TEMPLE LAW SCHOOL SPRING 2025 Daniel E. Rosner ’83 funds the Temple Rosner National Trial Team THE MAGAZINE FOR TEMPLE LAW SCHOOL ALUMNI W innin g Team ATemple ESQ. is published by the Temple University Beasley School of Law for alumni and friends. Kean Family Dean and Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law Rachel Rebouché Content, Art Direction and Design Leapfrog Group Photography Dan Barends Ryan Brandenberg Jay Gorodetzer Rick Kauffman Kelly & Massa Joseph V. Labolito Contributors Hillel Hoffmann Terry Lowe-Edwards Books Schatschneider Send letters and comments to: lawalum@temple.edu Temple ESQ. James E. Beasley School of Law 1719 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19122 To change your email, home or office address: law.temple.edu/resources/alumni/contact-update Board of Visitors Joseph W. Anthony ’74 Dennis Arouca ’77 Danielle Banks ’93 Kila B. Baldwin ’04, ’10 Leonard Barrack ’68, Chair Mitchell W. Berger ’80 Daniel S. Bernheim, III ’94 Ellan Rubin Bernstein ’83 Nadeem A. Bezar ’91 Vijay V. Bondada ’94 James A. Bruton, III ’75 Anthony W. Clark ’79 Richard T. Collier ’79 Doneene K. Damon ’92 Carolyn C. Davis ’87 Alan M. Feldman ’76 Koji Fukumura ’93 Hon. Mitchell S. Goldberg ’86 Frederick S. Humphries ’86 Hayes Hunt ’97 Carlton L. Johnson ’84 Marina Kats ’88 Leonard M. Klehr ’76 Susanna Lachs ’78 John B. Langel ’74 Judy L. Leone ’84 Marsha L. Levick ’76 Vincent J. Marella ’72 Hon. Theodore McKee William R. McLucas ’75 Joseph H. Meltzer ’97 William J. Merritt ’87 Leslie Anne Miller ’94 Mitchell L. Morgan ’80 Stephen J. Neuberger ’03 Richard S. Oller ’79 Samuel H. Pond ’84 Marcel S. Pratt ’09 Grant Rawdin ’87 Abraham C. Reich ’74 Hon. L. Felipe Restrepo Hon. Annette M. Rizzo ’83 Gilbert T. Schwartz ’74 Hon. Anthony J. Scirica Hon. Martin J. Silverstein ’79 James T. Smith ’83 Gene Spector ’70 Joe H. Tucker, Jr. ’89 Richard H. Walker ’75 Bette Jean Walters ’70 Hon. Sheila Woods-Skipper ’83 Mission Statement Temple University Beasley School of Law is committed to excellence in teaching, learning, scholarship and service. The faculty is dedicated to preparing students to enter and continue in the legal profession with the highest level of skill possible, with a firm commitment to the principles of professional responsibility and with a sense of personal obligation to lead and to serve the communities in which they live and practice. We are dedicated to our foundational ideal of making legal education accessible to all talented individuals, including individuals who otherwise might not have that opportunity or who might encounter barriers because of race, creed, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, socioeconomic background, or other personal characteristics. We endeavor to create and sustain a law school community that is diverse, inclusive and committed to equal justice under the law.Celebrating a Temple Law Legend Reflections on James Shellenberger’s legacy 10 4 2 AMICUS CURIAE From the Dean 18 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT 19 EVENTS 22 FACULTY NOTES 24 ALUMNI NOTES 29 IN MEMORIAM CONTENTS A Winning Team Powering success for future trial attorneys Introducing Temple’s New President The dean’s dialogue with the University’s new leader 142 Temple Law School AMICUS CURIAE Temple Law School has always been shaped by people who share its mission of access and excellence.” “ ESQ. SPRING 2025 Temple Law School has always been shaped by people who share its mission of access and excellence. Sometimes they build on our historic strengths and sometimes they chart new paths forward in a changing world. We have been fortunate to have leaders who do both. Professor James Shellenberger was one such leader. “Shell,” as generations of students and faculty colleagues knew him, was relentlessly focused on what students needed to succeed and how the law school could best provide that to them. In more than four decades on the Temple Law faculty, he served in whatever way he could to most benefit students. His passing last fall has left a void that will not soon be filled, and we are profoundly grateful for his lasting impact on our institution (p. 10). We are also profoundly grateful for the vision of Daniel E. Rosner ’83 and his wife, Terri Gallo Rosner, whose belief in Temple Law’s mission inspired a $1.5 million gift in support of Temple Law’s trial team. By increasing access to the advanced training and support that comes with participation on the trial team, Dan and Terri’s gift will benefit both our students and our top- ranked trial advocacy program. In recognition, the team will now be known as the Temple Rosner National Trial Team. Dan’s story of grit, ingenuity and resolve is inspiring, as is his desire to create similar opportunities for Temple Law students (p. 4). Creating opportunity as part of advancing our mission is also at the heart of President John Fry’s vision for Temple University. From the acquisition of Terra Hall in Center City to the launch of iNest, an incubator for faculty innovation, President Fry already has taken significant steps to create new opportunities for students, faculty and our neighbors in the community. In an interview, he shares his plans