Temple University Beasley School of Law
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Located at the Main Campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, informally referred to as Temple Law School, has operated continuously since its founding in 1895. The school motto is "Real World, Real Law".
Originally named "The Philadelphia Law School of the Temple College", the Law School was renamed "The Temple University School of Law" in 1910. In recognition of a major endowment gift by James E. Beasley, a Temple Law graduate and distinguished Philadelphia lawyer, the Temple board of trustees changed the official name of the Law School in 1999 to The James E. Beasley School of Law of Temple University. A full history of Temple Law may be read here.
Today, the Law School uses both the traditional Socratic method and the Problem method in teaching legal theory and skills. In recent years, much emphasis has been placed on developing real world skills, and students are encouraged to participate in intensive Trial Advocacy or Transactional programs as well as clinicals.
As of July, 2006, the Law School has the highest Pennsylvania Bar Examination passage rate of any Pennsylvania law school. [1]
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[edit] Student Body
The Law School annually enrolls approximately 260 students in the 3-year day division program, and approximately 70 students in the 4-year night division program. Total enrollment is estimated at around 1,050, although this number will fluctuate slightly with transfers (both in and out of the school) and the entrance and exit of visiting students.
Admission for the Fall 2006 entering class was highly competitive, with 4,728 applicants for an entering class of 300.
In the 2006 entering class, women represented 42% of the class, 22% were minority students and the average age was 25. The median GPA was 3.49 and the median LSAT score was 163. The 25th/75th percentile of entrants had GPAs of 3.25/3.70, and LSAT scores of 161/165.
[edit] Faculty
Temple Law School currently employs 64 full time faculty members and retains numerous local attorneys as adjuncts. Robert J. Reinstein has been dean of the Law School since 1989.
[edit] Career Placement
For the Class of 2005:
- Placement Rate: 92%
- Average Starting Salary: $72,021
- Average Starting Salary for Private Practice: $86,988
[edit] Juris Doctor (J.D.) Curriculum
First year (1L) day division students have a mandatory curriculum for both Fall and Spring semesters. The Fall course load includes Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law, Litigation Basics, Business Basics, and Legal Research and Writing I. The Spring course load includes Constitutional Law, Property, Civil Procedure I (Jurisdiction), Legal Research and Writing II, and one elective.
The only other mandatory course requirements for graduation are a serial writing course (consisting of several short paper assignments), a research writing course (consisting of a single lengthy and scholarly work), and Professional Responsibility. Courses are graded on a B minus curve with few exceptions; generally those exceptions are classes that award a Pass/Fail mark instead of a letter grade. Teachers are guided to award Bs to less than 50% of the class.
Students are left great discretion to choose electives in the their second (2L) and third (3L) year. Popular electives include Business Associations (Corporations), Taxation (Federal), Political and Civil Rights, Intellectual Property, and International Law.
A student must earn a total of 87 credit hours in order to receive the degree of Juris Doctor.
[edit] Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program
The Law School offers advanced specialty degrees in Trial Advocacy, Transnational Law, and Taxation.
A special LL.M. program is available to foreign students who have already earned a law degree in their home country and wish to learn about American Law. Temple offers complete one-year LL.M. programs at its main campus, at Temple University Japan in Tokyo, and at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The latter two are the only American LL.M. programs offered in Japan and China respectively.
[edit] Integrated Trial Advocacy Program (ITAP)
The Beasley School of Law, named after one of Philadelphia's greatest trial attorneys, is well known for its intensive trial program.
The Integrated Trial Advocacy Program, or ITAP, is a sequence of four classes designed to give students the knowledge and practice to be effective advocates in the courtroom. Law students in the ITAP program are generally in their second year of schooling, although some students choose to take the program in their third year.
During the Fall semester, students take Evidence and Trial Advocacy I concurrently. Evidence classes are typically large in size (50-60 persons) while Trial Advocacy classes are typically 12-person sections designed to allow each student adequate time to practice their skills. Students are required to apply the Evidentiary rules and tactics learned in Evidence class to mock trial scenarios in Trial Advocacy I. Scenarios will typically be based on a fictitious case file, and students practice direct examinations, cross examinations, opening and closing arguments, and motions arguments. Many Trial Advocacy professors encourage open objections, where anyone in the class, and not just the opposing counsel, may raise objections during examinations of witnesses. By the end of Trial Advocacy I, each student (paired with another student as co-counsel) will have tried a complete mock case against another pair of students.
