Voices at Temple

Admissions Office Tips: Application Components

To kick off the start of application review season, our Assistant Director of Admissions breaks down the various application components to help potential law students apply as strategically as possible. Numerical Indicators One of the most common things on an applicant’s mind are the numerical indicators – the LSAT score and the UGPA. They can be intimidating factors for some applicants, or something to...

Temple Law’s Name Change Project

Wanting to help is a common thread winding its way throughout the Temple Law community. In 2017, this notion prompted Steven Johnston (LAW ’18) to meet with Professor Kathy Mandelbaum to discuss ways to help local nonprofits to serve underrepresented clients.  The Name Change Project at Temple Law was born. After being trained about gender identity and the name change process, teams of two...

Learning to Dream Bigger

When I made the difficult decision to leave a career as a middle school teacher to go to law school, I did it to chase what I thought of as big dreams. I had become increasingly frustrated by the limited reach that I had in my classroom, feeling powerless to address the many barriers my students faced outside the classroom. I was tired of...

Circle of Law School Life: A Love Letter To Mentors

There is a small gem of a coffee shop tucked away on a side street in Center City named Elixr. I have been there twice: once in my first semester of law school, and once last week. Afterward, I posted this on Facebook: A friend commented that we could appropriately cue music from The Lion King. Though I graduated knowing how much I owe...

Parental Visitation Rights and Tragic Outcomes

The outcry over a decision that let a child have a weekend visit with her father, an action that led to the child’s death, includes cries for the judge’s removal and a call from the Governor for an inquiry by the Judicial Conduct Board. As we show below, this response misses the boat in two regards – the protection of judicial independence and the need...

Section 1’s Litigation Basics Class Trip

The beginning of 1L year can be tough – for three weeks we delved into Bluebook citations, criminal law, contracts, and torts. In addition, we were introduced to the judicial system and the mechanics of both criminal and civil litigation in our Litigation Basics class. Over the course of nine classes, we learned about the procedure involved while taking a case to trial and...

1L Community Service Project

After a busy week of orientation, I was excited for the opportunity to get out of the classroom and participate in the 1L Community Service Project. I viewed it as an opportunity to discover the neighborhood where I am starting my legal career while giving back to the community. It was also an opportunity for me to connect with a smaller section of students...

LRW Faculty Summer Update: Legal Writing Institute Conference

This summer, Professors Carpenter, DeJarnatt, Margolis, Murray, Stanchi, and Tavares attended the 18th Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Professor Kristen Murray shares a short summary of how she and the Temple Law Legal Research and Writing faculty are involved in the Legal Writing Institute. For news from our Legal Research and Writing Faculty, follow @TempleLawLRW.

Summer Internships: The Ella Baker Internship at the Center for Constitutional Rights

This summer I had the amazing opportunity to be an Ella Baker Intern at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. CCR is a legal organization whose work is centered on supporting social movements. This means that, at CCR, lawsuits are not simply about who wins and loses in the courtroom, but how legal work can support wider systemic change. The Ella...

As a Lawyer and a Citizen

Like so many of my fellow citizens, I have been deeply troubled by the “family separation” policy recently enacted by the Trump administration in furtherance of its stated goal of curbing illegal immigration.  The vast majority of these families arrived at our southern border seeking asylum from unspeakable violence, persecution, and poverty in their home countries.  That they are then subjected to an official...