South Texas College of Law Houston

South Texas College of Law Houston is a private law school in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1923, it is accredited by the American Bar Association. South Texas College of Law Houston is the oldest law school in the city of Houston.[3] In 1923, the YMCA made the decision to establish a law school with a focus on offering night classes for working professionals. So began a tradition of educational excellence and relevant career preparation that has now spanned almost a century.[3]

South Texas College of Law Houston
MottoJustitia et Veritas Praevaleant (Latin)
Established1923
School typePrivate
DeanMichael Barry
LocationHouston, Texas, United States
Enrollment975[1]
Faculty64 full-time[1]
Bar pass rate77.4% (July 2019 first-time takers)[2]
Websitewww.stcl.edu
South Texas College of Law
The rear of South Texas College of Law, with the law library enclosed in glass

In 1998, the College was admitted as a member school into the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) by a unanimous vote of the AALS House of Representatives; the AALS is considered the learned society for legal education.[3] The College also joined with four other independent law schools – California Western School of Law, New England School of Law, Stetson University College of Law, and William Mitchell College of Law – to create a unique academic partnership, the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education (CILE).[3] The consortium represents a cooperative effort designed to enhance and strengthen the educational mission of each school separately and all of them collectively, providing expanded opportunities for educational programs on a national and international basis.

South Texas College of Law Houston has continued to receive national recognition, and was named the #1 BEST of the DECADE in Moot Court competitions, holding the most national championships of any public or private law school in the U.S., as recognized by PreLaw Magazine.[4]

South Texas College of Law Houston is located in the heart of downtown Houston, just minutes away from courthouses, major international law firms, corporations, and legal service providers.[5]

Advocacy Program

The South Texas College of Law advocacy program consistently ranks in the top 10 of the nation.[6] South Texas College of Law Houston's moot court program is ranked No. 1 in the nation, according to new data compiled by the University of Houston Law Center’s (UHLC) Blakely Advocacy Institute in 2018 and has consistently ranked in the top 4 ever since.[7] The Mock Trial Advocacy program at South Texas College of Law Houston is currently ranked 8th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and has consistently ranked in the top 10.[8] The South Texas College of Law Houston Alternate Dispute Resolution Program (ADR), where students compete in competitive mediations, negotiations, and as mediators, is also highly ranked.[9] In 2020, U.S. News & World Report ranked the South Texas College of Law Houston's dispute resolution program 31st in the nation.[10] Additionally, PreLaw Magazine named South Texas College of Law Houston as "Top Law School for ADR".[9]

South Texas College of Law Houston has won 133 national championships in advocacy.[11] No other school can claim half as many.[11]

Rankings

In 2020, the Princeton Review placed South Texas College of Law on its list of "Best Law Schools".[12]

U.S. News & World Report Rankings of Best Law Schools has ranked South Texas College of Law Part Time program as 46th in the nation.[13] As of 2020, South Texas College of Law Houston's U.S. News & World Report rank is 146-192 in the U.S. News & World Report Rankings of Best Law Schools.[14] U.S. News ranks the trial advocacy program at South Texas 7th (tie) in the nation.[14]

Bar passage and employment

Of the South Texas College of Law Houston graduates who took the Texas bar exam for the first time in February 2020, 77.4% passed, vs the overall passage rate of 64.26% for all other law schools of the State of Texas.[15] That was the second highest bar passage rate for the state of Texas. July 2019, 76.4% passed, vs. an overall passage rate of 81.5%.[2] Ultimate bar passage, which is defined as all graduates that sat and passed the bar within two years, is at 85.5%.[16]

According to South Texas College of Law Houston's official 2020 ABA-required disclosures, 66% of the class of 2019 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[17]

Academics

South Texas College of Law Houston is also part of a consortium of four independent ABA- and AALS-accredited American law schools—California Western School of Law, New England School of Law, and William Mitchell College of Law.[3] The Consortium for Innovative Legal Education, combines resources designed to enhance and strengthen the educational mission of each school separately and all of them collectively. This partnership provides access to educational programs on a national and international basis.

Students at South Texas can study abroad in London, Ireland, Malta, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Turkey, Chile, and Mexico.[18] In 2017, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg taught a course for South Texas College of Law Houston in Malta.[19] In previous years, Justice Antonin G. Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts both taught in international study abroad programs.[19]

Publications

South Texas College of Law Houston publishes several student-edited journals of legal scholarship, including Corporate Counsel Review, Currents: Journal of International Economic Law, South Texas Law Review, Texas Journal of Business Law, and Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy

