Baylor University School of Law
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Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. Baylor Law School is affiliated with
Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...
and located in
Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...
, Texas. The school has been accredited by the
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
since 1931 and has been a member of the
Association of American Law Schools The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 176 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non ...
since 1938. The program offers training in all facets of law, including theoretical analysis, practical application, legal writing, advocacy, professional responsibility, and negotiation and counseling skills. Baylor Law School has been nationally ranked a "top-tier" law school by various publications in recent years.


History

Established in 1857, Baylor Law School was the first law school in Texas and the second law school west of the Mississippi River. Law classes continued until 1883 when the school was discontinued. In 1920, the Board of Trustees reestablished the law school (called the Law Department at that time) under the direction of Dean Allen G. Flowers. The school was temporarily suspended from 1943–1946 as a result of World War II. Bradley J.B. Toben has served as Dean of the Law School since 1991. He is the longest serving dean in the nation among the 203 ABA accredited law schools.


Academics

Baylor Law School operates on a
quarter system An academic quarter refers to the division of an academic year into four parts. Historical context The modern academic quarter calendar can be traced to the historic English law court / legal training pupillage four term system: * Hilary: Ja ...
The Law School also has four graduating classes per year. Each matriculate class has a separate application pool and applicants are required to apply to the quarter in which they would like to begin. A typical academic year consists of three-quarters, with students choosing to take off the fourth quarter of the year to complete a clerkship or internship. However, students may elect to complete the program in only 27 months by attending every quarter. The school's curriculum focuses more on the positive state of the law than a normative one and on actual practice in the court system. In addition to the standard
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree, Baylor Law students can obtain a combined JD with either the
Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
(both traditional and with an emphasis in healthcare administration), the
Master of Taxation Master of Taxation (MTax), Master of Business Taxation (MBT), or Master of Science in Taxation (MSTax) is a higher degree in taxation conferred by universities. MTax programs prepare graduates for executive careers in the accounting profession with ...
, the
Master of Public Policy and Administration The Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA), alternatively Master of Public Administration and Policy (MPAP), is one of several professional graduate degrees. It is a two-year multidisciplinary master's program that encompasses course mat ...
, or the
Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...
degree.


First-year program

First-year students are required to take the following mandatory courses and satisfactory completion is required before moving to upper-level courses. The required courses are: * Civil Procedure * Constitutional Law: Structure, Power and Legislation (4) * Contracts ** Contracts 1 ** Contracts 2 * Criminal Law * Criminal Procedure * Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication (LARC) ** LARC 1 -- Introduction to Legal Writing ** LARC 2 -- Introduction to Legal Research ** LARC 3 -- Persuasive Communications * Property ** Property 1 ** Property 2 * Torts ** Torts 1 ** Torts 2


Upper Class Required Courses

The following courses are mandatory upper-class courses for all student (Practice Court classes are shown separately): * Business Organizations I * Constitutional Law: Individual Liberties * Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication (LARC) ** LARC 4 -- Transactional Drafting ** LARC 5 -- Litigation Drafting * Professional Responsibility * Remedies * Taxation and Accounting Principles for Lawyers * Trusts and Estates


Practice Court

The hallmark of the law school curriculum is its Practice Court program. Practice Court traces its roots to the original school, and was returned in 1922 shortly after the school was reinstituted. Though practice court is designed primarily for students who will practice law before trial courts; it is mandatory for all students. The program consists of three courses. Students should plan to be available to participate in course work from 1:00 PM onward each week day (1:20 PM for Practice Court 3) and should expect to work late into the evenings: * Practice Court 1: Pre-Trial Practice & Procedure * Practice Court 2: Trial Evidence, Procedure & Practice * Practice Court 3: Trial and Post-Trial Practice, Procedure & Evidence (this includes the "Big Trial", whereby students are assigned to represent a party; the students must file pleadings, engage in discovery, conduct jury selection, argue their case, and engage in post-trial motion practice to secure their judgment). A student can, if desired, choose to concentrate in one of fifteen specialized areas of law: * Administrative Practice * Business Litigation * Business Planning * Commercial Law * Criminal Practice * Estate Planning * Family Law Practice * Fiduciary Litigation * General Civil Litigation * Healthcare Law * Intellectual Property * Intellectual Property Litigation * Personal Injury Litigation * Public Interest Law * Real Estate and Natural Resources


Law review

The ' is the law school's official student-run
law review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also pro ...
. The journal was founded in 1948 and is published three times per year (Fall, Winter and Spring). Students may grade on to the Law Review at the end of their first year or later as upper-quarters, being selected through a write-on competition, or writing a note or comment for the journal that is selected for publication.


