Temple students give the law school its spirit. The law school encourages diversity in the student body through a careful and selective admissions process and the flexible design of the day and evening programs. As a result, students come to Temple from an unusual variety of backgrounds – artists, nurses, computer programmers, police officers, teachers, doctors – as well as directly from undergraduate studies. These students share the qualities of intelligence, academic excellence, and professional responsibility that characterize the Temple lawyer. The spirit of cooperation and collaboration that grows within the student body is also present in the relationships that students have with the faculty and the administration. Through their participation in faculty meetings and on faculty-student committees, our students take an active role in shaping their legal education. The Student Bar Association (SBA), which includes all law students as members, acts as the students’ representative in the law school administration. In addition, the SBA is the umbrella organization that oversees the many student groups that flourish at Temple. Each weekday at noon when no classes are scheduled, student organizations put on programs, sponsor speakers, and hold meetings, while the front steps of the law school building fill with students engaged in animated lunch conversations.
If you are interested in joining a particular student organization and would like to contact current leadership, please email Associate Director of Student Services, Britt Walden, with the name of the organization in which you are interested.
American Bar Association – Law Student Division (ABA)
The American Bar Association (ABA) is the largest voluntary professional association in the world. With nearly 400,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.
American Constitution Society (ACS)
The American Constitution Society (ACS) is the nation’s leading progressive legal organization, with over 200 student and lawyer chapters in almost every state and on most law school campuses. Originally formed as the progressive response after the Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore decision, ACS was founded on the principle that the law should be a force to improve the lives of all people. Find out more information at the ACS website.
Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA)
The Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) provides a resource group for Asian law students, offers a forum to examine issues relevant to the Asian community locally and nationally, and explores the various opportunities for Asian lawyers. Want to get more information? You can email APALSA, visit their website, or join their Facebook page.
Black Law Students Association (BLSA)
The Temple Law School Black Law Students Association (BLSA) focuses on increasing minority membership in the legal profession, enhancing the quality and perspective of the minority Bar, and establishing relationships with surrounding community organizations. Follow BLSA on Instagram or email us anytime!
Brehon Law Society
The Temple Law School Brehon Society is the Temple Chapter of the citywide Philadelphia Brehon Society, which offer students an opportunity to learn about Irish laws and culture through social, cultural, and intellectual activities. Stay in touch by email or on Facebook.
Business Law Society (BLS)
The Temple Law School Business Law Society (BLS) is a collaborative group offering resources, information, advice, and support to all members as they seek to develop a successful full-time career in business law. Email BLS for more information.
Christian Legal Society (CLS)
The Temple Law School Christian Legal Society (CLS) is a national organization of law students, lawyers and judges from around the country who are concerned with the difficult challenge of integrating their faith in Christ with the legal profession. Email CLS for more details.
Environmental Law Society (TELS)
Family Law Society (FLS)
The Temple Law School Family Law Society (FLS) provides a resource for all students interested in the specialized field of family law. FLS organizes events throughout the year aimed to educate students on the many facets of Family law, such as custody law, domestic violence issues, divorce law, and adoption law. FLS also offers a robust network of students and professionals committed to each student’s advancement in the field. Email FLS with any questions or to get involved.
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society is an organization of conservative, libertarian, and moderate law students interested in the current state of the legal order. We are founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be. The Federalist Society can be reached via email and on Facebook.
Health Law Society (HLS)
The Temple Law School Health Law Society (HLS) provides students with opportunities for participation and collaboration in the field of Health Law within and beyond Temple Law School.
Housing Justice Initiative
The Housing Justice Initiative empowers Philly residents to understand their rights as tenants and homeowners. Our members address systemic inequities in our housing system through student participation in community trainings, court watches, and legal research. We invite anyone interested in joining to reach us at housingjusticetemplelaw@gmail.com
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ)
The Temple Law School If/When/How challenges the next generation of legal advocates to address and overcome the roots of reproductive oppression by constructing legally tenable, realistically accessible avenues for informed, consensual, and unobstructed decision-making about sex, contraception, abortion, birth, parenting, sterilization, and education. Want more info? Check out our Instagram or email us!
Intellectual Property Law Society (IPLS)
The Temple Law School Intellectual Property Law Society (IPLS) promotes the discussion of the legal challenges presented by technological advances through speakers and events.
International Law Society (ILS)
The Temple International Law society uses a variety of social and academic events to expose students to the many aspects of international law. Want more info? Email us!
Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA)
Justinian Society
Latinx American Law Students Association (LALSA)
Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association (MENALSA)
The Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association (MENALSA) supports its members and seeks to engage the community in discussion about issues that affect and relate to the Middle East and North Africa. MENALSA is on Facebook!
