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Volun-tourism on the Island of Enchantment (Abandonment)

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We like to go somewhere warm over the winter break but decided this year that, given the suffering caused by hurricanes, it would have to be where our dollars and time would do some good.  Research led us to Vieques, a beautiful island off of Puerto Rico; and an online community bulletin board hosted by island residents linked us to a host who would rent us an apartment and connect us to daily volunteer work.  What we found was that Puerto Rico, known as “Isla del Encanto,” or “Island of Enchantment,” could instead be called the “Island We Abandoned.” A Christmas day flight to San Juan was barely half-filled, testament to the collapse of the tourism industry.  San Juan International showed little effect of the storm until we passed a destroyed hanger, a skeleton of a building.  The flight to Vieques was more revealing – flying over towns one saw blue-topped home after blue-topped home, the color being the tarps that three months after the storm serve as roofs.  The island is verdant, but some …

A Reflection on Justice

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For her undergraduate thesis in criminal justice, Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve organized court watchers in Chicago’s Cook County courthouse. She hoped to create an ethnography of America’s largest courthouse across thousands of hours of interviews and first-person observations. More than a decade later – and now as Professor Gonzalez Van Cleve – she published these observations as Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court. Professor Gonzalez Van Cleve spoke about her recent publication on November 9th here at the Beasley School of Law, alongside Professor Hosea Harvey of Temple University. Employing an interrogative style, Professor Gonzalez Van Cleve began by presenting some of the results of her research. As an ethnographer, Gonzalez Van Cleve pointed out that language in her field functions both as indicator and as an active, purposive agent. She was particularly interested in the way that language – specifically racially coded language – worked in court communities and the justice system itself. In this way Professor Gonzalez Van Cleve’s Crook County expands on the work of Michelle Alexander’s The …

The MPRE: When and How?

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The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is a two-hour exam consisting of 60 multiple-choice questions.  The MPRE is required for bar admissions in all but three U.S. jurisdictions (Maryland, Wisconsin and Puerto Rico.)  The good news is that the exam doesn’t cover a huge amount of material so studying for the exam is not that arduous, but the bad news is you have to spend a Saturday taking the exam. When to Take the MPRE? This category is really two questions, first when can you take the MPRE and second when should you take the MPRE.  The MPRE is only offered three times a year so it’s something you should start thinking about early.  It’s important to register early for two reasons, many exam locations fill up so you need to register early in order to secure the location that is most convenient for you. Second, the regular registration fee is $95 but the late registration fee is increased to $190.  Save yourself the additional $95 and register early! Registration fees and deadlines can be …

Welcome Back, Law Owls!

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On November 13th and 14th, Temple Law celebrated ‘Friends and Family Days.’ Our 1L students were invited to bring their loved ones to campus, and for some, this meant returning to their alma mater. Two of our part-time evening students and their fathers, also former evening students, shared their thoughts on returning to Temple Law. Gerald Clarke LAW ’00 As an alumni of the evening program, it was a thrill to come back for Friends and Family night as a parent of one of the evening division students. I was struck by the friendliness of my daughter’s classroom. It was exciting to come in as a spectator and observe the class from a perspective that felt different than the tension you feel as a student. It is obvious that the building blocks coaxed by this dedicated professor will positively benefit these future lawyers. Brittany Clarke LAW ’21 Being a legacy is one of the main reasons I decided to attend Temple Law. I was eight years old when my dad graduated from Temple, and I …

I Got Through It – So Will You!

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As a recent graduate from Temple Law I can still remember exam season very well.  As the Thanksgiving break approached my days were filled with stress and anxiety because I knew exams were right around the corner.  But I got through it and so will you! Here are some techniques that got me through exam season. Find out where you do your best work. Now is a good time to scope out the place where you want to hunker down for exam season.  It’s about this time of year that I would move from the alleyways in the Klein Library to the stacks where no one could find me.  I always did my best work in the library, where there were minimal distractions.  However, for some the library becomes too stressful during exam season so working from home or a coffee shop is another great option.  If you are meeting with study groups keep in mind there are rooms in Barrack you can reserve on the library website. Figure out which method of studying works …

Who Runs the World?

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Growing up, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing women – my mom, grandmothers, aunts, family-friends – they made being strong look easy. The moment I began to feel the responsibility of being a woman was when I was 9-years-old and my little sister was born. I saw her for the first time and from that day on, I wanted to be the best version of myself for her. Girls need role models to look up to. If they don’t see women in the legal profession, they might not think they are capable of being lawyers – which could not be further from the truth. Representation is key for change to occur. Women throughout history have worked tirelessly to gain many of the rights we enjoy today. I feel that it is our generation’s responsibility to continue their work and strive for true equality. While interning at Susan G. Komen Philadelphia, I saw first-hand how crucial the fight for women’s rights is and what can be achieved when women work together toward a …

Summer Bar Prep: Midpoint Gut Check

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The Pennsylvania bar is on the horizon (July 25-26), making it about the half waypoint in your preparation for the exam.  Now would be a good time to do an honest self-assessment of where you are in your studying and what you need to do going forward to set yourself up for success. Ask yourself: am I behind? Am I on track? Am I going to burn out?  There is time to course correct depending on your answer. You have time to push and be prepared for the exam, but you have to start working hard now and really prioritizing your studying over everything else.  Most of your waking hours should be dedicated to bar prep. If you are behind, take a look at how far behind.  Make a list of things you need to do to catch up – perhaps all the skipped assignments from your bar course, including midterms, quizzes, graded essays, lectures, etc. and/or outlining, making notecards, or other study materials.  Categorize each item as “critical” or “non-critical” in terms of completing.  …

Professor Jules Epstein on the Amtrak Derailment and Private Criminal Complaints

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Director of Advocacy Programs Jules Epstein, a national authority on Criminal Procedure and the Law of Evidence, has been an influential voice in the unfolding story of whether charges will be brought against Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian in the 2015 derailment that killed eight and injured hundreds. Prosecutors reverse course and file charges against engineer in 2015 Amtrak crash Washington Post, May 15, 2017 “Relatives of a victim of the deadly 2015 Amtrak crash have used a little-known provision of Pennsylvania law to push state prosecutors to file charges against the engineer–an abrupt turn of events in the high-profile case that last week had appeared to reach its end…Jules Epstein, director of advocacy programs at the Temple University Beasley School of Law, said the law allowing privately initiated complaints has been around for years, but is generally used in small disputes between individuals. He said, however, that even though the engineer now faces charges, there is no guarantee he will face trial. ‘There was nothing in the judge’s order that preordains the outcome,’ Epstein said. …

What Joining the Expungement Project Did for Me

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Among other things, my first semester in law school was immediately overwhelmed by emails. Coming into Temple Law as an overly eager, wide-eyed 1L, I struggled with wanting to join every student organization I read about. Knowing that’s not possible, I shamelessly let the provided lunches dictate which meeting to attend each day. By this method, I fell into the Expungement Project by accident. During the general body meeting for the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) committee chairs spoke about their subcommittees and projects. Expungement Project instantly stood out to me. Having worked in several clinics and volunteered at a maximum-security facility prior to coming to law school, Expungement Project sounded like an activity that would keep me grounded and sane throughout my first semester. My first expungement clinic took place in North Philly at the Village of Arts and Humanities. The colorful buildings were unlike those on Temple’s campus—so vibrant and quirky—but before I had time to take it all in, Community Legal Services quickly put each of us to work. The prerequisite training taught …