Author: Adetola Ajayi (LAW '19)

Teaching, Engaging, Achieving, and Motivating

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“Lift as you climb.” As I embark on various endeavors and gain knowledge, skills, and experiences, I feel morally obligated to use the resources I have acquired to help others progress and succeed. Throughout my undergraduate education and law school, I have become keenly aware of the lack of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.  Specifically, there is a shortage of African-American attorneys and few African Americans and minorities in leadership roles within firms, companies, and organizations nationwide.  One way to address this issue is through opportunity and exposure. Since 2015, I have created five educational programs for minority students. The majority of my programs were created and implemented for students in the Greater Philadelphia area.  My latest initiative is the Teaching; Engaging; Achieving; Motivating program (T.E.A.M.), which I facilitated in Willingboro, New Jersey. T.E.A.M. was launched in January 2019 for 50 middle schoolers in Willingboro, NJ. The 14-week program consisted of 60-minute sessions held on Friday mornings at Memorial Middle School.  Students learned basic criminal law and criminal procedure including Miranda rights, police …

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 …

The Adopt-A-School Initiative

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The Adopt-A-School Initiative (AASI) is an empowerment program co-sponsored by Temple’s Black Law Student Association (BLSA) and Assistant District Attorney Ebony Wortham, of the Juvenile Division in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. The program was created by 2016-17 1L BLSA representatives, including myself,  Faith Deredge, Precious Edem, Kaylan Kerr, Carlos Tirado, Rafaela Uribe, and Yuhanna Whye. The purpose of Adopt-A-School Initiative (AASI) is to bridge the gap between Philadelphia area school children and members of Temple BLSA. The program empowers the youth, fosters leadership and teamwork amongst the law students, and promotes self-awareness and positive citizenship for all the participants. “As aspiring legal professionals in the Philadelphia area, our success transcends the law school curriculum and depends on our service to others.”   The program launched on Friday, March 24, 2016 for 50, sixth grade students at the Mitchell Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia. The program is generally four weeks long but due to logistics it was shortened to a three-week long program. AASI focused on four core areas of holistic development for the sixth …