for the University’s continued leadership in research, community engagement, and providing an excellent, accessible public education, as well as his thoughts on what role Temple Law can play (p. 14). As always, Temple Law’s faculty and students are engaged in teaching, scholarship and service with wide-ranging impact. Third-year law student Zoe Bertrand continued a proud Temple Law tradition of winning the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing competition with a paper advocating for D.C. statehood on constitutional grounds (p. 18). And our faculty continue to lead as scholars and advocates in fields as diverse as tax, immigration, torts, cybersecurity, environmental law, antitrust, corporate law and more (p. 22). None of this would be possible without your enduring support and partnership. Thank you for the many ways in which you create opportunity, increase access and promote excellence at Temple Law. With gratitude, Rachel Rebouché Kean Family Dean and Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law from THE DEAN4 Temple Law School W innin g Team A5 ESQ. SPRING 2025 Daniel E. Rosner ’83 wanted to fund a program at his alma mater that would train future generations of trial attorneys who are as fiercely competitive and committed to helping their clients as he is. He met his match: the Temple Rosner National Trial Team. Daniel E. Rosner FOX ’80, LAW ’83 remembers when he fell in love with trial advocacy. At a holiday party during the winter of his second year at Temple University Beasley School of Law, Rosner bumped into a lawyer who told him about an opening for a law clerk at a personal injury firm in Center City. Rosner had no interest in personal injury law at the time; he had come to law school with a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and the goal of becoming an insurance company executive. But after spending his first summer as a law student driving an ice cream truck to pay for his education, Rosner was ready to take any legal job he could find. Rosner got the job, and what he saw that spring and summer would change his life forever. He drove clients to their depositions, observed their testimony in person and eventually sat in on a full jury trial. The experience electrified him.6 Temple Law School “I loved every aspect of it,” Rosner says. “I loved the feeling of changing someone’s life for the better. I loved reading every scrap of material. I loved the strategy. And I loved the competitive aspect of it: how the lawyers prepared and executed their attacks.” Rosner never looked back. He founded Rosner Law Offices in Vineland, New Jersey soon after earning his JD, and built a reputation as one of Southern New Jersey’s most formidable and influential certified civil trial attorneys. His loving wife of nearly 30 years, Theresa (Terri) Gallo Rosner has been with him every step of the way. A certified paralegal who served as Rosner Law Office’s chief financial officer, Terri ran the business side of the firm, allowing Dan to do what he does best in the trial arena. In the decades since the firm opened its doors, his many significant achievements include winning the largest jury verdict in New Jersey’s Cumberland County for a slip-and-fall injury; earning a landmark unanimous Supreme Court of New Jersey decision benefiting victims of automobile accidents; serving as president of the New Jersey Association for Justice (NJAJ), the state’s largest plaintiff’s trial attorney organization, and running its Educational Foundation; and teaching more than 120 continuing legal education programs. In 2023, Rosner Law Offices merged with Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins, PC, one of New Jersey’s civil litigation firms, with 10 offices and over 90 lawyers, where Dan is a partner. After more than 40 years of trial practice, the Rosners were eager to give back to Dan’s alma mater and help develop the next generation of trial attorneys. They wanted to support a Temple Law program that aligned with their values and belief in experiential learning — a program that rewarded hard work, producing battle- tested trial lawyers who are prepared to fight ethically and win for their clients and causes. Earlier this year, they found their match. With Terri’s endorsement and full support, Dan Rosner donated $1.5 million to create the Rosner Trial Advocacy Competition Endowed Fund in support of the school’s trial competition teams now known collectively as the Temple Rosner National Trial Team. One of the flagship components of the school’s innovative, top-ranked trial advocacy program, Temple Law’s trial team has been one of the nation’s most successful trial competition teams since its creation in the late 1980s, taking on and defeating student teams representing other law schools in mock trial competitions, expanding Temple Law’s national reputation and preparing generations of students for professional success. “I wanted to support the trial team because students need realistic opportunities to explore what being a trial attorney is like,” Rosner says. “Trial work has so much to offer. It takes competitiveness, dedication, loyalty, effort and the desire to help others if you want to be a great