All posts tagged: Community

From Temple to Germany: How Temple Law School Shaped My Career in Sports and Entertainment Law

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When I completed my LL.M. at Temple Law School in Philadelphia in 1994/1995, I did not anticipate how profoundly this experience would shape my professional path. The focus of my studies was a comparative thesis on “Secondary Industrial Activities” in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany – a thesis that later became the basis of my doctoral dissertation in Germany, which I completed and published in 1996. I was able to pursue my LL.M. at Temple thanks to an Ambassadorial Scholarship from Rotary International, which gave me access not only to an excellent academic environment but also to a truly international legal community. A pivotal moment for me was my first encounter with Sports & Entertainment Law at Temple Law School. The professor teaching this course at the time was the lawyer who had negotiated the product placement contracts connected with the movie “Rocky”. For a young German lawyer whose background was primarily in traditional business and labour law, this was an impressive introduction to the intersection of law, …

LLM for Foreign-Trained Lawyers: Opening Doors to the U.S. Legal System

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  Every day, I have the privilege of standing beside immigrant families during some of the most uncertain moments of their lives. As the founder and Director of Immigration at Migrance Initiative Inc., a nonprofit in Philadelphia, that work is my purpose. And whenever I trace it back to where it started, I arrive at the same place: Temple University Beasley School of Law. As a foreign-trained lawyer, I came to Temple to build my career on American soil, and its LLM for Foreign-Trained Lawyers gave me exactly the foundation I needed. The program is designed  for internationally educated attorneys like me, and it opened the door to the U.S. legal system in a way that was both rigorous and welcoming. Earning my LLM in American and International Law was a turning point, and looking back now, I understand just how deeply that year shaped my career and the practitioner I have become. What stayed with me most was the depth of the education. I arrived wanting to understand the American legal system and international …

Circle of Law School Life: A Love Letter To Mentors

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There is a small gem of a coffee shop tucked away on a side street in Center City named Elixr. I have been there twice: once in my first semester of law school, and once last week. Afterward, I posted this on Facebook: A friend commented that we could appropriately cue music from The Lion King. Though I graduated knowing how much I owe my Temple Law mentors for all their support and guidance, my Owl pride has amplified in the past few weeks as I started my job at the Defender Association. Many of our trainers were my former professors or internship supervisors, such as Temple Law Owl Marissa Boyers-Bluestine (TLAW ’95), who is the Executive Director of the PA Innocence Project, and Director of Advocacy/Famed Evidence Professor Jules Epstein. Part of my training even included a presentation from Kevin Harden (TLAW ‘10) about the importance of networking and mentorship. When I sat down to interview my first client, I realized my mentor Paul Messing (TLAW ’73) had represented him 15 years ago. I …

Local Service Matters

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I was recently appointed to serve on the Cheltenham Township Human Relations Commission. Like many local cities and towns, Cheltenham Township, where I live, has a Human Relations Ordinance prohibiting discrimination in housing accommodations, certain commercial property transactions, employment, and public accommodation, within the Township. The CHRC is a citizen committee that hears complaints and mediates disputes under the ordinance, and works with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission on situations that go beyond mediation to disputes in court. The CHRC also plays a valuable role in providing community education about the kinds of discrimination that are unlawful and what community members can do about it. The Cheltenham ordinance, like many similar local laws, covers a broader range of categories than the state or federal anti-discrimination statutes. Its purpose is to “ensure that all persons, regardless of actual or perceived race, color, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin, handicap, disability, or use of guide or support animals and/or mechanical aids because of blindness, deafness or physical handicap of the user or the user is a …

Meet the New Dean of Students

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Eleanor Myers officially took over as the new Associate Dean of Students on January 3, 2017.  Kaitlin Perry, Associate Director of Student Services, interviewed Dean Myers to learn a little bit about her and what she is looking forward to in her new role. How long have you been at Temple Law? I have been at the law school since 1993. I have taught an array of Business law courses but my true calling is Professional Responsibility. I’ve always thought that the ethical choices lawyers make are the deepest and most personal decisions. I want students to understand you can be true to your personal moral and ethical standards and also be a very good lawyer. Haven’t you retired from teaching? I did retire, on the understanding that I would continue to direct the fall semester of the Intro to Transactional Skills course to the first-year day division students and teach in the Integrated Transaction Program (ITP) for two years. I teach with Professor Rob Bartow in the ITP program which I helped pioneer along with …

Sometimes Normal is the Best Medicine

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This is a personal story about how Temple Law has been a community for me. In February of 2016 I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.  For a variety of medical reasons, I needed to start chemotherapy immediately.  The drugs in question have almost all the horrendous side effects of which you’ve probably heard—hair loss, nausea, problems eating, low energy. For about a month before I received the diagnosis, I had been teaching Property to a first year section, as I have done here at Temple for many, many years.  The class seemed to me to be going well, and—though several of my colleagues offered to take over teaching it—I did not want to give it up and become a full-time patient.  On the other hand, there was no way the students would, over time, fail to notice that something was going on with me.  The drugs were going to have a visible effect. “Everyone I’ve told so far has asked if there is something they can do.  And my …

commuter on phone

Your Kindle Dims My and My Students’ Empathy

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I am the commuter many of you hate. Maybe I see you alone at the bus stop reading a book that looks interesting and ask you about it. Perhaps I see you looking a little confused on the train platform and ask if you need help figuring out where you are going. Or maybe I see you wearing that Phillies shirt on the train after the game and ask you the score, why you aren’t a Cubs fan like you should be, and how the Phillies will ever improve. In short, I am the overly interested in you transplanted Midwestern type that you may be trying to avoid, trying to draw you into a longer conversation to learn about you. You will succeed in chasing me away with a one-word answer—I am also Midwestern enough to know to leave you alone based on your response—but we’ll miss something. We’ll miss the chance to get to learn a little more about the world and each other together, to possibly become friends (it happens this way!), to …

Alter Hall Flags

Embracing Cultural Competence to Enhance Legal Representation

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I sat listening intently to my constitutional law professor, engrossed in the lecture-induced dawning realization that the word “equality” did not in fact appear anywhere in the U.S. Constitution. My body leaned forward, as I unconsciously shook my head in agreement with my professor’s assessment that this celebrated document was flawed in many ways that continue to mar society today. Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, my professor looked at me inquisitively and asked which part I disagreed with. Startled, I replied with fervor that I wholeheartedly agreed with him. Then I realized that I had been shaking my head from side to side instead of up and down, as I had often seen my Indian father do when he approved of an idea and wanted to express his support. Subtle body movements, vocal sounds and unconscious gestures, informed and molded by cultural norms, have entirely different significance based on the cultural lens through which they are observed. An incorrect reading could very quickly escalate to misunderstanding, offense, or a missed …