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University of Houston Law Center

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Coordinates: 29°43′26″N 95°20′16″W / 29.7239°N 95.3379°W / 29.7239; -95.3379
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29°43′26″N 95°20′16″W / 29.7239°N 95.3379°W / 29.7239; -95.3379

University of Houston Law Center
Motto"LEX" (Latin: "law")[1]
Parent schoolUniversity of Houston
Established1947
School typePublic
DeanLeonard M. Baynes
LocationHouston, Texas, U.S.
Enrollment775
Faculty306
USNWR ranking68th (tie) (2024)[2]
Bar pass rate86.01% (2023)[3]
Websitewww.law.uh.edu

The University of Houston Law Center is the law school of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1947, the Law Center is one of 12 colleges of the University of Houston, a state university. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. The law school's facilities are located on the university's 667-acre campus in southeast Houston.

The Law Center awards the Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees. The law school ranked tied at 68th in the 2024 U.S. News & World Report law school rankings,[2] No. 6 in intellectual property law, No. 6 in part-time law and #9 in health law.[citation needed]

According to UHLC's official 2023 ABA-required disclosures, 92.2% of the Class of 2023 was employed in some capacity, 85% obtained full-time, long-term, bar admission required employment (as attorneys), and 6.25% obtained JD-required employment 10 months after graduation.[4]

The dean of the Law Center is Leonard M. Baynes.

History

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The University of Houston Law Center was founded in 1947 as the University of Houston College of Law, with an inaugural class consisting of 28 students and a single professor. The law school was housed in several locations on campus in its first few years—including temporary classrooms and the basement of the M.D. Anderson Library. The College of Law moved to the northeast corner of campus—shortly following its groundbreaking in 1969[5] and relocated to the newly established five-story, 180,000 square-foot John M. O'Quinn Law Building in the summer of 2022. [6]

In 1969, the college was renamed the Bates College of Law for Col. William B. Bates, former member of the University of Houston System Board of Regents and College of Law founding committee.[7] Since 1982, the College of Law has been commonly referred to as the University of Houston Law Center.[8]

In 2005, the University of Houston Law Center opened its facilities to Loyola University New Orleans College of Law after it was severely damaged in Hurricane Katrina, hosting 320 of the Loyola's 800 students taught by 31 Loyola law professors, allowing the Loyola students' education to continue uninterrupted.[9]

Rankings

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John M. O'Quinn Law Building

In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked UHLC tied for the 68th best law school.[2]

In 2024, Law.com named UHLC as No. 23 Go-To Law School in the nation based on graduates gaining employment in the top 100 law firms in the country. [10]

PreLaw magazine recognized UHLC in nine categories in 2023: Best Value Law School, top Business Law School, Top School for Criminal Law, Top School for Family Law, Top School for Health Law, Top School for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Top School for Intellectual Property, Top School for Advocacy and among the Most Diverse Law Schools.[11]  

Facts

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As of fall 2022, the law school reported a total enrollment of 617 students and employs a total of 273 full- and part-time faculty on staff. The student-faculty ratio is 6.2:1.[citation needed]

Admissions

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For the class of 2023, the school received 3,291 applications and accepted 32.27% of applicants, with 24.83% of those accepted enrolling (233 full-time and 29 part-time students). The median undergraduate GPA among all students at the school is 3.72, and the median LSAT score was 161. The class of 2023 is composed of 44.3% minority and 53% female.[12]

Tuition

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Annual tuition for the 2023–2024 full-time program is $34,942 for Texas residents and $50,132 for non-Texas residents. Annual tuition for the part-time program is $31,079 for Texas residents and $44,309 for non-Texas residents.[13]

Academics

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The J.D. program is 90 semester hours. Entering classes are generally divided into three full-time day sessions of some 60 students each and one part-time evening section of some 35 students for first-year courses.[14]

The Law Center has special programs and institutes[15]

  • Blakely Advocacy Institute
  • Center for Children, Law & Policy
  • Criminal Justice Institute
  • The Environment, Energy, & Natural Resource Center
  • Health Law & Policy Institute
  • Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law

The Law Center offers several law clinics for upper-division students: the Appellate Civil Rights Clinic, Civil Justice Clinic, Military Justice Clinic, Entertainment Law Clinic, Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic, Immigration Clinic, Mediation Clinic and the Texas Innocence Network.[16]

University of Houston Law Library

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The director of the law library is Amanda Watson.[17] The library has some 435,000 volumes.[15] The library has three special collections:[18]

  • The Frankel Rare Books Collection is a closed-stack collection of rare and out of print books and documents as well as publications of the Law Center faculty.[19]
  • The Judge Brown Admiralty Collection is an admiralty and maritime law collection. Established mainly from an endowment by Houston admiralty lawyers, the collection is named in honor of Judge John Robert Brown, a Houston admiralty attorney who served on the Fifth Circuit. The entire collection was lost during Tropical Storm Allison, but was rebuilt through the Albertus book replacement project, completed in 2007.[20]
  • The Foreign & International Law Collection, which includes books and other documents on Mexican law.[21]

Tropical Storm Allison flooded the library's former location with eight feet of water in June 2001, destroying 174,000 books and the microfiche collection. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) gave $21.4 million to rebuild the library collection, which was 75 percent of the replacement cost. The collection has since been rebuilt.[22][23]

Journals and publications

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The Law Center publishes five law journals.[24] The Houston Law Review, established in 1963, is the school's main law journal.[25]

The four specialty journals are the Houston Business and Tax Law Journal (business law, tax law; founded in 2001),[26] the Houston Journal of Health Law and Policy (health care law),[27] the Houston Journal of International Law (international law),[28] and the Journal of Consumer & Commercial Law (commercial law).[29]

Employment

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According to UHLC's official 2023 ABA-required disclosures, 92.2% of the Class of 2023 was employed in some capacity, 85% obtained full-time, long-term, bar admission required employment (as attorneys), and 6.25% obtained JD-required employment 10 months after graduation.[4]

Costs

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The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at UHLC for the 2022–2023 academic year is $54,633.86 for a resident living on campus and $69,451.86 for a nonresident.[38] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $197,267 for residents and $239,808 for nonresidents.