Legal clinics

Students can gain experience by working Baylor Law's legal clinics. Baylor Law currently has five legal clinics: Estate Planning, Immigration, Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship, Trial Advocacy, and the Veterans Clinic. Over the past few years, more than 1,500 central Texans have been served by Baylor Law students, faculty, and volunteer attorneys. Baylor Law's Director of Clinical Programs, Josh Borderud, was selected in early 2020 to receive the prestigious Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service from the American Inns of Court. The Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service is awarded each year to honor an American Inn of Court member in practice for ten or fewer years for excellence in public interest or pro bono activities.


Employment

According to Baylor's official 2019 ABA-required disclosures, 93.7% of the Class of 2019 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. Baylor's
Law School Transparency Law School Transparency (LST) is a nonprofit consumer advocacy and education organization concerning the legal profession in the United States. LST was founded by Vanderbilt Law School graduates Kyle McEntee and Patrick Lynch. LST describes its m ...
under-employment score is 3.9%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2019 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.


Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Baylor for the 2022-23 academic year is $87,284. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $310,638.


Rankings

* In its 2021 law specialties rankings, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Baylor Law's Trial Advocacy program as the second best in the nation. * Baylor Law School ranked No. 58 in ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2023 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools." * Above the Law ranked Baylor Law School at No. 33 in 2016. * The school has been listed as having the most competitive student body of every law school in the nation for several years by the Princeton Review. * Baylor Law is ranked #29 nationally in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (92.1%), and it outperforms by +17.6% the state of Texas’s overall bar passage rate of 74.5%. * Baylor Law ranks #34 in terms of graduates employed ten months after graduation (85.4%) and #77 in terms of graduates employed at the time of graduation (51.5%). * Baylor Law is tied for #53 in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates ($85,000). * Baylor Law is tied for #24 in terms of median starting salary among graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level ($61,105).


