All posts filed under: Student Advice

You Are Worth Infinitely More than the LSAT

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The most important thing to remember when studying for or taking the LSAT is that, eventually, you will not need to study for or take the LSAT ever again. True story, I promise. This is not to say that the LSAT isn’t important or that you shouldn’t study for it (don’t pay $175 to sit in a room for four hours if you’re not going to study); rather, this post is meant to suggest that keeping the LSAT in perspective is a necessary and often difficult task. So, in that vein, here’s a list of things I found helpful while studying for/taking the LSAT: 1. Coffee. (Only half-joking.) (And by “half-joking,” I mean not joking at all.) 2. Some of the big study companies (like Kaplan) offer some free events, so sometimes it can be worthwhile to subscribe to their e-mails. I did an exam with them that was proctored online, and then afterwards one of their instructors went over a few of the questions with us. There are people who will participate in these …

Tax

Why Take Tax?

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Recall what happened at last year’s Superbowl:  Tom Brady received the keys to a brand new Chevy truck when he was named MVP of the Superbowl game, and then said “Oh, no, not me Chevy; you should give the truck to Malcolm Butler for making the game-winning interception instead.”  And Chevy did that.  If you’d been taking tax then you might have immediately thought:  we just did this in class – who’s got income?  Brady, because he received a prize?  Are prizes income? But in any event, he gave it away, so what does that mean?  And what about Butler?  Did he receive a prize?  Or a gift from his teammate?  Are gifts income?  And what’s a gift?  These are all real live tax issues – indeed, this fact pattern was the first question on the tax exam last year. What about Kim Kardashian, who was robbed in Paris?  She lost over 10 million Euros worth of jewelry.  Can she deduct that loss? How can the deduction help her?  What if she sues the owners …

Celebrating Pro Bono Week: Sign Up for Election Protection

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National Pro Bono Week (October 23-29, 2016) is an initiative of the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service that recognizes the importance of meeting the need for pro bono services from the legal profession, and celebrates those in the legal community who rise to meet the demand. Lawyers, firms, bar associations, law schools and other legal entities around the country participate in activities to celebrate pro bono this week each year. Participating students will fulfill not just the one of the great civic callings of our profession, that of pro bono service, but of our entire constitutional system, that of defending the right to vote. At Temple, we view participation in pro bono legal service as a core aspect of professional responsibility, and we encourage our students to devote time to pro bono service from the very beginning of their law school careers. The Office of Public Interest Programs and student organizations provide opportunities to serve, with several projects and trainings offered each semester. The projects already underway this semester involve dozens …

Philadelphia Skyline and Schuykill River Boardwalk

24 Hours in Philly

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Growing up just outside of Philadelphia, I’ve always known that it’s a great city. The rest of the world, however, is only beginning to appreciate everything Philly has to offer. In 2014, Philadelphia was named the most underrated city in America by the Huffington Post. In 2015, The New York Times ranked Philly at number three on its list of places to go, and this year, Philadelphia was named the number one place in the United States to visit by Lonely Planet. The takeaway: if you’re considering a visit to Temple Law, you owe it to yourself to stay and experience the City of Brotherly Love.

If you only have a day or two in town, it can be challenging to decide where to go and what to see. Hopefully, the options below can help you plan your short visit to Philadelphia, including the must-see stuff as well, as some lesser-known places that I enjoy.

Road sign reading Data, Information, Knowledge, Learning

Working at the Intersection of Legal Practice and Science for the Public’s Health

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If you’ve been up to the third floor of Barrack Hall in the past year, you may have run into some of our staff … lawyers, a few social scientists and communicators, toiling away in Suite 300. If you haven’t stopped in to ask what they’re doing, I encourage you to do so, because it’s exciting, and in many ways, revolutionary. Our work, essentially, supports the widespread adoption of scientific tools and methods for mapping and evaluating the impact of law on health. In 2009, we began as the National Program Office for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Public Health Law Research program under the Law School’s Center for Health Law, Policy and Practice, to make the case for laws that improve health. We were asked by RWJF to build the field and identify methods for researching the impact of laws and policies on health and wellbeing. As we started, we realized that it’s difficult to evaluate the impact of laws and policies on health if you don’t know what the laws and policies are, …

Thank you note

The Art of the Thank-You Note

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The thank-you note you send after every interview joins your resume and cover letter to become the foundation for your file with every potential employer. Sending it is not optional; that said, you should choose strategically among the options you do have. Here’s a primer on the art of the thank-you note: who gets one, how they get it, and what it contains. But first, some basic information that applies to every thank-you note, every time. Every note must be unique. You can’t send the same thank-you note to more than one person – if there are multiple identical (or nearly identical) notes in your file, it will reflect poorly on you. Absolutely no typos of any kind. It’s unfortunate that we need to say that, but every month, an employer calls us and says, “You know, I really liked this student, but I have to tell you there was a huge typo in their resume, their cover letter, their thank-you note.” In a competitive world, that’s enough to undo you, even if you have a …

Exit SIgn

Finish Strong: How to Wrap up an Interview

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What does it mean to finish strong? Think about what you’ve learned about primacy and recency – that after an encounter, we usually remember something that happened at the beginning and something that happened at the end. We’ve covered how to rock the beginning elsewhere. Finishing strong is about rocking the end, and it involves three things: recognizing that the interview is ending, communicating your interest in a way that’s sincere and specific, and following up. How to Know the End is Near Sometimes it’s clear that the conversation has come to an end. In that case, stand up, offer a firm handshake to each interviewer while looking them in the eye, and express your continued interest as described below. But sometimes, interviewers will test your ability to read social cues by communicating that the interview is over without actually saying so. How? The most common method is by asking whether you have any more questions for them. Now, because you have prepared well for this interview, you have plenty of questions, which you have …

Man in suit

What to Wear to a Job Interview

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Your goal when choosing what to wear to a job interview is that it doesn’t get talked about. An interview is about you and your merits. It’s about what you say, the language you use when saying it, your enthusiasm, and all of your other credentials. It’s not about what you wear – you have the lawyer uniform on, the box is checked, and people move on. Our office gets clothing questions all the time. This stuff is actually important – you only get one chance to make a first impression. Do not ever think that if you are going into public interest or public service employer that you can get away with some other kind of outfit – some less than formal outfit. In fact they might have even more scrutiny. When in doubt, please come and ask us. The bullet points below are an overview of what to wear to a job interview. If you’re more of a visual learner, visit Temple Law’s Pinterest page, which includes boards on proper interview attire, proper work …