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About Sara Beller

Sara earned her J.D. from Western State University College of Law in 2016. During her time in law school, she served as a member of the Law Review and was consistently at the top of her class. She also worked as a Dean’s Fellow, which allowed her to tutor and mentor other law students.
Sara passed the California Bar Exam in 2017 on her first attempt. Immediately after passing the bar, she started working as a Deputy District Attorney and has loved every minute. She has also taught Intro to Legal Methods as an adjunct professor.
In her spare time, Sara enjoys spending time with her family and live music.

Coping with Divorce in Law School

September 13, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Coping with Divorce in Law SchoolThis week we welcome law tutor Sara Beller to talk about what it was like getting divorced in law school.

I started my 1L year newly engaged and ready to conquer law school. I could already see it – I was going to finish the year with a Law Review invitation and one of the top rankings in my class, all while planning the wedding of my dreams. Check, check, and check!

Next it was time to master being a 2L. No big deal, right? I mean my “to-do” list for the year was relatively short … just finish the year in the top 10%, make Law Review editor, land a summer internship, oh and did I mention get married?!

I crushed my 2L “to-do” list and was ready to tackle my last year of law school as a newlywed and newly minted Law Review editor. I had 3L year in the bag, or so I thought. Right before midterms of my Fall semester, life happened. I got divorced. Instead of studying for midterms, I was moving out of the apartment I shared with my now-ex-husband, figuring out where I was going to live, and getting further and further behind in my classes.

That year, I went from wondering if I would even pass my classes to *spoiler alert* graduating with honors. Here’s how I survived getting divorced in law school and the lessons I learned along the way:

[Read more…]

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What Law School Didn’t Prepare Me For As A Prosecutor

May 24, 2022 by Leave a Comment

What Law School Didn’t Prepare Me For As A ProsecutorThis week we welcome back guest writer and tutor Sara Beller to discuss what she’s learned as a prosecutor.

I’ll never forget my first day as a brand-new prosecutor. My new boss showed me around the office and made introductions along the way. I shook hands, tried to remember everyone’s name and role within the office, and repeatedly questioned what in the world gave me the confidence to think I could flawlessly walk around in 4-inch heels.

The last stop on the grand tour was my very own office. That’s when it hit me. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. I was officially a prosecutor and all my hard work paid off. [Read more…]

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Intern Turned Prosecutor: How My Internship at the DA’s Office Led to a Career

March 29, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Intern Turned Prosecutor: How My Internship at the DA’s Office Led to a CareerThis week we welcome guest writer and Law School Toolbox tutor, Sara Beller, to discuss how she turned an internship in the DA’s office into a career.

By the end of my internship at the DA’s office, I felt like a full-blown prosecutor. As an intern, I conducted numerous preliminary hearings, drafted and argued countless motions in court, and even completed a real jury trial from start to finish (by myself!). Everything was going according to plan, and I was about to receive a snazzy job offer…or so I thought.

I’ll never forget the day a supervising attorney told me that the office wasn’t able to make any job offers because the county was in a hiring freeze. To say I was heartbroken is an understatement. My Type-A brain went into immediate panic mode. Did all of my hard work go to waste? Should I have invested my time at a private firm instead? Was it a mistake to put all of my eggs into the DA office’s basket? The short answer is absolutely not. Here’s how my internship led to a career as a prosecutor: [Read more…]

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