Notable alumni

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References

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  1. ^ "LEX Seal". University of Houston Law Center. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "USNews University of Houston". Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  3. ^ "First Time Bar Passage Calendar Year 2023" (XLSX). American Bar Association. April 11, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY FOR 2023 GRADUATES" (PDF).
  5. ^ "University of Houston Through Time". University of Houston Library.
  6. ^ "UH Law Center welcomes back students in Texas' newly established law school building". University of Houston Law Center.
  7. ^ Perin, Monica (May 11, 1997). "UH Law Center looks back at 50 years of accomplishment". Houston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Archived from the original on March 21, 2004. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  8. ^ Banks, Gabrielle (August 26, 2016). "Courtroom showdown: Houston law schools battle over name". Houston Chronicle.
  9. ^ Willhoft, Ray (2006-01-06). "The Compassion of Neighbors, The Devotion of Community: Exiled School of Law Thrives During Challenging Times". Loyola University New Orleans. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  10. ^ "UH Law Center among top 25 Go-To Law Schools for Big Law jobs". UH Law Center.
  11. ^ "National Jurist's preLaw Magazine Winter 2024 edition". National Jurist.
  12. ^ "class Profile" (PDF). UH Law Center.
  13. ^ "Tuition". UH Law Center.
  14. ^ "University of Houston Law Center: Law School J. D. Program Overview". University of Houston Law Center.
  15. ^ a b "About the University of Houston Law Center". University of Houston Law Center.
  16. ^ "Discover the Clinics at University of Houston Law". University of Houston Law Center.
  17. ^ "University of Houston Law Center Faculty". University of Houston Law Center.
  18. ^ "O'Quinn Law Library". University of Houston Law Center.
  19. ^ "Frankel Rare Books Collection". University of Houston Law Library.
  20. ^ "Judge Brown Admiralty Collection". University of Houston Law Library.
  21. ^ "Foreign & International Law Research Guides and Bibliographies". University of Houston Law Center.
  22. ^ "University Of Houston O'Quinn Law Library Eligible For $21.4 Million In FEMA Funds To Replace Books" (Press release). Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2001-11-26. Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
  23. ^ Kopatic, Alex (2002). "O'Quinn Law Library Cracks The Books on $42 Million Albertus Project" (PDF). University of Houston Law Center. [permanent dead link‍]
  24. ^ "Journals and Publications". University of Houston Law Center.
  25. ^ "About the Law Review". Houston Law Review.
  26. ^ "Houston Business and Tax Law Journal".
  27. ^ "Houston Journal of Health Law and Policy".
  28. ^ "Houston Journal of International Law".
  29. ^ "Journal of Consumer & Commercial Law".
  30. ^ "TJB | SC | About the Court | Justices | Justice Jeff Brown". Archived from the original on 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
  31. ^ "Nandita Berry sworn in as Texas Secretary of State, January 7, 2014". sos.state.tx.us. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  32. ^ "Obituary". The Shreveport Times. December 27, 2019.
  33. ^ "Marcia A. Crone". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  34. ^ "Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin Faleomavaega, Jr". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  35. ^ "Gene Green". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  36. ^ "Vanessa Gilmore". Just the Beginning Foundation. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  37. ^ "ALUM RICHARD HAYNES CREATES A LEGAL LEGACY". University of Houston. Archived from the original on 2013-02-03. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  38. ^ "Randy Hendricks". 2005 Hendricks Sports Management LP. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  39. ^ "Jolanda Jones". State Bar of Texas. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  40. ^ Ruiz, Rosanna (June 24, 2004). "Deaths: I.D. McMaster, 80, judge for 2 decades". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  41. ^ Murphy, Kate (31 October 2009). "John O'Quinn, 68, Star Personal-Injury Lawyer in Texas, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  42. ^ "Gray H. Miller". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  43. ^ "Dora Olivo". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  44. ^ "Larry Phillips". Siebman, Burg, Phillips & Smith, LLP. Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  45. ^ "Ted Poe". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  46. ^ "Michael H. Schneider, Sr". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  47. ^ "Star Jones". Notable Names Data Base. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  48. ^ "Olen Underwood". Texas State Directory Press, Inc. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  49. ^ "Dr. Richard Waites". Justia.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  50. ^ "Ken Paxton's Leadership Team | Office of the Attorney General". www.texasattorneygeneral.gov. Retrieved 2023-05-28.
  51. ^ "Royce West". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  52. ^ "John Whitmire". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  53. ^ "Samuel F. Wright" (PDF). Service Members Law Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  54. ^ "Philip D. Zelikow". Notable Names Data Base. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  55. ^ "Anthony G. Buzbee". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
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