Trial Team Wins Regionals - 21 times in a row

This past weekend, Temple's National Trial Team successfully defended its Region III championship title of the National Trial Competition at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. It was Temple's 21st consecutive regional championship. The members of the championship team are Priya DeSouza (3L) and Jeff Goodman (2L). Temple defeated teams from Dickinson, Duquesne, Penn, Rutgers-Newark, Seton Hall, Villanova, West Virginia, Widener-Delaware, and Widener-Harrisburg. Jeff Goodman won the John J. Scott Memorial Plaque as Best Advocate in the Final Round.

In the double bracketed competition, a second team of Tanasha Bennett (2L), Amanda Dougherty (2L) and Rahul Munshi (3L) finished as regional semi-finalists, losing a close contest to Dickinson.

The Team travels to Texas on March 25 to compete for the National Trial Championship against the twenty-four winners and runners-up from the twelve other regional contests. Temple has won the NTC national championship three times and finished second three times in the last fourteen years. The teams are coached by Alex Gosfield, Esq. (Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP), Elizabeth Lippy, Esq. (Rubin, Glickman, Steinberg & Gifford), James Zoll (Montgomery County District Attorney's Office).

The tournament was sponsored by Temple's LL.M. in Trial Advocacy Alumni Association, directed by Professor Barbara Ashcroft, Director of LL.M. Program and administrated by Mary Beth Wilson.

Temple Law Professor and the Rasheed Scruggs' case

Edward Ohlbaum, a professor of law at Temple University, was quoted recently in a February 18th Philadelphia Inquirer article. He spoke about the need to analyze our legal system in an effort to make improvements. Go to www.philly.com for the full article.

Veteran lawyer launches bid

Read Les Stewart's article (Lebanon Daily News)on trial lawyer John Kelsey's candidacy for judge of the Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas.


Kelsey, a 35-year veteran of the Lebanon County court system, is seeking the seat created by the retirement of former President Judge Robert J. Eby.

Kelsey attended Duke University and graduated from Trinity University in 1970 and from the University of Texas law school in 1973. He has practiced law in Lebanon ever since.

Kelsey said he is the only lawyer in Lebanon County and one of only a few hundred nationwide to have earned the graduate law degree of Master of Laws in Trial Advocacy, which he received in 1998 from Temple University School
of Law.