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Coming Full Circle Through Guided Research

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During an undergraduate course on race in the United States, I was tasked with interviewing someone who identified as a “hyphenated American” to discuss this person’s experiences as nonwhite in America. I decided to interview my grandfather, a Mexican-American man who grew up in the American Southwest. While I was aware that all of my grandparents had faced some form of discrimination in their lives because of their Mexican ancestry, this exercise gave me a chance to learn more details about my grandfather’s experiences and contextualize those experiences with historical perspective. As that class ended, I knew that I wanted to continue to dive deeper into the history of Mexican-American people and other Latinx folks, and decided that I should double major in Chicano/Latino Studies. That decision completely changed the trajectory of my education. From that point forward, I viewed my political science studies through a new lens, analyzing the intersection of political systems and low-income minority populations. For most of my life I thought that the hardships my grandparents faced were those of a …

Temple Rome – An Internship Abroad

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I came to law school as what you may call a non-traditional student.  Sixteen years after graduating with my bachelor of science and working in the financial sector and then employee global mobility, I decided to return to school.  I first entered law school as a part-time student in the evening division at Widener Delaware Law, and then I transferred to Temple Law after my first year.  After my first semester at Temple, I transferred to the day division as a full-time student. When I transferred to Temple, I was most interested in international studies and, in particular, the study abroad program in Rome.  My main fields of interest in law are global business and U.S. business immigration.  Not only was I interested in the breadth of courses offered to prepare me for the workforce, but I felt the Rome program would give me an opportunity to understand another culture, another law structure (Italy practices civil law, whereas the United States practices common law), and another way of life.  Getting outside of my comfort zone …

Integrated Transactional Program: A Student’s Perspective

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During my second year at Temple Law, I was interested in developing practical legal skills that I could use at my summer associate job. I studied abroad in Rome and worked as a research assistant throughout my first summer of law school, so I didn’t have real world experience in the legal field just yet. The Integrated Transactional Program (commonly known as ITP) was the perfect opportunity to focus on my professional and legal skills in a classroom setting. The 2-semester, 10-credit sequence, led by Professor Robert Bartow, combines Trusts and Estates, Professional Responsibility, and an experiential component. Trusts and Estates is taught in the fall semester, while Professional Responsibility is held in the spring. One evening per week in both semesters, students are separated into smaller groups to practice lawyering skills with an experienced lawyer or judge as an adjunct professor. Students gain experience interviewing clients, drafting estate planning documents, negotiating contracts, and much more. Some exercises confront ethical questions in which students are required to put the Rules of Professional Conduct to use. …

Transgender Pride Flag of blue, pink, and white stripes

Temple Law’s Name Change Project

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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 students meet with clients to work through the paperwork necessary to complete an identity affirming name change. So far, the Project has been able to accommodate every client who opted to complete the process. Currently the Project is run by 2L Nikki Hatza and 3L Jasper Katz, with Professor Kathy Mandelbaum serving as the advisor. “I first reached out to Professor Mandelbaum after interning at Mazzoni Center and seeing first-hand the demand for competent LGBTQ legal services. By starting the Temple Law Name Change Project I hoped to efficiently aid transgender Philadelphians in changing their names and at the same time free up Mazzoni Center staff to focus on other pressing …

Circle of Law School Life: A Love Letter To Mentors

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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 my Temple Law mentors for all their support and guidance, my Owl pride has amplified in the past few weeks as I started my job at the Defender Association. Many of our trainers were my former professors or internship supervisors, such as Temple Law Owl Marissa Boyers-Bluestine (TLAW ’95), who is the Executive Director of the PA Innocence Project, and Director of Advocacy/Famed Evidence Professor Jules Epstein. Part of my training even included a presentation from Kevin Harden (TLAW ‘10) about the importance of networking and mentorship. When I sat down to interview my first client, I realized my mentor Paul Messing (TLAW ’73) had represented him 15 years ago. I …

Parental Visitation Rights and Tragic Outcomes

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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 to change the law.   Professor Jules Epstein addresses the former; Professor Sarah Katz the latter. JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE We live in a world where the judiciary is under attack, with cries that “our legal system is broken” and that judicial decisions put our country “in peril.”  But we want and need judges to make tough decisions without looking over their shoulders.  And we want lawyers to be able to go into court on new cases without fearing that the judge will make a harsh decision to ‘look tough’ and appease the critics. Judicial misconduct warrants sanctions.  Lying, stealing, doing favors; not showing up for work; or being racist, sexist or otherwise hostile …

Temple Rome – A Cultural and Educational Experience

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After the stress of my first year of law school finally settled, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Rome, Italy this summer to study in the Summer in Rome program. I studied at Temple for my undergraduate degree and had always been interested in the summer program, but always had conflicting internships or summer plans that prevented attending. I knew this was probably one of my last chances to study abroad and spend over a month in Europe. One of my biggest concerns was whether I would be able to find a summer internship that would accommodate this program, and obviously the cost of attending. I was lucky enough to find both a judicial internship with a judge who was supportive of my plan and accommodating of my later start date, as well as a scholarship to study in the Rome Program. Temple was extremely accommodating and helpful to students in making the accommodations they needed to get as much out of their summer as they could. In Rome, I studied International Dispute …

LRW Faculty Summer Update: Legal Writing Institute Conference

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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

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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 Baker program is named after one of the most brilliant strategist and organizers of the Civil Rights Movement and carries forward her work by equipping young lawyers with the necessary tools to become movement lawyers. I, along with 11 other law students and two undergraduate interns from across the country, started the program with an exercise asking four questions: Who are the people who inspire us to do social justice work? What is our superpower? What was our “aha moment” that led us to law school and CCR? What we each do to relax? The people who inspire me have always been my family and my community in the Bronx. I …

Temple Law’s Summer Vacation

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Temple Law students use their summer months to relax, catch up on reading, take classes, study abroad, and to gain necessary skills and experiences by working outside of the law school. We asked three law students where they worked this summer and what they learned: Adetola Ajayi, LAW ‘19 There is no substitute for real legal experience. My summer experience was nothing short of amazing. I split my summer at the Philadelphia City Law Department and Archer Law in Haddonfield, New Jersey, through the Temple-Archer Diversity Scholarship program. Archer’s program provided me the opportunity to gain insights into both the public and private sectors of law. At the City Law Department, I worked in the Civil Rights Unit and was able to attend state and federal trials, write memos, and observe settlement conferences and depositions. I learned about topics such as 42 U.S.C. § 1983, qualified immunity, and the spoliation of evidence. During the second half of my summer at Archer, I conducted research and drafted memos. My assignments were from various practice areas including …