Baylor Law School

Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. 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. 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 University School of Law
Established1849 (original), 1920 (re-establishment)
School typePrivate
DeanBradley J.B. Toben
LocationWaco, Texas, U.S.
Enrollment381 [1]
Faculty28 (full-time)[1]
USNWR ranking50th (2021) [2]
Websitewww.baylor.edu/law

Established in 1849, Baylor Law School was the first law school in Texas and one of the first west of the Mississippi River.

History
Baylor Law School at dusk.

Baylor originally established the law school in 1849; at that time it was the second law school established west of the Mississippi. 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 currently serves as Dean of the Law School.

Academics
Baylor Law School on the banks of the Brazos River.

Unlike the rest of Baylor's programs, the Baylor Law School operates on a quarter system; a student may begin classes in either February (spring quarter), May (summer quarter), or August (fall quarter). Students that begin classes in the spring quarter receive special treatment and usually enjoy an easier law school experience than students who begin in the summer or fall quarters. The Law School also has four graduating classes per year (coinciding with the end of each quarter including the winter quarter). Each matriculate class has a separate application pool, and applicants are required to apply to the quarter in which they would like to begin (if a student wants to be considered for admission in different quarters a separate application package is required for each).

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 is a practical one, focused more on the positive state of the law than a normative one.

  • First-year students are required to take 13 mandatory courses (41 credit hours) with no electives permitted. The required courses are in appellate advocacy and procedure; basic taxation principles for lawyers; civil procedure; contracts (I and II); criminal law; criminal procedure; legal analysis, research and communication (LARC, I and II), legislation, administrative power and procedure (LAPP); property (I and II); and torts (I and II).[3]
  • The second-year program consists of a mix of mandatory and elective courses. The four mandatory classes (which must be taken in the student's fourth and fifth quarters) are business organization (I), constitutional law, remedies, and trust and estates (I). At this point students can choose to concentrate in one of nine specialized areas of law (administrative practice, business litigation, business transactions, criminal practice, estate planning, general civil litigation, healthcare law, intellectual property, and real estate and natural resources), though a concentration is not required for graduation.[3]
  • The third-year program consists primarily of the School's 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. Practice Court consists of four classes. The first three classes (Professional Responsibility, Practice Court I: Pre-Trial Practice and Procedure, and Practice Court II: Trial Evidence, Procedure, and Practice) must be taken as a package within a quarter (and students cannot be enrolled in any other courses during that quarter); Practice Court III: Trial and Post-Trial Practice, Procedure, and Evidence must be taken immediately thereafter in the following quarter (and though students may take electives, any elective cannot be in a class scheduled after 2:15 pm).[3] The Practice Court program covers not only mock trials but all aspects of the law and procedure process from the filing of a suit to post-verdict motions.[4]

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.

In its 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 is ranked No. 48 in the magazine's 2020 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools." Above the Law ranked Baylor Law School at No. 33 in 2016.[5] The school also has the dubious distinction of being ranked as having the most competitive student body of every law school in the nation for several years by the Princeton Review.[6]

Law review
Baylor Law Review
LanguageEnglish
Publication details
History1948–present
Frequency3/year
Standard abbreviations
BluebookBaylor L. Rev.
ISO 4Bayl. law rev.
Indexing
ISSN0005-7274
OCLC no.818986563
Links

The Baylor Law Review is the law school's official student-run law review.[7] The journal was founded in 1948[8] and is published three times per year (Fall, Winter and Spring).[9] Students may join the Law Review via having a qualifying GPA, being selected through a write-on competition, or writing a note or comment for the journal that is selected for publication.[10]

Employment

According to Baylor's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 67.6% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[11] Baylor's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 17%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[12]

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Baylor for the 2013-2014 academic year is $69,113.[13] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $262,761.[14]

Notable alumni
Baylor University School of Law as seen from the front
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References
  1. "Baylor University School of Law, ABA Law School Data" (PDF). LSAC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  2. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/baylor-university-03148. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. http://www.baylor.edu/law/cs/index.php?id=76102
  4. http://www.baylor.edu/law/Advocacy/index.php?id=76233
  5. https://abovethelaw.com/careers/2016-law-school-rankings/
  6. https://www.princetonreview.com/law-school-rankings?rankings=most-competitive-students
  7. "About Baylor Law Review". Baylor University Law School Review.
  8. "Baylor Law Review". HeinOnline.
  9. "Subscriptions". Baylor University Law Review.
  10. "Join Baylor Law Review". Baylor University Law Review.
  11. "Employment Statistics" (PDF).
  12. "Baylor's LST Profile".
  13. "Baylor Cost of Attendance". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  14. "Baylor's LST Profile".
  15. "Phillip Benjamin Baldwin". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  16. "Charles Barrow". Baylor University Waco, Texas. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  17. "Beau Boulter". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  18. "Bob Bullock". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  19. "Tim Curry". Justia. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  20. "Leonard Davis". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  21. "Jack Fields". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  22. "Sidney A. Fitzwater". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  23. "Louie Gohmert". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  24. "Sam B. Hall". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  25. "Andrew S. Hanen". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  26. "Vice Admiral John G. Hannink". United States Navy. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  27. Vertuno, Jim (23 April 2014). "Former AP reporter Robert Heard dies at age 84". Associated Press. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  28. "Jack English Hightower". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  29. "Bryan Hughes". Texas House of Representatives. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  30. "Rep. Kleinschmidt, Tim (District 17)". house.state.tx.us. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  31. "Tryon D. Lewis". Texas House of Representatives. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  32. "Priscilla Owen". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  33. "William R. Poage". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  34. "Purcell, Graham Boynton, Jr". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  35. "J. T. Rutherford". Find A Grave. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  36. "Max Sandlin". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  37. "Byron M. Tunnell". Texas Politics. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  38. "Kirk Watson". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  39. "John Eddie Williams Makes Significant Gift to New Baylor Football Stadium". Baylor Media Communications.
  40. "WILSON, Joseph Franklin - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  41. "James Ed Kinkeade". Retrieved 1 October 2018.

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