Maria Marek acquired a desire to go to law school early on in her life. Working for her father, a sole practitioner, during high school, she gained an appreciation for the practicality of law and saw how lawyers could impact other people’s lives.
Knowing she wanted to eventually attend law school, Maria first cultivated her interest in foreign language by attending Georgetown University for its prestigious undergraduate program. During the third year of her bachelor’s study, Maria decided to focus her efforts towards law school. A Bioethics course spurred her interest in health law and drove her to later become a student leader in the Jaharis Health Law Institute at DePaul.
Upon graduation from law school, Maria has accepted a position in the litigation department at Winston & Strawn, LLP. Maria hopes to work on Hatch-Waxman cases and continue her involvement in health law and regulatory issues. She credits DePaul’s Health Law program for preparing her to apply law in the real world through engaging her with practicing health law attorneys and exposing her to new topics through unique classes and guest lecturers.
Looking back on her time at DePaul, Maria wants to pass along some advice to the 1Ls and 2Ls. She advocates strongly to volunteer as much as possible while still in law school—not only to benefit the community, but to gain practical experience and practice networking. For health law students specifically, Maria recommends taking advantage of discounts available for conference attendance and to seize opportunities to network with health law attorneys, which she found invaluable to her own law school experience.
The Health Law Institute thanks Maria for her involvement in planning the lecture series along with co-leader Katy Green and wishes her the best of luck in planning her Hawaiian beach vacation following her bar passage!