{ prima facie } the Temple Law newspaper

by Scott Kuhagen, Staff Writer

The law school's new website will go live "as soon as possible," potentially in a matter of weeks, according to Assistant Dean for Computer and Information Technology Shyam Nair.

Nair stated that most websites have a lifetime of three years, and that with the current Temple Law site in its sixth year the time had come for a new online presence for the law school.
The design for the new site was chosen last spring, when the Temple Law community overwhelmingly chose one design over two other candidates.

The content on the current site, contained on at least 2,000 pages, will mostly be transferred to the new site, because the school did not want to generate completely new content. However, because the technology underlying the current site is no longer supported, the school chose to switch to using the Microsoft Sharepoint technology that allows for the old content to be converted into a format that can be used on the new site.

The latest edition of Temple Prima Facie is online now and available for download.

Read the spring edition (PDF, 200 kb)

Contents include:

Temple Section:
- Clinical Roundup, page 4
- Study Abroad, page 8

Arts and Culture:
- Treasure Map to Amelia Island, Florida, page 9
- Review of Le Bus, page 11

National Section:
- Federal Court Quashes Human Gene Patents, page 12
- Virginia Attorney General Proves Controversial from the Start, page 13

Opinion:
- Right To Bear Arms, page 14
- We Have the laws. We’re Just Not Using Them, page 17

Temple Law student Matthew Pillischer (JD candidate 2010) will premier his new documentary on over-crowding problems in Philadelphia jails on Monday, April 12, at 12 p.m. (noon) in room 1E in Klein Hall.

The latest edition of Temple Prima Facie boasts a whole new staff and new print layout. The PDF version of the print edition is available for download. Look for text versions of the articles on this website in the future. For now, please use the text-searchable PDF.

Download Temple Prima Facie, Volume 3, Issue 1, Winter 2010 (546 kb)

Contents include . . .

Temple Section:
-- Inside Klein: Real talk with Jane Charles-Voltaire, page 3
-- A Light At The End Of The Tunnel… That Is Not The Broad Street Line, page 5

National Section:
-- Bar Application Deadlines, page 8
-- A Truly Bipartisan Effort – Impeachment, Page 8

Arts and Culture:
-- The Brand New Fresh Grocer At 1501 N. Broad, page 10
-- An Affordable Night out in Philadelphia’s Theater District on the Avenue of the Arts, page 14

Opinion:
-- Turning Jurisprudence Into Practice: The Gerald Ung Legal Defense Fund, Inc., page 16
-- The Rational Case Against Gunning for the "DCP", page 18

By Marla Neufeld, Esq.
West Palm Beach, Florida

Tucson offers a warm retreat to thaw out from the rigid demands of law school. A visit to Tucson, in southern Arizona, takes visitors back to the times of the Old West, with images of legendary cowboys and Indians. The city is replete with scenic preserves, history, adventure, and magnificent ways to relax.

The Sonoran Desert, which surrounds Tucson, is one of only three spots in the world where the majestic saguaro cactus grows. These tall and ancient cacti stand in the shadows of five mountain ranges, which cradle the Tucson valley, and are showered with sunshine over 300 days a year.

Tucson has something for every law student looking for a complete getaway experience. Students can enjoy hands-on museums and lush desert gardens, exciting recreational activities, fine dining, enriching culture and heritage themed events -- all among ample natural beauty. Lovers of the outdoors flock to bird watching, stargazing, rock climbing and mountain biking. Golfers can putt year-round among the saguaro cacti at scenic desert courses.

[The following is the full text of a letter sent by e-mail from announce@temple.edu on Dec. 17.]

Dear members of the Temple University community:

Thanks in large measure to grassroots advocacy efforts of students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni, the state House of Representatives Monday approved Temple’s $181.6 million Commonwealth appropriation for the current fiscal year. Governor Rendell signed the appropriations bill today. After an almost six-month delay, this is wonderful news. The funding represents more than 20 percent of Temple’s operating budget.

US News ranked Temple University Beasley School of Law at #7 in the nation, in the 2009 ratings of part-time law school programs.

Temple Law was ranked #33 in the nation for the best law school value, based on tuition, employment rate, and first-time bar passage rate.

The list, which appears in the September issue of "The National Jurist," (http://www.nationaljurist.com/) was compiled from information in the LSAC's 2009 edition of their "Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools."

Temple Law's Prof. Ohlbaum comments on jurors' facebook postings, as cited on Temple Law's "Faculty in the Media" page:

"Despite judge's warnings, two jurors in [a Lancaster murder trial] wrote entries about the case on their Facebook pages. The incident underscores the perils of social networking tools to the judicial process. 'The judge says don't discuss the case, and these guys go on Facebook, which they expect will elicit a response even if they didn't intend it to. Did they violate the judge's order? Probably,' said Edward Ohlbaum, a Temple University law professor. 'But the question is not so much did they overstep the line. Assuming they did overstep the line, was there any damage or injury?' he said."

Temple's annual Commonwealth funding was unanimously approved today by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, in spite of Rep. John Taylor's earlier opposition, according to a Temple University announcement.

Taylor had previously said he wanted to withhold all of Temple's funds -- $175 million dollars -- because he disagreed with the university's recent decision to convert a university-run hospital to an ambulatory care center.

Temple announced the latest vote in an e-mail from Temple's Ken Lawrence Jr., Senior Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs. Lawrence provides twitter updates on the topic at http://twitter.com/TUGovtAffairs.

A final state budget has not yet been completed, so Temple's funding is not yet guaranteed for the coming year. Temple University has posted a petition to support Temple's funding, which the public can sign, at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/join-the-fight-for-the-cherry-and-the-w....

The university has created a web page to track public policy issues like the funding debate, at: http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/TUGovtAffairs/index.htm, according to Lawrence.