Many American adults remember from our childhood the cartoon series “The Jetsons” which imagines a future where machines do all the work, and people just get to play and relax. But as Silicon Valley futurist Martin Ford points out in his new book “Rise of the Robots”, even in such a high-tech future, people will still have to eat and therefore buy food. How will they do that if there are no jobs left for people to do? This book is about how the technology revolution has eliminated, and continues to eliminate American jobs, and how that process is constantly accelerating. Automation, fast computers, robotics, and especially big data and artificial intelligence are all interacting to rapidly reduce or eliminate whole categories of American jobs. We can all think of blue collar jobs which have been automated and reduced in numbers if not totally eliminated. But the author tells us that the rapid advance of technology is not only threatening but eliminating all kinds of high-skill jobs, too. How many analysts does Wall Street need …

It has long been my contention that the United States has the most generous legal immigration policy in the world, issuing more green cards for permanent legal immigration every year than all the rest of the nations of the world combined. This contention has been regularly questioned, so I’d like to re-state my case. What is a green card? The Migration Policy Institute says this: “Also known as green-card holders, immigrants are persons lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States who have the right to reside, work, study, and own property in the country. In contrast, foreign students, H-1B workers, and tourists are part of the large category of temporary nonimmigrant admissions.”[1] How many other countries even have green card immigration like the U.S., admitting immigrants as permanent, not temporary residents, with rights comparable to those of citizens, including a clear path to full citizenship? The answer is not very many. Most countries do not think of themselves as immigrant countries, and do not offer green card immigration in any formal program to …

Over 8 million Americans were officially unemployed in July, with more than 2 million classified as long-term unemployed, according to the latest jobs report. Another some 6 million Americans were involuntary part-time workers — unable to find full-time work — and about 2 million Americans were marginally attached to the work force, including discouraged individuals convinced there is no work for them. These distinctions do not affect all Americans equally. For example, while the official unemployment rate is still around 5 percent, for African-Americans the unemployment rate is over 9 percent. American teenagers looking for work have an unemployment rate of about 16 percent, but for African-American teenagers, the unemployment rate is over 28 percent. Can we all agree that’s an outrage? Americans are struggling with stagnant wages, rising inequality, increasing personal debt and reduced opportunities for their children, even as the economy expands and the stock market regularly hits new highs. Some say the solution is to further grow the economy by reducing taxes and regulation. Others say the government should just force private …

Donald Trump has made himself the Republican frontrunner for president by advocating enforcement of U.S. immigration law and an end to birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens. The former frontrunner Jeb Bush, trying to resuscitate his floundering campaign, has denounced “anchor babies” while continuing to advocate amnesty for illegal aliens in the U.S. When both Republican candidates drew the predictable criticism for their remarks, Jeb Bush explained that he was mainly talking about Asians, not Mexicans, in his use of the term “anchor babies”, continuing to dig himself deeper into the hole he is in. Donald Trump, of course, doesn’t apologize for anything. The criticism of the term “anchor babies” is mainly against the implication that illegal alien parents have children in the U.S. with the intent to “anchor” themselves here as parents of U.S. citizens who should not be deported. There’s no doubt, however, that illegal alien parents have children for many of the same reasons that parents everywhere have children. But there’s also no doubt that having produced U.S. citizen children in …

Donald Trump’s immigration program is realistic and sensible, and it makes him a serious presidential candidate. Trump’s political appeal is to that segment of the American electorate that believes it is being lied to by the political establishment. The establishment and its candidates are telling us that if some immigration is good, then more immigration is always better, even though large numbers of American workers are feeling trapped by stagnant wages and job insecurity, if they have a job at all. “Trump’s attention-getting hyperbole characterizing illegal Mexican immigrants as murderers and rapists taps into the concerns of many Americans about accelerating immigration.” Economists puzzle over why wages are stagnant even as the economy expands, corporate profits increase, and the stock market regularly hits new highs. Many Americans are concluding that corporate profits and the stock market are high because wages are stagnant, the result of a labor surplus that produces job insecurity. Further, in the compelling new book Rise of the Robots by Silicon Valley futurist Martin Ford, the author warns us that the accelerating …

Among other goals, I want my students to learn to learn from practice; to learn to understand their clients’ goals and to learn to see and consider the value of their clients’ and their collaborators’ view of the law and facts.

The visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia is a cause for celebration. The pontiff has won the hearts of people around the world, and his time here will be a blessing for many reasons. This is also an opportunity to avoid the constitutional violations committed when Pope John Paul II visited in 1979.

As a law student and a lawyer, you need to get serious about taking care of yourself. Marathons are not won on two hours of sleep and a Big Mac. Now is the time to develop good habits in four important areas: eating, sleeping, exercising, and relaxing.

What should you do this summer? My short answer to this question is “Relax!” You have a big year ahead of you, and once you get here, Temple Law has lots of programs and resources that will set you up for a successful first year.