All posts filed under: Student Commentary

Temple Rome – A Cultural and Educational Experience

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After the stress of my first year of law school finally settled, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Rome, Italy this summer to study in the Summer in Rome program. I studied at Temple for my undergraduate degree and had always been interested in the summer program, but always had conflicting internships or summer plans that prevented attending. I knew this was probably one of my last chances to study abroad and spend over a month in Europe. One of my biggest concerns was whether I would be able to find a summer internship that would accommodate this program, and obviously the cost of attending. I was lucky enough to find both a judicial internship with a judge who was supportive of my plan and accommodating of my later start date, as well as a scholarship to study in the Rome Program. Temple was extremely accommodating and helpful to students in making the accommodations they needed to get as much out of their summer as they could. In Rome, I studied International Dispute …

Section 1’s Litigation Basics Class Trip

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The beginning of 1L year can be tough – for three weeks we delved into Bluebook citations, criminal law, contracts, and torts. In addition, we were introduced to the judicial system and the mechanics of both criminal and civil litigation in our Litigation Basics class. Over the course of nine classes, we learned about the procedure involved while taking a case to trial and even drafted a hypothetical complaint. Throughout the course, we enjoyed hearing Professor Jacobsen’s “war stories” about his own experiences as a litigator. To celebrate “completing our first law school course”, Professor Jacobsen took our class to visit the James A. Byrne United States Courthouse in Center City. The courthouse was impressive, and it was very exciting in particular to visit the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Seeing the courtroom gave us the opportunity to apply everything we learned in Litigation Basics about courtroom procedures, including where each party sits during a trial. At the courthouse, we got to meet the Honorable L. Felipe Restrepo, Judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and …

1L Community Service Project

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After a busy week of orientation, I was excited for the opportunity to get out of the classroom and participate in the 1L Community Service Project. I viewed it as an opportunity to discover the neighborhood where I am starting my legal career while giving back to the community. It was also an opportunity for me to connect with a smaller section of students that are service oriented. I knew coming into law school that I am a service-oriented individual and value public interest work; community service is one of the many ways to assist others. We volunteered with cleaning up a community maintained children’s park and the surrounding blocks. We painted fences, mowed grass, picked up trash, and cleared sidewalks from debris. After a few hours of work our host, Denise Armstrong, offered us beverages, snacks, and I finally had City View pizza. I am happy that I was able to connect with my fellow students in a relaxed environment and see the immediate impact of hands-on work.

Summer Internships: The Ella Baker Internship at the Center for Constitutional Rights

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This summer I had the amazing opportunity to be an Ella Baker Intern at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. CCR is a legal organization whose work is centered on supporting social movements. This means that, at CCR, lawsuits are not simply about who wins and loses in the courtroom, but how legal work can support wider systemic change. The Ella Baker program is named after one of the most brilliant strategist and organizers of the Civil Rights Movement and carries forward her work by equipping young lawyers with the necessary tools to become movement lawyers. I, along with 11 other law students and two undergraduate interns from across the country, started the program with an exercise asking four questions: Who are the people who inspire us to do social justice work? What is our superpower? What was our “aha moment” that led us to law school and CCR? What we each do to relax? The people who inspire me have always been my family and my community in the Bronx. I …

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 …

A Temple Law Family Tradition

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Temple Law has a proud history of cultivating outstanding graduates. For the Bradley family however, cultivating outstanding graduates is a family tradition. In 2014, eldest sister Eleanor Bradley graduated from Temple Law. When her younger sisters starting thinking about applying to law school, “It was a no-brainer for me to encourage them to choose Temple,” she said. In 2015, Eileen, the youngest Bradley sister, applied and started her law school career, followed in 2016 by middle sister Marianne. All three sisters were present at Temple Law’s 2018 Commencement ceremony to celebrate Eileen’s graduation. As a returning alumna, El, along with Dean Mandel, was able to present the diploma to her sister, something Marianne can look forward to next year.  The sisters shared their thoughts on this unique family tradition: Eileen Bradley LAW ’18 My time at Temple Law has been invaluable. At Temple I have gained the practical skills I will need this upcoming fall as I begin my legal career, but I’ve also had the privilege of being part of the Temple Law community …

2L’s Take Ireland – Spring Break 2018

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As a law student, one of the most common questions I get from prospective students is: does my social life suffer when I start law school? The answer: It does, but you can work around it. During my spring break this year, I took a trip with two friends, who are also Temple Law 2Ls, to Ireland for no other reason than we (1) wanted to and (2) we could. We found cheap tickets and accommodations and set off to visit Galway, Killarney, and Dublin for a week. Our trip got off to a shaky start as Ireland was hit with its worst snow storm of the decade. Our flight was cancelled, but after some logistical changes, we were off! We visited museums, castles, and briefly, got a little lost in the mountains. It was a truly amazing experience. A big part of going to law school is learning to take a break when you need it, and this spring break trip was exactly what I needed. I was well-rested and happy when I got …

IP Moot Court: Leaving your Comfort Zone

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This year, I had the honor of being one of four team members to represent Temple Law in the American Intellectual Property Law Association Moot Court Competition. Temple traditionally fields two teams of two students, and this year’s regional competition was held in Boston. Intellectual property is an umbrella term covering several discrete areas of law. This year’s problem had a patent issue and a jurisdictional issue. The problem was released in the fall of 2017 and my teammate and I started working on it in October. We were fortunate enough to be coached by Temple Law professor Don Harris and Assistant Dean Shyam Nair. The first thing we had to do was write two briefs, one for each party. It took a certain amount of mental gymnastics to advocate for one party and then switch to the other side. The patent issue was one of obviousness. In order for a patent to be valid, it has to be non-obvious. “Obviousness” is the subject of much litigation and a great deal of research had to …

2018 Fogel Lecture Reflection: A Divided Democracy Drives the Deficit

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On March 28th the annual Frank & Rose Fogel lecture was given at Temple University Beasley School of Law. The Fogel lecture was established in 1987 through a bequest from Temple Law graduate Frank Fogel with the goal of supporting public lectures on legal topics. Recently, the Fogel lecture has been focused on the area of tax law with previous lecturers including United States Tax Court Judge, The Honorable Cary D. Pugh, Former Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation Hank Gutman, and Former IRS Commissioner Larry Gibbs. This year the law school was honored to host Michael Graetz as the Fogel Lecturer. Michael Graetz, a renowned expert on domestic and international tax law, is an Alumni Professor of Tax Law at Columbia University. Before working at Columbia he was a Professor of Law at Yale Law School, and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy in the U.S. Department of the Treasury under George H.W. Bush. Professor Graetz has countless publications, his most recent being Follow the Money: Essays on …

Liberty and Justice: Moving from Some to All

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When the Democratic National Convention was in Philadelphia, I was interning during my 1L summer at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. ACLU-PA had sent the ACLU of Ohio a care package to survive the Republican National Convention, so ACLU-OH returned the favor. It contained the following magnet: I snagged it—it remains on my fridge. Like many of us, I grew up pledging allegiance to a flag that is supposed to represent ideals of liberty and justice for all. I decided to go to law school after I began to recognize the extent of our generational failure to achieve those ideals. One barrier in moving toward justice for all is the desperate lack of legal representation for those who cannot afford justice. Choosing public interest law is typically not a wise financial decision; I have had the privilege of being able to do so, knowing my first salary will be less than half that of some of my classmates, and even less than my first teaching salary was ten years ago. Temple Law gave me the privilege of …