Baylor Law School

Last updated

Baylor University School of Law
Baylor Law School logo.png
Parent school Baylor University
Religious affiliation Baptist General Convention of Texas
Established1857;167 years ago (1857)(original)
1920;104 years ago (1920)(re-establishment)
School type Private law school
Dean Jeremy Counseller
Location Waco, Texas, U.S.
Enrollment448 (2009) [1]
Faculty31 full-time (2009) [1]
USNWR ranking46th (tie) (2024) [2]
Bar pass rate91.61% (2023) [3]
Website law.baylor.edu

Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. [4] Baylor Law School is affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco, Texas. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1931 and has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1938. [5] The program offers training in all facets of law, including theoretical analysis, practical application, legal writing, advocacy, professional responsibility, and negotiation and counseling skills.

Contents

History

Baylor Law School at dusk Baylor Law School at Dusk.JPG
Baylor Law School at dusk

Established in 1857, Baylor Law School was the first law school in Texas and the second law school west of the Mississippi River. [6] 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 to 1946 as a result of World War II.

Bradley J.B. Toben served as Dean of the Law School from 1991 until 2023. [7] At one time, Toben was the longest serving dean in the nation among the 200 ABA accredited law schools. [8] On July 1, 2024, Jeremy Counseller began serving as Dean of the Law School after a nationwide search ended in his selection. [9] An alumnus of Baylor Law School, Counseller returned as a professor in 2003 and taught civil procedure and evidence courses before becoming dean.

Academics

Baylor Law School on the banks of the Brazos River. Baylor University School of Law.JPG
Baylor Law School on the banks of the Brazos River.

Admissions

For the classes entering in 2022, Baylor Law School accepted 23.8% of applicants and 17.57% of those accepted enrolled with the average enrollee having a 163 LSAT score and 3.72 undergraduate GPA. [10]

Class structure

The school operates on a quarter system [11] and 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.

Degrees

In addition to the standard Juris Doctor degree, Baylor Law students can obtain a combined JD with either the Master of Business Administration (both traditional and with an emphasis in healthcare administration), the Master of Taxation, the Master of Public Policy and Administration, or the Master of Divinity degree. [12]

First-year program

First-year students are required to take the following courses and satisfactory completion is required before moving to upper-level courses. The required courses are:

Upper Class Required Courses

The following courses are mandatory upper-class courses for all student (Practice Court classes are shown separately):

Practice Court

The hallmark of the law school curriculum is its Practice Court program. Practice Court traces its roots to the original school; it was returned in 1922 shortly after the school was reinstituted. Though practice court is designed primarily for students who will practice law before Texas 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

Students can gain experience by working Baylor Law's legal clinics. [17] Baylor Law currently has five legal clinics: Estate Planning, Immigration, Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship, Trial Advocacy, and the Veterans Clinic. [18] Over the past few years, more than 1,500 central Texans have been served by Baylor Law students, faculty, and volunteer attorneys. [19]

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. [20] 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. [21]

Bar examination passage

In 2023, the overall bar examination passage rate for the law school’s first-time examination takers was 91.61%. The Ultimate Bar Pass Rate, which the ABA defines as the passage rate for graduates who sat for bar examinations within two years of graduating, was 96.11% for the class of 2021. [22]

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. [23] Baylor's Law School Transparency 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. [24]

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. [25] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $310,638. [26]

Rankings

Notable alumni

Baylor University School of Law as seen from the front Baylor Law School Front.jpg
Baylor University School of Law as seen from the front

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References

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  2. ↑ "Baylor University" . Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "First Time Bar Passage Calendar Year 2023" (XLSX). American Bar Association . 11 April 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
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  14. ↑ "Baylor Law Review". HeinOnline.
  15. ↑ "Subscriptions". Baylor University Law Review.
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