Add pre-law adviser at Wartburg College to Karen Thalacker’s lengthy résumé as a legal multitasker.

Thalacker, a 1988 Wartburg graduate, is a Bremer County magistrate, practicing attorney, author of a handbook for new lawyers, legal blogger, TV legal analyst and former prosecutor who also teaches law courses at her alma mater.

She will be able to offer an insider’s advice in a position previously housed in academic departments and career services.

“Ms. Thalacker brings a unique and powerful perspective as pre-law adviser,” said Dr. Mark Biermann, Wartburg College dean of the faculty. “She will help pull into a coherent whole the pieces needed to be successful in pursuing law school.”

The appointment makes official the duties Thalacker had in large part already assumed.

“I’ve helped students with personal statements, LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) preparation, and informally advised them through their law school and legal careers,” she said. “I think everyone recognized that we need to make sure we are giving our students the best information we can about how to transition from Wartburg to law school to a legal career and understanding all the resources available to them.”

Thalacker, now beginning her second term as a magistrate, is an attorney with Gallagher, Langlas and Gallagher in Waverly. She teaches Constitutional and Business Law courses at Wartburg, wrote “The New Lawyer’s Handbook: 101 Things They Don’t Teach You in Law School,” does legal analysis for KWWL and occasionally writes for huffingtonpost.com.

“What I love about incorporating the advising and the teaching is that I can employ all the experiences I’ve had,” Thalacker said.

A 1991 graduate of Drake University Law School, she began her legal career as a prosecutor in the Black Hawk County Attorney’s Office, where she met her husband, Peter Newell, now a Second District associate judge. Their daughter, Ella, one of four children, is a Wartburg student.