All posts filed under: Student Commentary

My Philly Neighborhood – South Philadelphia

Published by Chloe Mullen-Wilson (LAW '19) and Amber Bethune

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 Vinee (Xuemei) Hu LL.M. '17 and Amber Bethune

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 …

How a Temple Law School Education Helped Shape My Legal Career in U.S. Law

Published by Shiori Yamamoto LLM '15

When a partner attorney at Uryu & Itoga, the law firm where I work as paralegal, recommended to me to go to Temple Law School (Japan campus) to earn an LL.M. degree in U.S. law, I was overjoyed and literally grabbed the chance. Studying at a U.S. law school and earning an LL.M. degree had been my dream for as long as I could remember. My father was one of the earliest Japanese legal professionals to earn an LL.M. degree at a U.S. law school in recent Japanese history. He studied at Michigan Law School in the early 1970s, and while Mitsui & Co. is presently known as one of the major international Japanese trading companies to dispatch legal personnel overseas, he was the first legal employee to actually succeed in earning an LL.M. degree from that company, having been dispatched to the U.S. law school with high expectations from his colleagues. Partly due to the influence of my father, I was so deeply interested in U.S. law that I studied Anglo-American common law and …

“Start Local:” Kathryn Kolbert ’77 Issues a Call to Arms to the Women’s Law Caucus

Published by Jen Berger '19

Early in my 1L year, I heard that the Temple Women’s Law Caucus (WLC) formed in the early 1970s to build a coalition for advocacy focused on issues affecting the ability of women to succeed at Temple Law and in the legal field. The story goes that the Caucus’ first act of rebellion took place in Klein Hall. The women placed flower pots in the urinals of each men’s bathroom—a way of drawing attention to the fact that the law school had not been built with women’s restrooms. It was a small act, but a powerful statement. The organization’s origins and tradition of providing a forum to think about and confront obstacles facing women in the law led me to join the WLC. As old barriers that faced female Temple Law students were torn down, and women entered the law in greater numbers, the WLC came to emphasize networking for women seeking to climb the career ladder. Unfortunately, as news blasts about the toxic cultures at Uber and Fox News remind us, workplace discrimination, unequal …

Coffee with Crystal Brown ’05: Pursuing a Career in the Federal Government

Published by Francis Notarianni '19

As a law student interested in a non-conventional career, I found Crystal Brown’s discussion with Dean Lennon informative and reassuring. I came to law school with the intention of working for the Federal Government. Yet, I am still not exactly certain how I will achieve that goal. The discussion confirmed what I have heard from other Federal employees: there is no formulaic way to obtain a job in the Federal Government. Rather, it will require taking some risks and keeping your mind open to jobs you never thought you would have interest in. Ms. Brown’s career path is great example for any law student interested in a successful career in government. Ms. Brown’s interest in public policy, rooted in her undergraduate studies at Duke University, led her to Temple Law. After graduation, she had the opportunity to clerk for notable Temple alum, the Honorable Clifford Scott Green. She spoke highly of her experience and strongly recommended a federal clerkship upon graduation from Temple. The relationship she forged with Judge Green and the experience she gained …

Letter to a Transgender Prospective Law Student

Published by Cameron Redfern '19 and Jasper Katz LAW '19

Today is Transgender Day of Visibility. And, as I do on most days, I have many feelings. On the one hand, I want nothing more than your (our) visibility. I want us to be everywhere. I don’t want anyone to be able to go anywhere without knowing that there is a trans person there with them; without knowing that respecting us is not just an expectation, it is a demand. On the other hand, visibility should never be a prerequisite for your existence. You have always already deserved existence, survival, happiness. We shouldn’t have to go to the Supreme Court to be able to use the bathroom. We shouldn’t have to leave our homes, we shouldn’t have to let lawyers speak for us, and, more than anything, we shouldn’t have to die. Our worth should not be predicated on how visible we are. I came to law school because trans people are my home. Because I will choose trans people every time, without question and without apology. Because I wanted to be useful to this …

Looking Between Borders to Understand the Refugee Experience

Published by Lilah Thompson (LAW '17)

Editor’s note: Lilah Thompson ’17 is a PSJD Pro Bono Publico Merit Distinction Honoree. This post originally appeared at the PSJD blog, available here. A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. Of the 65.3 million people displaced worldwide 21.3 million are refugees. Over half of the world’s refugees are children. The number of refugees in the world is currently at the highest level ever recorded in human history. To fully understand the stories behind these staggering numbers, I worked with Professor Jaya Ramji Nogales to create Between Borders: A Refugee Simulation Experience. Between Borders is a participatory workshop that simulates the life of a refugee throughout all stages of the refugee process. This simulation is an awareness-building activity that places participants in the “shoes of a refugee” in order to conceptualize the experiences that they face. The simulation focuses on four important aspects: (1) why refugees flee; (2) how they are deemed refugees; (3) how refugees are screened and vetted; and (4) …

Freedom of Speech in Education

Published by Drake Dodson LAW '18

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees a freedom from prosecution of law for religious belief, speech, press publication, peaceful assembly, or petitioning of the government. The scope and application of the First Amendment has been a source of some controversy as of late, particularly at institutions of higher education. For this reason, the Federalist Society invited Ari Cohn, the Director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at the Foundation for Independent Rights in Education (FIRE), to come and speak about free speech in educational and academic settings. Mr. Cohn began his talk by laying a background of speech codes and efforts to both support and suppress free speech on university campuses nationwide. He highlighted cases regarding the prevention of the creation of a Palestinian organization at Fordham University and Democrats group at Central Connecticut State, noting that in each case the university was taking it upon itself to prevent certain voices and ideals from having a platform on campus. Mr. Cohn also addressed “Free Speech Zones” such as those at Citrus College …

Getting To The Bottom Of The Immigration Ban

Published by Melissa Vo LAW '17

Whether you were affected, confused or just plain curious about the order, this piece is for you. This article seeks to answer a few pervasive questions: What happened? What even is a refugee? Are there differences between Trump’s order and Obama’s 2011 policy? Who did the order affect and how were they affected? Lastly, what should I do? What happened and what’s to come On January 27, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, and from Syria indefinitely. The order’s full text can be found here. After a tumultuous couple weeks, the ban has since been lifted. A Seattle federal judge named James Robart temporarily blocked enforcement of Trump’s travel ban in its entirety. On February 9th, 2017, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Seattle judge and completely repudiated the White House’s attempt to restore the travel ban. Why? The constitutionality of the ban was put into question, and the government did not offer sufficient justification for why refugees and immigrants from seven …