobson joked that becoming an attorney feels real when you can stand before opposing counsel, a client or a court without feeling like you’re going to throw up.
The remark drew laughter from the graduates and their supporters. They have cleared the hurdles of law school and the bar exam, and now learning to feel comfortable in their new roles will take practice.