National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is the nation’s oldest and largest progressive bar association and was the first one in the US to be racially integrated. NLG’s mission is to use law for the people, uniting lawyers, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people by valuing human rights and the rights of ecosystems over property interests. The Temple Chapter maintains close ties with the Philadelphia Chapter of the NLG, and members have numerous opportunities to meet and work with practicing attorneys and organizers in the Philadelphia area. Get in touch with us through email (templeNLG@gmail.com) or on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Night Owls
Night Owls is an organization dedicated to bringing intellectual, social, and charitable programming to evening students by bridging the gap between the evening and day divisions.
OutLaw
OutLaw is dedicated to issues that engage sexual orientation or gender identity and the law. Want to get involved? Send OutLaw an email.
Philadelphia Legal Network (PLN)
The Philadelphia Legal Network (PLN) aims to connect Philadelphia’s legal community through various social and networking events, providing members with networking opportunities in Philadelphia.
Political and Civil Rights Society
School Discipline Advocacy Service (SDAS)
The School Discipline Advocacy Service (SDAS) is a coalition of law students from Temple University Beasley School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, working together to stem the school-to-prison pipeline by advocating on behalf of Philadelphia public school students and parents at school disciplinary hearings. For more information about SDAS, please email us.
South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA)
The South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA) aims to support its members and build a community of South Asians in the legal industry at Temple Law and in Philadelphia. Want to learn more or get in touch? Send us an email.
Sports and Entertainment Law Society (SELS)
The Temple Law School Sports and Entertainment Law Society (SELS) seeks to build a bridge between the law students and those who can offer academic and career advice in the sports and entertainment law sectors.
Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
The Temple Student Animal Legal Defense Fund is affiliated with the national Animal Legal Defense Fund and shares its mission to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The SALDF is committed to providing programs and opportunities to raise awareness about animal welfare and to assist those who are interested in the field of animal law.
Student Bar Association (SBA )
The Student Bar Association (SBA) includes all law students as members and acts as the students’ representative to the law school administration. In addition, the SBA is the umbrella organization that oversees the many student groups that flourish at Temple Law. Student organizations put on programs, sponsor speakers, and hold meetings, and help their members and the student body as a whole develop professional skills. The SBA can be reached via email, at our website, and on Facebook.
Student Public Interest Network (SPIN)
The Student Public Interest Network fosters a community for students interested in public interest by hosting events, like the annual forum where students consider a new problem in public interest law. providing volunteer and networking opportunities to students, and raising money to ensure that students who want to work in public interest over the summer can afford to do so. For more information please email us or check out our website.
Student Wellness Association (SWA)
The Student Wellness Association (SWA) is a student-run organization concerned with promoting physical, mental, and emotional wellness among the student body. Law school is a high-pressure, high-stakes environment with a steep learning curve. The goal of the group will be to help first year students adjust to this demanding environment and help upper-level students start and maintain healthy habits. Stay up to date with SWA’s Facebook page.
Tax & Bankruptcy Law Society
The Tax and Bankruptcy Law Society serves all Temple Law students by hosting speakers, networking opportunities and information sessions to explore the wide and wonderful field of Bankruptcy and Corporate Restructuring Law. After the economic crisis, Bankruptcy Law is becoming more and more relevant to the current needs of many insolvent consumers and corporations in need of debt reorganization. The need for attorneys in this field is also growing, and the Bankruptcy Law Society will provide Temple Law students the benefit of engaging with experienced bankruptcy attorneys, judges and professionals in both formal and informal settings to discover the many opportunities in this growing field of law. Don’t hesitate to send us an email to find out more.
Temple Law Democrats
The Temple Law School Democratic Association provides an opportunity for student participation in the political process, particularly on behalf of Democratic party principles and candidates. Find us on Facebook.
Temple Law Republicans
The Temple Law School Republican Association encourages student participation in the legal aspects of the political process, particularly on behalf of Republican party principles and candidates.
VetLaw
Veterans of Temple Law is a diverse law student organization founded with
four purposes in mind: (1) to serve the veteran community; (2) to connect
the outstanding prior and current service members that make up Temple
Beasley School of Law with fellow veterans in Temple Law’s legal community;
(3) to provide resources and information to Temple Law students interested
in becoming a member of the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps; and (4)
to bring programming to Temple Law School that focuses on current legal
issues facing veterans and the armed forces. Follow VetLaw on Instagram.
Voices for the Vulnerable (Human Rights Equality Law Society)
Voices for the Vulnerable is a non-partisan, non-religious student organization dedicated to promoting the dignity of human life at every stage of life. The organization will provide a community where students can discuss bio-ethical issues within the legal community, from a pro-life perspective. Students will have the opportunity to engage in productive dialogue on legal issues surrounding abortion, end of life, the death penalty, and ongoing slavery problems such as forced marriage and forced labor.
Women’s Law Caucus (WLC)
The Temple Law School Women’s Law Caucus has been active in dealing with problems that particularly concern women in law school as well as those confronting women in society generally. We can be reached anytime by email.