- Individualized support to empower you to succeed
- One-on-one constructive meetings with your professors
- Step-by-step coaching from upper-level students in your first year
- Specialized workshops in specific writing areas
- Focused attention to polish skills for your chosen practice area
- Innovative techniques to help master the skills you need
From your first day in law school, you will learn to navigate the hierarchy of legal authority and construct a legal proof. Then, in progressive steps, you will learn to research law and to write increasingly complex documents as you acquire the higher levels of skill that employers demand.
Innovative Teaching and Personal Attention:
In the classroom, you will find innovative teaching techniques and personal attention. In multiple assignments, your work will receive a close reading that weighs everything from legal reasoning to writing fundamentals and legal citations. You will meet one-on-one with your professor to discuss individual questions and track your progress.
Real-World Insights with Appellate Court Experience:
In the spring semester, you will watch lawyers in action when the Second Court of Appeals of Texas hears oral arguments on our campus. You will read the briefs in advance, watch judges ask the tough questions—and then prepare for the excitement of your own oral argument in the classroom.
Tailoring Your Writing Skills to Your Interests:
After the first year of law school, you will choose the practice area in which you want to polish your writing. You can select one or more upper-level writing classes in any of a wide range of legal specialties. Depending on your choice, you will soon be drafting such documents as intellectual property licenses, criminal and civil pleadings, discovery requests, corporate contracts, child custody and property settlement agreements, articles of incorporation, commercial leases, and wills.
Supporting Your Success Through Rigorous Demands:
The demands will be high, but our program provides support that will empower you to succeed. Excellent upper-level students, working in our proactive Academic Support program, will coach you step-by-step through the demands of the first year. Throughout your time in law school, our Writing Center will offer workshops in specific writing areas as well as individual assistance for your work.
In every course, the learning is practical and hands-on; alumni tell us that they have kept their writing samples as guides to use in their legal practice.
