Texas A&M University School of Law

Texas A&M University
School of Law
Former names
 Texas Wesleyan University School of Law
Type Public university
Established 1989
Parent institution
 Texas A&M University
Academic affiliations
 Association of American Law Schools
Endowment $11.6 billion (University System and Foundations, 2017)[1]
Dean Robert B. Ahdieh[2]
Academic staff
 118 (2017)[3]
Students 412 (2017)[3]
Location Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Nickname Aggies
Website law.tamu.edu

Texas A&M University School of Law is a public, ABA-accredited law school located in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The law school is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and offers the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree through its full-time[4] and part-time[5] programs. Students may also pursue a Master of Laws (LL.M) or Master of Jurisprudence (M.Jur.) degree either online or in-residence.[6]

Founded in 1989, the law school began as the Dallas/Fort Worth School of Law in Irving, Texas, then became the Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in 1992. On June 26, 2012, Texas A&M University reached an agreement with Texas Wesleyan University whereby it would take over ownership and operational control of the law school, to be renamed the Texas A&M University School of Law. The agreement was finalized on August 12, 2013, with Texas A&M purchasing the school and all its physical and licensing assets for $73 million.[7]

Academics

The school confers the Juris Doctor degree upon students who satisfactorily complete a 90-hour course of study, rigorous writing requirement, experiential learning requirement, and a 30-hour pro bono requirement. Concentrations are available in Business Law; Criminal Law, Justice & Policy; Dispute Resolution; Estate Planning; Family Law; Intellectual Property; Workplace Law; Energy Law; Environmental Law; and Water Law.[8]

Since the law school's acquisition by Texas A&M University, it has increased the size of the faculty by 30% while reducing the size of incoming classes for an 8.4:1 student-faculty ratio in the 2016-17 academic year.[9] It also boosted the overall scholarship budget by 65%.[10]

Programs

Through the Advocacy Program, students may compete in Moot Court (appellate advocacy), Mock Trial (trial advocacy) and Alternative Dispute Resolution (negotiation, mediation and arbitration).[11]

The Texas A&M Law Fellowship is devoted to raising awareness of legal work in the public interest sector. The student-run organization awards fellowships to deserving students who work in public interest organizations during the summer by raising money at the annual Law Fellowship Gala and Auction.[12]

The legal clinics offered at the law school include the Community Legal Access Clinic, Criminal Defense Clinic, Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, Family Law and Benefits Clinic, Immigrant Rights Clinic, Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic, Low Income Tax Clinic, and Wills and Estates Clinic.[13] Students who are accepted into the clinic are supervised by practicing attorneys and a faculty supervisor.[14] In 2014, the United States Patent and Trademark Office approved a clinic at the law school after the school had shown a strong intellectual property program.[15] The school has expanded that program, doubling that faculty in 2015.[16]

Cost

As part of the transition from a private to a public institution, in 2015 the law school announced that it would offer in-state tuition beginning in the 2016-17 academic year, resulting in a 15.39% reduction in tuition and fees for Texas residents. It also guarantees a locked tuition rate to all students for up to four academic years.[10]

For the 2017-18 academic year, full-time resident tuition and fees are $28,504; for non-residents, tuition and fees are $34,498.[17]

Rankings

Texas A&M University is ranked 80th in the 2019 edition of the U.S. News Rankings of Best Law Schools.[18] The overall ranking has increased significantly since 2015 when it was unranked.[19] U.S. News had previously ranked the law school 149th (2016), 111th (2017), and 92nd (2018). The school is also ranked 7th for its intellectual property law program for 2019.[20]

Bar exam

The law school had a first-time pass rate of 74.43% for those taking the Texas Bar Exam in February and July of 2015. That performance was fifth-best among Texas law schools behind University of Texas School of Law (87.13%), SMU Dedman School of Law (84.48%), Texas Tech University School of Law (81.73%), and Baylor Law School (80.73%), while ahead of University of Houston Law Center (73.76%), South Texas College of Law (70.64%), St. Mary's University School of Law (61.08%), and Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law (57.97%).[21]

