Daniel R. Kapolnek will graduate from DePaul University College of Law in May 2017 with a Health Law Certificate. Dan shared with the E-Pulse his favorite moments as a DePaul law student, advice for rising 1Ls and 2Ls, and where he hopes his law career will take him.
Dan, an Illinois native, grew up in Champaign. He graduated from the University of St. Francis with a major in political science and a minor in history. Dan has always enjoyed critical thinking, helping others, and approaching new problems and thus chose to attend law school. Specifically, Dan chose DePaul because of its location in a big city coupled with the opportunities it can extend to young professionals.
At DePaul Law, Dan was a member of the Jaharis Health Law Institute (JHLI) as well as a two-time participant of the JHLI Transactional Moot Court Team. As a student, Dan ranks Constitutional Law with Professor Zoe Robinson and Administrative Law with Professor David Franklin as the two most influential courses in his law school career. He credits a lot of his success as a law student to Professor Robinson’s Constitutional Law course as she constantly challenged him with difficult questions and taught the law in such a way that it completely changed his approach to school and prepared Dan for 2L year unlike any of his other courses. In addition, Professor Franklin’s enthusiasm for the subject of Administrative Law pushed Dan to excel in the course.
Dan speaks highly of the JHLI Transactional Moot Court experience. He believes this course gave him a real taste of what he would face after graduation. In his words, “the simulation of being assigned a real world, difficult problem and having to work through it with a team really prepares law students for everyday work after law school.” Additionally, Dan had high praise for the Jaharis Health Law Institute. He noted that Professors Epstein and Schostok play a large role in not only teaching academic skills, but also more practical aspects related to health law that can be used in practice. He states, “The JHLI program is on the rise and those two professors have a lot to do with it.”
Dan, a member in the DePaul College of Law mentoring program, advises future students, “don’t be afraid to take risks in your academic career and branch out into other areas you have not thought about yet. You never know what is going to happen and if you do not take chances and risks, you will never succeed.”
After graduation, Dan, similar to the majority of his fellow law school graduates, will preparing for the Illinois Bar exam. Beyond these next few months of studying, Dan aspires to stay in Chicago with his fiancé Aprille and work in transactional health care law.