Temple University Beasley School of Law is proud to announce that Brandon Marshall Miller LAW ’23 has been selected as a Law Student of the Year by National Jurist Magazine. This accolade is an acknowledgment of his outstanding and unique contributions to Temple Law and our community, his tireless work as an advocate, and his numerous academic and professional accomplishments.
“I can’t even begin to express how humbling it is to be recognized by Temple and by The National Jurist,” said Miller. “I see it as a true testament to Temple Law that it provides a community where non-traditional students like myself, students from diverse backgrounds like myself, and students with a wide range of goals and interests can excel. Temple has connected me to amazing people; students, staff, professors, scholars, alumni; amazing opportunities; and the support to make a change. I truly hope that I am able to live up to this award and I plan to use the remainder of my time here continuing to impact the school and the world.”
“We are incredibly proud of Brandon,” said interim Dean Rachel Rebouche. “This well-deserved recognition affirms what we at Temple Law know to be true of Brandon. He exemplifies the best qualities of our profession – perseverance, compassion, and commitment – and is an integral member of our law school community. I look forward to following Brandon’s career as he carries these qualities into his future work as a Temple lawyer, where he will no doubt continue to make a positive impact and change lives for the better.”
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in rural West Tennessee, Miller received a Bachelor of Arts in English and African American Studies from the University of Virginia in 2004. In 2005, he received a Masters of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and in 2015, returned to UPenn to complete a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership.
A resident of Philadelphia for over 15 years, Miller joined the School District of Philadelphia as a high school English and math teacher in 2004, shortly after graduation from the University of Virginia. Miller has maintained full-time employment as a teacher while pursuing his MS, Doctorate, and now, his law degree.
His pursuit of a J.D. has come out of his experiences with students in the classroom and seeing first-hand the effects of policy and law on youth – including family court issues, social service policies, and interactions with the juvenile criminal court system. As a teacher who works with youth of color every day, his legal interests are specifically in juvenile justice reform, direct juvenile legal advocacy, education reform, racial equity, and civil rights more generally. Notably, Miller was awarded the 2019 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching for the School District of Philadelphia.
In addition to his full-time work as a high school teacher, Miler has worked as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania since 2013, instructing several graduate level seminar courses including “School & Society,” “Urban Education Reform,” and “Methods of English Instruction.”
Miller entered Temple Law as both a Conwell Scholar and a Rubin-Presser Fellow. In 2020, Brandon was selected as a Meltzer Social Justice Fellow through the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice and used his Fellowship to work as a legal intern for the Education Law Center, specifically looking at the advocacy they do on behalf of Black girls. There he conducted client intake interviews and researched and wrote legal memorandum on various issues in education law, including students’ free speech rights. He prepared for depositions by researching the deposed and drafting questions, attended meetings and conferences, and drafted and organized presentation on how legal advocacy can improve education for Black girls in Philadelphia.
A notable distinction for Temple Law students, Brandon was selected as a 2021 Law & Public Policy Scholar. As a LPP Scholar, Brandon worked as a legal intern for NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. There, he prepared research on various legal topics such as “Monell” exceptions, “amicus + status” in different circuits, and substituting plaintiffs in class action litigation for current civil rights litigation, assisted counsel with drafting a memo on current civil rights litigation, interviewed clients in ongoing desegregation litigation, and prepared research for, and participated in, negotiations with opposing counsel.
In addition to his work, Miller has been incredibly involved with the law school community, serving as co-president of the National Lawyers Guild, a representative for the Black Law Students Association, a staff editor and Vice-President of the Political and Civil Rights Society, a member of the Dean’s Racial Justice Working Group, a student representative on the Faculty Selection Committee, and the current student representative on the Dean’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. As a Law Owl Ambassador for the Temple Law Admissions Office, he speaks with prospective students and serves as a panelist for virtual information sessions and other events. As the symposium chair of the School Discipline Advocacy Service (SDAS), Brandon was responsible for organizing the successful 2021 symposium, “School Discipline in the Virtual Age,” which brought together local and national scholars.
Currently Miller is completing an internship with the Honorable Judge Theodore McKee on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. Most recently, Miller’s paper, “The Evil to be Remedied: Tracing the Evolution of the Equal Protection Clause,” was accepted to the Law and Society Association’s Global Meeting on Law & Society 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal which he will present in July.