All posts filed under: Student Commentary

Who Runs the World?

Published by and

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 …

Being a Prepared and Flexible Advocate

Published by and

My law student partner and I recently represented a client at an arbitration hearing through the Sheller Center for Social Justice’s Advanced Social Justice Lawyering Clinic. Our client was a low-wage worker who had not been paid minimum wage and overtime by her former employer, for whom she worked for seven years. Her case had been ongoing for several years and she wanted a chance for her story to be heard — regardless of the hearing’s outcome. I was tasked with cross-examining the opposing party with an interpreter. To prepare for my cross-examination, I looked through depositions and documents, then crafted short and leading questions that I hoped would result in admissions that supported our case theory. The thing I did not anticipate was under what circumstances I would be conducting my cross-examination. Once it was time for my cross-examination, the arbitration had been in progress for approximately four hours and the panel was noticeably impatient. I wound up cutting a significant portion of my cross-examination on the spot because the witness was unable to read the documents that I’d …

Being Mindful of Your Sense of Self

Published by and

Law school isn’t always where you go to find yourself and it can take its toll on your sense of self. Depending on the circumstances of your prior education, Temple can be an incredibly diverse place and for me it was. I had traveled the world and lived abroad, but my experiences were still limited. It wasn’t until I went to Temple Beasley School of Law that I was able to grow as an individual. In the first semester of law school I met incredible new friends, mentors, and faculty, some of whom were members of the LGBTQ community. I had several friends who were gay men before law school, but almost no exposure to LGBTQ families or married couples. Temple changed all of that. Despite the stereotypes, I wasn’t indoctrinated, in fact I didn’t even speak with the LGBTQ faculty, I just observed how they were able to be themselves and be successful socially and professionally. Despite the challenges the law school environment presented, I decided it was time to be myself and so …

The Importance of Wellness

Published by and

A few weeks before I started my 1L year, I read a Temple Voices Post about a new organization at Temple Law called the Student Wellness Association (SWA). After reading about the organization’s mission and goals, I knew I needed to become a member. A few years prior to my 1L year I started prioritizing physical, mental, and emotional self-care, and significantly improved my health (and lost 200 pounds) in the process. I feared that I might lose sight of how important my well being is while immersed in the daily rigors of law school; but I knew that connecting with other students who value wellness and encourage others to do the same would make those stressors far more endurable. SWA believes wellness is holistic, involving multiple facets: physical, mental, and emotional. Each facet of wellness is equally important and interconnected, requiring a delicate balance. Failing to care for yourself physically can seriously impact your mental and emotional well-being; the inverse rings just as true. Fortunately, there are activities that address each of those components …

My Philly Neighborhood – Fairmount

Published by and

Editors Note: Since Philadelphia is known as a city of neighborhoods, we asked Temple Law students, faculty, and staff to talk about what they love, hate, and can’t live without in their neighborhood.  See all of the neighborhoods covered thus far.  If you are looking for small neighborhood charm, just over one mile from Center City and a 15-minute bike ride from Temple, Fairmount is the Philadelphia neighborhood for you. Choosing to live in Fairmount during my time in law school has been one the best decisions I have made. Fairmount is a tight knit community, with all of the best aspects of living in small neighborhood. There is a mix of apartment and row house living options all at a reasonable cost and free street parking. For the past two years, I have lived in a row home on a quiet Fairmount side street. My home on N. Stillman Street features three bedrooms, one full bathroom, a spacious kitchen, living area, back patio, and laundry in the basement. I live with two roommates; together …

The Adopt-A-School Initiative

Published by and

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 …

My Philly Neighborhood – Passyunk Square

Published by and

Editors Note: Since Philadelphia is known as a city of neighborhoods, we asked Temple Law students, faculty, and staff to talk about what they love, hate, and can’t live without in their neighborhood.  See every neighborhood covered thus far.  During the first two years of law school I lived in Southwest Center City-the neighborhood straddling Rittenhouse and Graduate Hospital. While I loved its location, tree lined streets, and 5-minute walk to the Rittenhouse La Colombe, I had thoroughly explored all the dining options and was ready to reduce my rent check. I moved to Passyunk Square this spring and can’t believe I’ve missed out on all its glory for the past two years. While I had been to Passyunk Square a few times to try new restaurants, living and immersing myself in the neighborhood has been an entirely different experience. Passyunk Square is a neighborhood that stretches east from Broad Street to 6th St., and south from Washington Ave. to Tasker Street. The neighborhood of East Passyunk Crossing is very similar, and extends down from …

My Philly Neighborhood – South Philadelphia

Published by and

Editor’s Note: Since Philadelphia is known as a city of neighborhoods, we asked Temple Law students, faculty, and staff to talk about what they love, hate, and can’t live without in their neighborhood.  See every neighborhood covered thus far.  Having come from North Jersey, Philadelphia was always an accessible city for me. In my early college years I visited Philly with friends from school, and fell in love with it. My first introduction to South Philly was visiting my friend’s house on Daly Street. What caught my eye on that nice spring day back in 2014 was how homey the neighborhood felt. Adjacent neighbors passed baking ingredients on porches, and everyone waved as we walked by. When my roommate—another rising 2L—and I began our search for an apartment in South Philly, we were mostly motivated by the low rent prices. As we continued our search, though, we got the homey vibe we had been looking for. The landlords were nice enough, but every apartment we looked at, we made sure to peruse the surrounding streets and …

My Story: The Temple-Tsinghua LL.M. Program

Published by and

This summer was special for me in many ways. For one, I came back to Philadelphia, a city where I spent half a year as a visiting scholar with Temple Law in 2013. It meant enjoying the beauty and historical sightseeing of this city one more time, meeting old friends at Temple Law, and making new ones. Coming back to Philly to do part of my LL.M. program as a full-time student with my Chinese classmates also meant an unexpected opportunity to experience campus life once more. What’s more, I was extremely looking forward to meeting Temple Law professors to learn from them, and to get a better idea of how American law schools prepare law students for their legal careers. With all those thoughts in my mind, I arrived in Philly. It turned out to be something more amazing and wonderful than what I had expected. During the two-month program, we took 3 courses focusing on the practical aspects of American legal education. We got the big picture of American trial advocacy; we learned …