For all 2015 Texas A&M law graduates, 90.50% ultimately passed the bar exam within two years of graduation. That performance was also fifth-best among Texas law schools behind Baylor Law School (100.00%), SMU Dedman School of Law (94.12%), Texas Tech University School of Law (93.94%), and University of Houston Law Center (92.52%), while ahead of University of Texas School of Law (85.50%), Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law (80.82%), South Texas College of Law (72.12%), and St. Mary's University School of Law (64.93%).[22]

Employment

Out of 183 total graduates of the Class of 2017, 74.32% (or 136 graduates) obtained full-time, long-term employment for which bar passage was required or for which a J.D. was an advantage within 10 months of graduation. 63.93% (or 117 graduates) were employed in long-term, full-time, bar passage required jobs excluding solo practice.

16.39% (or 30 graduates) were unemployed and seeking work, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short term, or part time job within 10 months of graduation.[23]

Class-action lawsuit

On April 7, 2014, Texas A&M University Provost Karen L. Watson sent a letter to alumni of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law confirming that Texas A&M would not be re-issuing diplomas to Texas Wesleyan alumni as it lacked the necessary accreditation to do so.[24] In August 2015, some Texas Wesleyan University School of Law alumni filed a class-action suit against Texas A&M University to resolve their alumni status.[25] The lawsuit was dismissed by the judge for the Northern District of Texas on January 14, 2016.[26]

Scholarly publications

  • Texas A&M Law Review[27]
  • Texas A&M Journal of Property Law[27]

References

  1. ↑ "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Endowment Market Value and Change* in Endowment Market Value from FY2016 to FY2017". NACUBO. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  2. ↑ "Texas A&M University School of Law Appoints New Dean". law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 "TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY - 2017 Standard 509 Information Report" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Our J.D. Program". www.law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  5. ↑ "Our Part-Time Program". www.law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  6. ↑ "LL.M & M.Jur. Programs at Texas A&M Law". www.law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  7. ↑ Monica S. Nagy, Regent gives $1 million to Texas A&M School of Law, Star-Telegram (Fort Worth), Apr. 2, 2014 (last visited on July 8, 2015); Reeve Hamilton, A&M's Law School Acquisition Differs From Original Plan, Tex. Trib., Aug. 13, 2013 (last visited July 8, 2015).
  8. ↑ "Concentrations". www.law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  9. ↑ "Texas A&M - Investing in Your Future". law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  10. 1 2 "Texas A&M University Lowers and Locks Tuition for Law School". law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  11. ↑ "Advocacy Program". www.law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  12. ↑ "Public Interest Law Fellowship". law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  13. ↑ "Centers, Clinics & Programs". law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  14. ↑ Law Clinic, Texas A&M University, n.d. (last visited July 8, 2015).
  15. ↑ Student Lawyers Get in on the Intellectual Property Boom, Wall St. J., Aug. 5, 2014 (last visited July 8, 2015).
  16. ↑ Dennis Crouch, Texas A&M University School of Law, PatentlyO.com, Apr. 10, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Tuition". law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  18. ↑ "Texas A&M University". U.S. News. Archived from the original on 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  19. ↑ "How Texas A&M became a top-100 law school in four years". star-telegram. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  20. ↑ "Best Intellectual Property Law Programs". U.S. News. Archived from the original on 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  21. ↑ "Standard 509 Reports". www.abarequireddisclosures.org. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  22. ↑ "Statistics | Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  23. ↑ "Employment Statistics". law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  24. ↑ "Provost Watson's Statement on School of Law" (PDF). 2014-08-11. Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2017-10-16.
  25. ↑ Benjamin Wermund, Law school graduates sue A&M over alumni status, Houston Chron., Aug. 12, 2015 (last visited Aug. 12, 2015).
  26. ↑ "Courthouse News Service". oldarchives.courthousenews.com. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  27. 1 2 "Law Journals". www.law.tamu.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
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