During the Spring semester, students take a practical course in Civil Procedure (as opposed to the more academic Jurisdictional Civil Procedure taught to first years) and Trial Advocacy II. During this phase of the ITAP program, students practice arguing motions, qualifying expert witnesses, and conducting depositions. Like Trial Advocacy I, Trial Advocacy II requires that each student (along with another student as co-counsel) try a complete mock case against another pair of students.
Evidence and Civil Procedure classes in ITAP are typically taught by full time faculty members, while Trial Advocacy sections are usually taught by adjuncts who are themselves practicing trial attorneys.
[edit] Facilities
The Law School currently occupies three buildings: Klein Hall, Barrack Hall, and the Schusterman Hall Conferrence Center.
Klein Hall opened in 1972, after a fire destroyed Reber Hall, the previous home of the Law School. Within its eight floors, Klein Hall houses numerous lecture rooms, the Law Library, the Moot Court Room, reading rooms, faculty offices, and the offices of Temple's four law journals. The basement level of Klein contains a modest cafe, comfortable sitting areas, classrooms, and a locker room.
In the past, students have criticised Klein hall as overly austere because of its poured concrete construction and lack of decoration. Judge Charles Klein '21, after whom the building was named, is said to have remarked that he was impressed with the law library and its massive open atriums, but that he wondered when the interior would be completed. Perhaps as a result of these criticisms, Klein Hall underwent major renovations beginning in Summer 2002. By Summer 2004, much of the interior of Klein had been replaced, creating a well-lit, modern, and comfortable environment.
Barrack Hall opened in 2002, and houses the Admissions Office, Career Services, several classrooms, and student lounges. Barrack Hall is itself a renovated structure containing state of the art technologies, and has won several awards, including the 2003 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Award and The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia's 2002 Award for Adaptive Reuse. The construction of Barrack Hall was made possible by a generous donation from Leonard Barrack '68.
Schusterman Hall made possible by a generous donation from Murray H. Shusterman '36. The building appears to be a renovated chapel, and serves as the Law School's conference center for career fairs, symposiums, and other formal gatherings.
[edit] Trial Team
[edit] Moot Court
Temple Moot Court was started in the 1950's and is the only honor society at the law school. Moot Court members are selected as second-year law students through the Samuel L. Polsky Selection Competition, which is held during the Fall semester. Polsky participants research and write an appellate brief, then argue both sides of the case before experienced attorneys who serve as appellate court justices. Students receiving the highest scores for brief writing and oral argument are invited to join the Society.
New inductees argue again in a semi-final round, from which the four best advocates are chosen to argue before real judges in a final competition in the law school's well-appointed Duane, Morris & Hecksher Moot Court Room. First and second place winners are chosen during this event, followed by an induction ceremony for new members before law school administrators, faculty and students, and the finest advocates from the Philadelphia legal community.
During the Spring semester, new members enroll in an Appellate Advocacy course in which they research and write a brief on a current United States Supreme Court case that has been not been decided. The case is argued during the I. Herman Stern Competition. The Appellate Advocacy course satisfies the law school's upper level Research Writing requirement. The final grade in the course depends on the quality of the brief and performance in the Stern Competition. The winners of the Final Round are sent to the American Bar Association National Moot Court Competition.
All third year students in the organization must participate in at least one of the many Moot Court competitions offered by law schools throughout the country, assist in the administration of the Polsky and Stern competitions, and attend lectures on appellate advocacy given by professors and guest speakers who are experienced advocates. Second year members who successfully complete Moot Court requirements earn one ungraded credit; third year students earn two credits.
[edit] Law Journals
The Law School maintains four (4) law journals: Temple Law Review, Temple International and Comparative Law Journal, Temple Journal of Science Technology and Environmental law, and Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review. The Temple Law Review is published quarterly, and the other journals are published on a bi-annual basis.
[edit] Study abroad programs
The Law School offers four study abroad programs: summer semester in Rome, spring semester in Tokyo (at Temple University Japan), fall semester in Beijing (at Tsinghua University), and fall semester in Cork (at University College Cork). Of these, the Tokyo program is perhaps the most notable, as it is the only ABA-accredited semester program for law students in Japan. Study abroad credits from any program can be used toward a joint JD/LLM in Transnational Law.
