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SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY, DEDMAN SCHOOL OF LAW

Dallas, TX

http://www.law.smu.edu

Founded in 1925, SMU Dedman School of Law is located on a magnificent tree-lined campus in a beautiful residential neighborhood just five miles north of downtown Dallas.

SMU offers seven degree programs: JD (full-time day or part-time evening), JD/MBA, JD/MA in Economics, LLM (General), LLM (Taxation), LLM (International for foreign attorneys), and SJD. The JD curriculum is designed to achieve the goal of producing lawyers who are capable and responsible professionals through its emphasis on providing substantive knowledge, ethical and moral training, and practical skills to serve their clients in local, national, and global communities. Each JD student must complete 87 credit hours. Thirty-one of these hours comprise the mandatory first-year curriculum. After the first year, students must complete Constitutional Law II, professional responsibility, two upper-level writing courses and a professional skills course. Therefore, students have the freedom to tailor a program of study that furthers their professional and personal goals by selecting from over 165 upper-division courses per year. Students may also choose to study abroad for six weeks during the summer at University College at Oxford University in England. While SMU’s traditional strengths include corporate, tax, and international law, the curriculum extends to many areas including criminal, environmental, family, health care and intellectual property law.

In addition to the wide range of courses, students are encouraged to enhance their legal education by participating in numerous programs sponsored by various faculty, student groups and centers. Selected students serve as editors on five major law journals for which they receive academic credit. Through the Board of Advocates, students have the opportunity to compete in approximately 30 moot court, mock trial, client counseling and negotiation competitions held at the local, regional, national and international level. Furthermore, students can become active members in over 30 organizations. Some of which include: Student Bar Association, Hispanic Law Students Association, Black Law Students Association, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Women in Law, Association for Public Interest Law, Association for Law and Politics, Older Wiser Law Students, Corporate Law Society, Criminal Law Association and International Law Society.

For those students interested in gaining practical experience, numerous externships and clinics are available. Through the legal clinics, student attorneys can earn up to six hours of course credit by representing indigent clients in various legal matters. SMU has seven clinics: child advocacy, civil, consumer advocacy, criminal defense, criminal prosecution, federal taxpayers and small business. Students are also exposed to the importance of pro bono service by conducting a required 30 hours of public service before graduation.

Further hands-on experience can be gained by clerking with law firms, judges, in-house counsels and government agencies. The Office of Career Services partners with students to assist with job placement. Within nine months of graduation, 98.56 percent of the class of 2008 was employed. In July 2009, approximately 91 percent of SMU first-time test takers passed the Texas bar exam, while the average bar passage rate in Texas was approximately 83 percent.

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