  • South Texas Law Review is a student-edited quarterly legal journal published at the South Texas College of Law Houston. It was established in 1954. The review publishes scholarly works as well as comments and case notes. South Texas Law Review has published articles written by five Justices from the Supreme Court of the United States: Arthur Goldberg, William J. Brennan, Jr., William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, and Clarence Thomas. South Texas Law Review has published over 40 symposium issues on a wide range of topics. Since 1994, the review and the law school have hosted an annual ethics symposium during the fall semester. The symposia include a conference where scholars present papers on the year's topic. The papers are published by the review in a subsequent volume.
  • Currents (ISSN 1534-388X) is the official journal of international economic law at South Texas College of Law Houston. Debuting in the winter of 1991 and featuring an article by Senator Lloyd Bentsen,[20] Currents is published twice annually by the law student members and editors, who receive academic credit for writing projects and staff participation. Currents focuses on international trade law in its broadest sense, addressing the legal effects and structure of international trade agreements as well as the legal aspects of international business transactions, including the sale of goods and services, licensing, investment, and dispute resolutions. Individual past editions have focused on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) marketplace, the European Union, maritime law, emerging markets and international finance, and oil and gas transactions in Latin America.

Costs

Total cost of tuition is $35,550 for 2020, for both in-state and out-of-state students.[21] South Texas College of Law continues to be the 6th least expensive law school in Texas out of a total of 14.[22] The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at South Texas for the 2017–2018 academic year was $56,000.[23]

Community resources

South Texas sponsors the "Direct Representation Clinics", which provide legal representation to low-income residents of Harris County, Texas, in the areas of family law, probate, estate planning, and guardianship cases.[24] South Texas is also the first Texas law school to provide $400 each month toward student-loan indebtedness for its alumni working for nonprofit legal-aid organizations that provide services to the poor.[25]

Attempt to merge with Texas A&M University

In 1998, Texas A&M University tried to merge with South Texas College of Law Houston (at that time, called South Texas College of Law) under a public/private partnership. Under the proposal, the law school would have remained a private school, but would have been branded as the Texas A&M Law Center and would have awarded law degrees under the A&M seal.[26] The deal went sour after a lengthy legal fight with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the governing body of the state's public institutions. The courts ruled that the schools had failed to obtain the board's approval before entering into the agreement.[27] The University of Houston and other institutions voiced concern about the partnership.[28] In 2013, Texas A&M University entered into a similar arrangement with the Texas Wesleyan School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas, thereby creating the Texas A&M University School of Law.[29]

Litigation over name change

Until mid-2016, the law school was called "South Texas College of Law". On June 22, 2016, the day on which South Texas College of Law announced a name change to "Houston College of Law", the University of Houston (which has its College of Law within the University of Houston Law Center) announced that the University was "concerned about the significant confusion this creates in the marketplace and will take any and all appropriate legal actions to protect the interests of our institution, our brand, and our standing in the communities we serve."[30] The University of Houston System filed a lawsuit on June 27, 2016, in U.S. Federal district court in Houston.[31][32] On October 14, 2016, the U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction requiring that South Texas College of law stop using the name "Houston College of Law," pending further developments in the case.[33]

On November 7, 2016, the dean of the law school announced that the name would be changed to "South Texas College of Law Houston".[34]

Notable alumni

References
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  2. "July 2019 Examination Statistics". Texas Board of Law Examiners. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
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  6. Boniface, Russell. "South Texas College of Law Houston maintains winning advocacy program". Southeast Texas Record. Retrieved Jul 4, 2020.
  7. https://www.baylor.edu/law/news.php? action=story&story=201421
  8. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/trial-advocacy-rankings
  9. "STCL Houston Named a Top Law School for ADR and International Law by preLaw Magazine – South Texas College of Law Houston". Retrieved Jul 4, 2020.
  10. "TaxProf Blog: 2020 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings". taxprof.typepad.com. Retrieved Jul 4, 2020.
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  12. "Best Law Schools | The Princeton Review". www.princetonreview.com. Retrieved Jul 4, 2020.
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  15. https://ble.texas.gov/2020_Feb
  16. http://www.stcl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BarPassage-Report-2020.pdf
  17. http://www.stcl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ABA-509-Employment-Summary-Report-FINAL.pdf
  18. "Study Abroad – South Texas College of Law Houston". Retrieved Jul 4, 2020.
  19. "Law Students Enjoy Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Learn from US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – South Texas College of Law Houston". Retrieved Jul 4, 2020.
  20. Bentsen, L., "Review of U.S.-Mexico Environmental Issues," Currents: Int'l Trade L.J. (Winter 1991 Archived 2007-08-14 at the Wayback Machine) at 5.
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  31. Benjamin Wermund, "UH files suit over Houston law school name change," June 27, 2016, Houston Chronicle, at .
  32. Complaint, docket entry 1, June 27, 2016, The Board of Regents of the University of Houston System on behalf of the University of Houston System and its Member Institutions; The University of Houston System; and The Board of Regents of the University of Houston System, Plaintiffs v. South Texas College of Law, Defendant, case no. 16-cv-01839, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
  33. Gabrielle Banks, "Federal judge to law school: Hold off on name change for now," October 14, 2016, Houston Chronicle, at .
  34. Gabrielle Banks, "Another new name announced for Houston law school," Nov. 7, 2016, Houston Chronicle, at .
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