Tarah Probst ’03

Legislator, PA House of Representatives

For some time, Tarah Probst had an interest in law, notably in working with many attorneys during her time in the advertising field. But it was an incident with a friend that prompted her to take the next step.  

She discovered a friend of hers had spent almost six years in jail on a marijuana charge. “It upset me. A non-violent crime, a person who was never in trouble before, his life stopped,” Probst explained. “It always infuriated me that a first time, non-violent offender had to go to jail, which would forever change the outcome of their life.”  

After telling her older brother about her desire to go to law school, she found a LSAT prep book on her doorstep the next day. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Probst chose Widener Law Commonwealth for several reasons: its flexibility with her work schedule, as she was working full time and needed a part-time program. She also liked the law school because it was smaller and easy to get to, although she admits the commute was a bit long (200 miles three to four days a week). 

Classes she enjoyed taking at WLC included criminal law with Professor James Diehm, as well as constitutional law and contracts. Overall, Probst found law school extremely beneficial, including in her new role as state representative. 

“Education will help anyone at any time. Knowledge is power. Law school definitely helped me with critical thinking skills and really opened my mind to better listen to others and see the ‘other side.’ Things are not always black and white, there is a lot of ‘gray’ out there.”  

Interview was conducted in Winter 2023.