trial lawyer. I want every Temple Law student to have a chance to try trial team if they think they have what it takes.” “Working hard, staying up late at night to prepare and believing you are fighting a just cause are the types of traits I hope all the students will learn while they are still in law school,” says Terri. “I am proud we can take Dan’s success and pay it forward to help other Temple Law students get that chance.” As financial support for higher education faces challenges, Rosner’s gift will help ensure that future Temple Law students will have that opportunity. “Dan Rosner’s gift is a force multiplier, enabling us to advance our mission of access and excellence by making the benefits of participation in trial team available to more students,” said Kean Family Dean Rachel Rebouché. “It also supports one of our key strategic initiatives — elevating the law school’s national profile — by showcasing the talent, drive and spirit that fuel the Temple Rosner National Trial Team. Generations of Temple Law students will benefit from this gift, as will those they serve with their Temple Law degree.” “This gift will guarantee that Temple Law can continue to be a national presence at competitions around the country, bringing our best to go up against the best as we train and ensure excellence in young trial lawyers,” says Jules Epstein, Edward D. “ Dan Rosner’s gift will guarantee that Temple Law can continue to be a national presence at competitions around the country, bringing our best to go up against the best as we train and ensure excellence in young trial lawyers .” Jules Epstein, Edward D. Ohlbaum Endowed Term Professor and Director of Advocacy Programs7 ESQ. SPRING 2025 Ohlbaum Endowed Term Professor and Director of Advocacy Programs at Temple Law. “Our community will always be grateful to Dan for that.” Perseverance Conquers The stories of Rosner’s tireless drive to succeed and his path toward funding the Temple Rosner National Trial Team begin in his childhood. Born the youngest of five children in South Philadelphia, Rosner entered the foster care system at age 3 after his parents separated. He bounced from home to home for the next 10 years — overcoming childhood kidney disease along the way — before moving in with his single father, who soon became permanently disabled. By age 17, Rosner was paying the rent and the bills. As a high school student, he worked at McDonald’s five days a week, including serving as an opener at 5 a.m. on weekends and in the summer. When he got his union card at age 18, he started working at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he spent Friday nights and some Saturday nights taking newspapers off the printing presses, often coughing up ink dust the next day. “That was a tough time,” Rosner says, “but I persevered. If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true. You just have to have the willpower to overcome.” Rosner found fellowship, mentorship and opportunities for community engagement and leadership through his student-run high school fraternity, Sigma Alpha Rho (he eventually became national president of the fraternity as a college student), and earned a Philadelphia City Scholarship to Temple University. More hints of the resolve and ingenuity that would fuel Rosner’s ascent as an attorney emerged during his undergraduate years. To supplement his income, he expanded his ice cream truck business, bringing in many of his college friends to form a fleet of trucks and developing strategies to sell products to a wider range of buyers. He bought cans of soda, froze them and, after learning where active work sites were located, scheduled his arrival so that he could sell hot pretzels and ice-cold soda to thirsty laborers during their breaks. One of Rosner’s business management courses also illustrated his will to win. In an intra-class competition, his professor divided the students into small teams, each of which was assigned to run a fictional business in a computer simulation. Rosner somehow figured out a formula to achieve the highest profits by adapting a code found on the back of their textbook. (The key, he discovered, was to pour resources into research and development.) He convinced his reluctant teammates to give him a week to prove his high-risk strategy could work; he won them over, and weeks later their company had ascended to the top of the market, bankrupting the other teams in the process. “Everything that Dan has accomplished is a product of two things: his ability to think outside the box and his willingness to work his tail off,” says Terri. A Winning Formula By any measure, the Temple Rosner National Trial Team has achieved extraordinary national success in nearly four decades of competition. They’ve won more than 90 national, regional and invitational competitions, including six first-place finishes in the two most prestigious national competitions, the American College of Trial Lawyers’ National Trial Competition and the American Association for Justice’s Student Trial Advocacy Competition. The team’s alumni have gone on to become brilliant attorneys and judges (see p. 9 for a few specific examples). And as the school’s most visible student Next >