Notable alumni

*
James B. Adams James Blackburn Adams (December 21, 1926 – April 25, 2020) was an American attorney, politician, and two-time associate director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Early life and education James B. Adams was born in Corsicana, Texas ...
– Texas legislator, and former acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (15 to 23 February 1978) * John L Grayson – Texas Litigator and Construction lawyer (JD 1983) * Phillip Baldwin – Justice, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit * Charles Wallace Barrow – Former Justice, Texas Supreme Court *
Roy Bass Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
– Waco native and mayor of
Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwe ...
from 1974–1978 *
Ed Blizzard Edward F. Blizzard (born January 14, 1954 in Chester, Pennsylvania) is a pharmaceutical injury attorney and a founding partner of Blizzard, McCarthy & Nabers, LLC based in Houston, Texas. Education Blizzard attended the University of Texas at Austi ...
– Pharmaceutical injury attorney *
Beau Boulter Eldon Beau Boulter (born February 23, 1942) is an American politician. He served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 13th district of Texas. Boulter was born in El Paso, Texas. He and his fam ...
– U.S. Congressman (1985–1989) *
Bob Bullock Robert Douglas Bullock Sr. (July 10, 1929 – June 18, 1999), was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. His service culminated in his term as the 38th List of lieu ...
– Texas' 38th Lieutenant Governor and considered one of the most outstanding Texas political leaders of the 20th century. * Lee Roy Calderon – Senior Attorney for the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
System *
Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London ...
District attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
of
Tarrant County Tarrant County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, it had a population of 2,110,640. It is Texas' third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County, one of 2 ...
from 1972 to 2009 * Marion Price Daniel (1932) – United States Senator (1953—1957); Governor of Texas (1957—1963); Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives (1943–1945); Justice, Texas Supreme Court (1971–1978). * Leonard Davis – Judge,
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...
(2002–2015) * Jack M. Fields – U.S. Congressman (1981–1997) *
Sidney A. Fitzwater Sidney Allen Fitzwater (born September 22, 1953) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, Texas. Education and career Born in Olney, Maryland, Fitzwater earned h ...
– Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (1986–present) *
James Rodney Gilstrap James Rodney Gilstrap (born May 1, 1957) is the United States federal judge, Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is notable for presiding over more than one quarter of all ...
- Judge,
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...
(2011–present) *
Louie Gohmert Louis Buller Gohmert Jr. (; born August 18, 1953) is an American attorney, politician, and former jurist serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Texas's Texas's 1st congressional district, 1st congressiona ...
– U.S. Congressman (2005–present) * Sam Blakely Hall Jr. – U.S. Congressman (1975–1985) and U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas *
John Lee Hancock John Lee Hancock Jr. (born December 15, 1956) is an American filmmaker. He directed the sports drama films ''The Rookie (2002 film), The Rookie'' (2002) and ''The Blind Side (film), The Blind Side'' (2009), and the historical drama films ''Savin ...
– Screenplay writer and director of ''The Rookie,'' ''The Alamo,'' and ''The Blind Side. *
Andrew S. Hanen Andrew Scott Hanen (born December 10, 1953) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Early life and education ...
– Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (2002–present) * VADM John G. Hannink - 44th
Judge Advocate General of the Navy The Judge Advocate General of the Navy (JAG) is the highest-ranking uniformed lawyer in the United States Department of the Navy. The Judge Advocate General is the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations o ...
* Robert Heard – Reporter and journalist for the ''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'' *
Jack English Hightower Jack English Hightower (September 6, 1926 – August 3, 2013) was a former Democratic U.S. representative from Texas's 13th congressional district. Early life Born in Memphis, the seat of Hall County in West Texas, Hightower was a United States ...
(1951) – U.S. House of Representatives, (1975–1985) *
Bryan Hughes Bryan Hughes (born 19 June 1976) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a midfielder from 1994 to 2015, notably Premier League for Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic and Hull City as well as featuring in ...
(1995) – Republican member of the
Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...
from
District 1 District 1 may refer to: * I District, Turku, in Finland * District 1, Düsseldorf, a district in Düsseldorf, Germany * Sector 1 (Bucharest), also known as District 1, in Bucharest, Romania * District I, Budapest in Budapest, Hungary * District ...
* COL Leon Jaworski (1924) – Watergate Special Prosecutor; Senior Partner, Fulbright & Jaworski Houston, Texas; Served on the Warren Commission; President, American Bar Association (1971–1972); Chief of War Crimes detachment of the JAG Corps of the US Army (1944–1946); Treasurer and co-founder, Democrats for Reagan. * James E. Kinkeade – Judge,
United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (in case citations, N.D. Tex.) is a United States district court. Its first judge, Andrew Phelps McCormick, was appointed to the court on April 10, 1879. The court convenes in D ...
(2002–Present) * Tim Kleinschmidt, J.D. (1981) - Member of the Texas House of Representatives from Giddings; city attorney in Giddings and Lexington *
Tryon D. Lewis Tryon may refer to: * Tryon (surname) Places * Tryon Creek, tributary of the Willamette River in Oregon * Tryon Street, major north-south street of Charlotte, North Carolina * Tryon, Prince Edward Island, Canada, unincorporated area * Settled ...
, J.D. – Member of the Texas House of Representatives from Odessa; former 161st State Judicial District judge *
Thomas C. Mann Thomas Clifton Mann (November 11, 1912 – January 23, 1999) was an American diplomat who specialized in Latin American affairs. He entered the U.S. Department of State in 1942 and quickly rose through the ranks to become an influential es ...
- U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador (1955–1957) and US Ambassador to Mexico (1961–1963) * K. Nicole Mitchell, J.D. (2006) –
U.S. Magistrate Judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...
,
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to ...
(2013–present) *
Amos L. Mazzant III Amos Louis Mazzant III (born February 22, 1965) is a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and former United States magistrate judge of the same court. Bio ...
(J.D. 1990) – Judge,
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...
(2014-present) *
Priscilla Owen Priscilla Richman (formerly Priscilla Richman Owen) (born October 4, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She was previously a justice ...
, J.D. (1977) – Judge, U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (2005 – present); Former Texas Supreme Court Justice (1994–2005). * William Robert (Bob) Poage (1924) – U.S. House of Representatives, (1937–1978) * Graham B. Purcell, Jr., LL.B (1949) – U.S. representative from Texas' 13th congressional district from 1962 to 1973 * Kevin Reynolds – Former Texas lawyer and director of ''Fandango'', ''Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'', and ''Waterworld''. *
Max Sandlin Max Allen Sandlin Jr. (born September 29, 1952) is a former Democratic Congressman who served eight years (1997–2005) in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Texas District 1. Early life and career The son of the former Margie Beth ...
– Judge, U.S. Congressman (1997–2005) * William Sessions – Director of the FBI (1987–1993) * Justice Rebecca Simmons- Justice, Fourth Court of Appeals, Texas * Byron Tunnell – Former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives *
T. John Ward Thomas John Ward (born April 17, 1943) is a retired United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is best known for the large number of patent infringement case ...
– Judge,
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...
(1999–present) *
Kirk Watson Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk'' ...
– Former mayor of Austin and current state senator * Mark Wells White – Governor of Texas (1983–1987) * John Eddie Williams – Counsel, Texas Tobacco Settlement (Baylor University's football field is named John Eddie Williams Field in recognition of Williams' donation to the program) * Frank Wilson – U.S. Congressman (1947–1955)


References


Princeton Review



External links

* {{Authority control 1857 establishments in Texas
Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
Education in Waco, Texas Educational institutions established in 1857 Law schools in Texas