Res Ipsa Blog

On Monday, Texas Lawyer released the results of surveys it conducted of over 1,100 Texas law students in the Spring 2008 semester. The results were as follows: Top Marks by Category: Career Services Office: Southern Methodist University Students Felt Prepared to Practice on Graduation: Baylor University Collegiality: University of Houston Technology: Southern Methodist University Teaching Quality: Southern Methodist University Library Services: Texas Wesleyan Faculty Accessibility: Texas Tech School of Law Student Diversity: Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law Click for full-size image Most Influential Professors: SMU - Gregory S. Crespi Texas Wesleyan ... Read More

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

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

Texas Tech University School of Law announced today that it will be hosting United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia this Fall as he takes center stage for the Sandra Day O'Connor Distinguished Lecture Series. The Series, which started last year with the attendance of former United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is the result of the continuing efforts of Dean Walter Huffman and distinguished alum Mark Lanier to bring much deserved recognition to the law school. On a related note, ... 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

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

Yesterday, in In re Sara Steed, et al., the Texas Court of Appeals at Austin ruled that, in the case of the children of the thirty-eight mothers represented in the case, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services failed to show that there was an "immediate danger to the physical health or safety of the children." Prior to removing children from their homes, section 262.201 of the Texas Family Code requires a showing that (1) that there was a danger to the ... Read More

1    University of Houston Law Center     1.79% 2    SMU Dedman School of Law     1.81% 3    The University of Texas School of Law     2.13% 4    Texas Tech University School of Law     2.99% 5    South Texas College of Law     4.45% 6    St. Mary's University School of Law     4.99% 7    Texas Southern University—Thurgood Marshall School of Law     6.99% 8    Baylor University School of Law       7.23% 9    Texas Wesleyan University School of Law     10.15% Compare these to the best and worst law school attrition rates: The highest ... Read More

Despite the controversy surrounding Perry Homes v. Cull, I’ve limited my discussion to the facts and holding of the case. Traditionally courts have upheld arbitration agreements, and there is a strong presumption against waiver of arbitration. Perry Homes v. Cull was the first case in which the Texas Supreme Court found a party waived arbitration by substantial invocation of the judicial process. Facts In 1996, Robert and Jane Cull purchased a home from Perry Homes and a home warranty that provided a broad arbitration agreement, ... Read More