Since I have written so complaining-ly about law school and law firms and legal practice, I just have to recognize this. It deserves recognition.
The Inquirer today has a story about a woman--still just twenty-four--who managed to raise a lovely child since she was fourteen, navigate bad neighborhoods...
And on top of all that she had to figure out how a creative and unconventional African-American woman could fit in a law school and legal job market that does not mainly privilege those qualities. Today she's graduating from Temple Law.
She has a thousand reasons to celebrate, but the one I am quietly rejoicing over is that she'll be starting in the fall as a lawyer in Community Legal Services family advocacy unit.
That's a huge gift to the city (CLS lawyers have done so much incredible work over the years) and it is completely inspiring to me to see someone who struggled so much and who now could have access to the high salaries of private practice, instead forge her own definitions of sucess.
Congratulations
Congratulations Ms. Phillips!
Temple Law #1. Our school has given this city many success stories like this.
Yes that is one of my most favorite things
about Temple.
Loved this story
Thanks for posting it.
An amazing accomplishment!
I'm so proud to be an alumnus of Temple law! Ms. Phillips' story is heartwarming and I wish her the best in her future endeavors.
On my first day at Temple law, I was shocked how un-diverse my class was. Even more, I was even more shocked that more Philadelphians were not classmates. I'm sure AJ and Esquite could chime in here.
Esquisite and I were in the same Section as 1-Ls and maybe there were 5-7 native Philadelphians in our section of 70 (and, I think they grouped us together -- though I have no actual proof of this). I do not mean "native" as we've discussed before (I'm looking at you Tim), but native in terms of folks who matriculated through Philadelphia school systems. Also, as stated in the article, I too encountered more folks from professional and affluent families than ever before. These things made adjusting to law school life and culture difficult for me--someone who had gone through Philly Public schools and Temple--school systems that were very diverse.
In light of Russell Conwell's famous "Acres of Diamonds" speach, the bar for Temple Law in educating and training folks from this area is very high. Like most other law schools, Temple has a ton of work to do in terms of becoming more racially, ethnically and economically diverse.
These things being said, Temple is a great law school. I'm fortunate to have made a number of very good friends in law school and I received a great education.
I am working to elect Larry Farnese to the General Assembly. Unless otherwise expressly stated, this and every comment or blog I post on YPP and any action I take hereon is solely attributable to me and not Farnese or Friends of Farnese
Hey Gaetano
I think you can change your signature line now...!
Congrats Rasheeda!
Rasheeda is a friend of my wife, who is also a Temple Law alum. I'm very proud of her and was pleasantly surprised to see that article. Temple Law does a good job at putting out lawyers like Rasheeda. However, I think they can do better.
Like Rasheeda, I was shellshocked as a 1L in law school. The culture was so different than what I was used to. To be honest, I never really adjusted. I just decided I wasn't going to play the game that they wanted me to play. It worked for me, and it apparently worked for Rasheeda.
The difference for me was more a lack of class-related diversity than racial diversity. I attended a predominantly white undergraduate school. I did fine. But the level of elitism in law school was just overbearing for me. In many circles, I was already considered a success when I reached law school. Inside those law school walls, however, it seemed that I was made to feel worthless.
Met some really great friends there though, like Gaetano.
Different experience
I too didn't play the law school game, much to my career-detriment, but I did feel like that we had a good amount of people who were first-generation college grads and law students. In fact, one of my best friends met me at school on the first day. In 1998, it was a little harder to think that you could go to Roman and law school together.
I got out in 2001 and things may have been a little different later on, as Temple changed some of its admissions criteria.
I remember those days . . .
I don't think Temple law was a particularly welcoming place for those students who were not from professional or well-heeled families.
That is a stark contrast to Temple University, where despite higher academic admission standards is and was a melting pot campus. Perhaps that is one reason number why I have more affinity for Temple University than Temple Law.
I love the fact that my law school and college are becoming more competitive. In my one circle of friends, they say it makes their degrees "worth more." I would be lying if I didn't check US News and World Report every year to see where Temple Law is. I like competition. It is good for us.
In this drive to become more competitive, however, Temple must remember the principles by which it was founded. Temple University must takes steps to keep its student body diverse. Temple Law must take steps to actually diversify its student body.
Considering Temple is the largest producer of college graduates that stay in the region, if Temple fails to act, the true loser is our entire region--especially Philadelphia.
Temple also needs to keep Al Golden happy so that I have a football team to actually cheer for!
I am working to elect Larry Farnese to the General Assembly. Unless otherwise expressly stated, this and every comment or blog I post on YPP and any action I take hereon is solely attributable to me and not Farnese or Friends of Farnese
Bowl Bound
I think you can make your reservations for Detroit this year.
Temple Law
You should have gone to night school. Most people were from Philadelphia and almost all worked days. There were two union organizers, a couple of bartenders, several cops and an assortment of other jobs. Temple Law at night was as diverse as a law school could get.
Temple Law
I came through the Temple Law day program (we overlapped, Gaetano...were you my note editor?), but have plenty of friends who did the program at night, while holding down a job, and usually a family too. I always thought those people should have gotten extra recognition...I mean seriously, law school is enough work on its own -- especially at Temple where there's no grade inflation -- so getting through it while keeping the rest of your life in balance is a respectable accomplishment to say the least. I think the night program is one of the things that makes Temple Law not just good but great. I mean seriously, how many people would just never have made it to law school but for the night program? And how many lawyers does that mean we've got around here who aren't just the types who went straight (or nearly so) through law school from college? I think that's an advantage too. Without Temple day all the day program people would've just gone to Villanova, Dickinson, Penn, Widener, etc. I suppose Drexel's in the fray now too. Without the night program...no dice.