Res Ipsa Blog

Texas law students who have completed 60 credit hours and are not on academic probation may apply for a third-year bar card. The temporary trial card allows the student to "participate in the trial of cases in Texas under the supervision of a licensed attorney." Students who wish to apply for a third year bar card outside of a clinical program should take the following steps: 1. Download and complete the Third Year Bard Card Application. (Word, PDF) Review pages 1-5. ... Read More

"You come in here with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer." Professor Kingsfield, The Paper Chase. Professor Kingsfield was right; law school changes the way you read, the way you think, and the way you analyze. Not unlike boot camp, this three-year odyssey is meant to break you and then remake you into something better than you were before. There are a number of things that you can do to ensure you come out on top when ... Read More

One factor that is often considered in determining a law school's ranking is the number of scholarly articles published per year by the school's faculty. Since larger schools have an advantage in this regard, a more equitable measure of publication rates is a comparison based on the number of papers published per full-time faculty member.  This offers a better measure of how often professors are being published. For example, under the traditional measure the University of Texas would come out ahead in ... Read More

The University of North Texas and the City of Dallas have selected a location for the proposed University of North Texas College of Law. On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council agreed to spend over $16 million renovating the old Dallas City Hall to make it the home of the "first pubic law school in North Texas." Built in 1914, the building served as the Dallas City Hall until 1978. It is in the parking lot of this building that Jack Ruby ... Read More

According to the ABA, 87% of law students borrow money for their law school education. The average law student at a private school graduates with over $83,000 in student debt, while those who graduate from public schools have, on average, over $54,000 in debt. In 2007, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) was signed into law by President Bush. (Public Law 110-084). The CCRAA provides for the forgiveness of federal student loans after i) 10 years of public service work, or ... Read More

University of Texas law students, on average, get the most bang for their law school buck. There are only two other schools in Texas where students make more in their first year than they spend in law school: the University of Houston and Texas Tech. At the other end of the spectrum, Baylor and Texas Wesleyan graduates have to work for nearly two years before they can recoup their law school expenses. The cost/earnings ratio (C/E ratio) reflects how much every dollar earned ... Read More

Continuing on the theme of whether going to law school is worth it, here is a look at the average starting salaries for Texas law school graduates, as originally published by The Princeton Review Best 170 Law Schools, 2008 Edition. (The average starting salary for Texas Southern graduates was not included in the article.)   Law School Average Starting Salary Texas Wesleyan University School of Law $57,497 St. Mary's University School of ... Read More

Traditional law school wisdom dictates students who want the best prices should buy their books from half.com and then sell them back on amazon.com. There is an even better way to handle books purchases and sales: bigwords.com. Bigwords.com is a price aggregator that takes into account the condition of books you want to purchase, how quickly you need them, and then searches for the best way to purchase all of your books taking advantage of shipping discounts, coupon codes, and other promotions. It ... Read More

Highest Grossing Law Firms Based in Texas in 2007 Akin Gump $752 million Fulbright $649 million Vinson & Elkins ... Read More

(click image for full size) Big Law: The University of Texas topped the list for graduates practicing at "Big Law" firms upon graduation at 28%. The next closest school was Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law. Private Practice: Texas Tech University School of Law had the highest percentage of students entering private practice. (81%). Judicial Clerkships: University of Texas students have the largest percentage (10%) of students entering judicial clerkships upon graduation. Government Jobs: Texas Wesleyan had the most students entering government practice on graduation In-State ... Read More