Baylor Law School

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Baylor University Law School

Established:	1857, 1920
Type:	Private
Location:	Waco, Texas, USA
U.S. News Rank:	No. 55, 2d Tier
Website:	law.baylor.edu

Founded in 1857, Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. Affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco, Texas, the Law School is singularly clear about its mission – to equip students upon graduation to practice law effectively and ethically. That is the key difference. Students are trained and mentored in all facets of law, including theoretical analysis, practical application, legal writing, advocacy, professional responsibility, and negotiation and counseling skills.

The Princeton Review notes that "Baylor University is very small, very affordable, and very difficult to get into. For students lucky enough to gain admission, Baylor's unique, ultra intense, and 'tough' Practice Court Program is arguably the best training ground in the nation for practical lawyering..."¹

Admissions and Academics

Baylor Law School’s mission is to educate men and women by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community. It also seeks to enroll exceptionally motivated students who have strong work ethics, who will enrich the student body, and who will make a distinctive contribution to the legal profession. In addition to an applicant’s undergraduate grade point average and LSAT score, the Admissions Committee takes into consideration such factors as letters of recommendation, academic achievements, extracurricular activities, work experience, other evidence of maturity, and a strong work ethic, as well as the ability to contribute to the diversity of the Baylor community. The applicant’s ability to communicate clearly and concisely, as evidenced through the Personal Statement, is also a key factor.

Baylor Law School operates on a quarter system, with entering classes of approximately 65 students in the spring, 30 in the summer and 65 in the fall. 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.

First-year students must take courses in criminal law; civil and criminal procedure; legislation, administrative power and procedure; contracts; torts; property; and legal analysis, research and communication. Additionally, students can concentrate in one of six areas, which include administrative practice, business litigation, business transactions, criminal practice, estate planning and general civil litigation.

Nationally Ranked Advocacy Program

The bedrock of Baylor’s nationally ranked advocacy program is the third-year Practice Court Program, a six-month course required for all third-year students. Procedure, evidence, and advocacy are the tools of the trial lawyer, and the Practice Court Program is an ultra-intensive study of these essentials. Students try multiple lawsuits from beginning to end, ensuring that when they graduate they are able to hit the ground running.

Interscholastic Competition

The Law School’s interscholastic teams (mock trial, moot court, client counseling, mediation and trial ethics) are highly successful at state, regional and national levels, with a mock trial team and moot court team having been crowned national champions in recent years. Most recently, Baylor 3Ls Josh Hedrick and Danny Back won the 2007 AAJ (formerly ATLA) Mock Trial National Championship, one of the most prestigious mock trial tournaments in the nation.

Bar Exam Success

Baylor’s record of success on the Texas bar exam is unsurpassed by any other Texas law school. Baylor Law School has had the highest pass rate on the Bar Exam 10 times since 2002, including a 95.83 percent pass rate on the February 2008 exam and 97.85 percent pass rate on the July 2007 exam. Students taking bar exams in other states also enjoy a high pass rate.²

History

Baylor originally established the second law school west of the Mississippi in 1857. Law classes continued until 1883. In 1920, the Board of Trustees of Baylor University reestablished the law department under the direction of Dean Allen G. Flowers. Bradley J.B. Toben currently serves as Dean of the Law School.

Facilities

The home of Baylor Law School is the award-winning Sheila & Walter Umphrey Law Center. The building houses every facility a modern law school requires: spacious and comfortable classrooms, a student lounge and dining area, practice courtrooms, an extensive law library, and computer and research labs that provide access to the Internet, wireless connectivity throughout the building.

Alumni

Baylor Law School has a record of producing outstanding lawyers, many of whom decide on a career in public service. The Law School boasts two Texas governors, members or former members of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate, two former directors of the FBI, ambassadors, federal judges, justices of the Texas Supreme Court and members of the Texas Legislature among its notable alumni.

[edit] Notable alumni

Colonel 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.
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).
Priscilla Owen, J.D. (1977) - Judge, U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (2005-Present); Former Texas Supreme Court Justice (1994-2005).
Justice Rebecca Simmons- Justice, Fourth Court of Appeals, Texas
Robert R. (Bob) Poage (1924) – U.S. House of Representatives, (1937-1978)
Jack English Hightower (1951) - U.S. House of Representatives, (1975-1985)
Charles Wallace Barrow- Former Justice, Texas Supreme Court
Phillip Benjamin Baldwin- Justice, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Mark Wells White- Governor of Texas (1983-1987)
Kirk Watson- Former mayor of Austin and current state senator
James B. Adams- Texas legislator, and former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1978-79)
William Sessions- Director of the FBI (1987-1993)
Max Sandlin- Judge, U.S. Congressman (1997-2005)
Louie Gohmert- U.S. Congressman (2005-present)
Beau Boulter- U.S. Congressman (1985-1989)
Jack M. Fields- U.S. Congressman (1981-1997)
Thomas C. Mann- U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador (1955-1957) and US Ambassador to Mexico (1961-1963)
Sam Blakely Hall Jr. – U.S. Congressman (1975-1985) and U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas
Graham Boynton Purcell Jr. – U.S. Congressman (1962-1973)
Frank Wilson – U.S. Congressman (1947-1955)
Sam R. Cummings –Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (1987-present)
Sidney Fitzwater – Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (1986-present)
Andrew Scott Hanen - Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (2002-present)
Joe Kendall – Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (1992-2002)
Ed Kinkeade – Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (2002-present)
Walter Smith – Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas (1984-present)
Leonard Davis - Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (2002-present)
Chad Everingham - Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (2006-present)
Bob Bullock - Texas' 38th Lieutenant Governor and considered one of the most outstanding Texas political leaders of the 20th century.
Morris Harrell - Former President of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Texas.
T. John Ward - Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (1999-present)
Abner McCall - Former Justice, Texas Supreme Court
Byron Tunnell - Former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
Abelardo Valdez - Former U.S. Ambassador and Chief of Protocol for the White House