The Executive Committee of the Baylor Law Alumni Association proudly announces that Dean Brad Toben, JD ’77, has been named the Baylor Lawyer of the Year for 2023. This prestigious recognition highlights Dean Toben’s extraordinary accomplishments and unparalleled contributions to Baylor University, the Law School, and the legal profession.

Baylor Law has once again seized the coveted title of the nation’s top moot court program in the University of Houston Law Center’s Blakely Advocacy Institute Moot Court Program Ranking. This marks Baylor Law’s second time at the top of the ranking, having previously claimed the top spot in 2019.

Baylor Law is excited to announce the upcoming Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition for 2023, which will bring together accomplished advocates from 16 prestigious trial advocacy schools across the country. From May 31 to June 4, Baylor Law will host this invitation-only tournament, generously sponsored by MG+M The Law Firm.

“It was a role that was needed,” Sam Smith says about her new position as Baylor Law School’s Diversity and Events Coordinator. The conviction in her voice points to her passion not just for the issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion – which is considerable – but for the students she serves and supports.

Ronnie Turner, Jr. (JD, ’10), Senior General Attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, has been named the 2022 Young Baylor Lawyers of the Year. Dean Brad Toben (JD, ’77) publicly announced the honor at a recent Houston Baylor Lawyers Network reception.

Baylor Law has again demonstrated its excellence in appellate advocacy with a resounding victory at the American Bar Association (ABA) National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC). Tiffani Skroch and Dandee Cabanay, along with their brief co-writer Andrew Boone, emerged as the champions of the largest moot court competition in the country.

Tom Featherston, JD ’72, the Mills Cox Chair of Law, has taught Baylor Lawyers for 40 years and counting. Featherston is a Texas icon of estate planning, trusts, and marital property law. Every trusts and estates lawyer in Texas knows the name Tom Featherston.

The Baylor Law team of Emma Scofield, Meghan Thomas, and Student Coach Emily Ullom was named the 2023 ABA Client Counseling Competition National Champions on Saturday, April 1. This marks the first time Baylor Law has won this annual event that features teams from law schools across the United States competing in simulated client counseling scenarios.

On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, Baylor Law presented over 100 awards and honors to an outstanding cohort of students. The esteemed John Williams and Florence Dean Minton Student Awards Ceremony and Lecture Series was the perfect stage to recognize these future Baylor Lawyers for their diverse impact and remarkable achievements in academics, service, competitions, and other areas.

The legal writing team at Baylor Law is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Ultimate Writer Legal Writing Competition. Courtney Conner took first place and an $8,000 prize. The second-place winner, Andrew Boone, who won the competition in 2022, took home $1,500, and Winston Bribach took third place and a $500 prize. Jordan Gonzales, Anna Schmidt, Jake Weathers, and Riley Zoch received honorable mentions.

Ryan Hering and Olivia Schoffstall, Baylor Law Moot Court Team members, have been recognized for their exceptional oral advocacy skills, winning the Top Oral Advocacy Team award at the prestigious John R. Brown National Admiralty Law Moot Court Competition held in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Finalists in Baylor Law School's annual intermural Faegre Drinker Spring Moot Court Competition demonstrated their appellate advocacy skills before a distinguished panel of judges and a large audience on Monday, March 20, 2023. When the judges returned their decision, the team of Kingrey Sullens and Kelton Munch narrowly edged out the team of O'quilla Jones and Rachel Brooks to take the championship spot.

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will hear two cases at the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center on Thursday, March 23. The public is invited to attend the hearings in the Jim Kronzer Appellate Advocacy Classroom and Courtroom (Room 127) at the law school which will begin at 9am.

Baylor Law’s interscholastic moot court team took first place at the prestigious 31st annual Conrad B. Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, hosted by St. John’s University and the American Bankruptcy Institute. The team of Maddie Gay, Tansy Ackermann, and Casey Cooper emerged victorious – and Amber John, Jacob King, and Paige Browne – made a strong showing, ending as octa-finalists.

Baylor Law will keep tuition costs flat for the fourth consecutive year. This decision is part of the school’s ongoing efforts to make legal education more accessible and affordable to students. The 0% tuition increase means that students will continue to pay $1,471 per course hour per quarter, the same rate since the 2018-19 academic year.

The ABA Client Counseling Competition addresses fundamental skills necessary for all successful attorneys, namely the ability to interview, counsel, and support a client through their legal issue. Competitors conduct an initial interview with a person playing the role of the client and then address both the client’s legal and non-legal needs. Students are called on to explain various aspects of the attorney-client relationship, build rapport, determine client goals, and consider applicable law and options that may be available to the client.

We could use your help to judge.

On February 11, 2023, Baylor Law hosted the 18th annual People’s Law School, a half-day event offering free courses designed to make the law more accessible. More than 200 participants came to Baylor Law for the first in-person People’s Law School since 2020.

On Friday, Thursday, February 9th, Rhasean Stephens, President of Baylor Law’s Veteran and Military Legal Society and Director of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs Josh Borderud attended a roundtable discussion with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis R. McDonough.

The Baylor Law team of Michel Tagliabue, Sarah Megan Erb, and Vivian Noyd were runners-up at the 2023 Hunton Andrews & Kurth Invitational National Moot Court Competition, the ‘National Championship’ of moot court competitions.

On Thursday, January 26, Baylor Law announced the winners of the 2022 The Paper Chase Legal Writing Competition, Texas’s premier legal writing contest. According to the Judges from the Texas Young Lawyer Association (TYLA), this year’s winner is Gloria Jones of the University of Texas School of Law. Second Place was awarded to Colin Hickl of SMU Dedman School of Law, and Jacob C. Swanson of SMU Dedman School of Law took Third Place. The high-stakes legal writing competition stands out for its challenging real-world writing prompt and a significant cash prize award of $5,000 for first-place winner Gloria Jones and $7,000 in total prizes.

Ryann Connell of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and Will Cowan of the University of Houston Law Center are this year’s winners of The Closer, the nation’s most challenging transactional law competition. The runners-up in this year’s demanding competition were Alyx Thompson of the University of Tennessee College of Law and Evan Nelson of Emory University School of Law.

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Strategic Initiatives Stephen Rispoli has been named the 2023 Access to Justice Award recipient by the Association of American Law Schools.

The US Senate has confirmed Cindy Dyer, JD ’93, to become the next Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP), with the rank of Ambassador. Dyer’s appointment by President Biden earlier this year was confirmed by a unanimous bipartisan vote of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Baylor University School of Law announces the 14 law schools and student competitors that will participate in the seventh annual The Closer Transactional Law Competition in January 2023.

Baylor Law student Amanda Alvez is one of three recipients of the 2022 Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA) Diversity Scholarship.