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.

On Friday, November 18, McLennan County celebrated Adoption Day, where 36 children in foster care realized their dream of finding a forever family at Baylor Law before McLennan County Judge Nikki Mundkowsky.

Baylor Law Veterans Clinic recognized Curtis Brown and Dominic Braus (JD ’09) as the 2022 Advocates of the Year at the Waco-McLennan County Bar Association luncheon on Friday, November 4.

The Waco Chapter of The Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (TEX-ABOTA) has selected Baylor Law’s Jim Wren to receive the 2022 Civility and Ethics Award for outstanding ethics and civility in his professional career.

The team of Catherine McKinney and Maria Zermeno Simon edged out the team of Danielle Hayes and Tiffany Dunkin to take the top spot as winners of the 2022 Dawson & Sodd, PLLC Moot Court Competition at Baylor Law.

The Executive Committee of the Baylor Law Alumni Association has selected Michael P. Heiskell (J.D. ’74) as the 2022 Baylor Lawyer of the Year. Cynthia Clack (J.D. ’78), President of the Baylor Law Alumni Association, presented Heiskell with the award during a recognition luncheon at the Fort Worth Club on Thursday, September 15th.

Patricia Diaz-Rodriguez (LL.M.'19) was recently elected Region II President of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA). Region II serves members of the HNBA in New York. She was sworn in during the National Hispanic Bar Conference in Washington, D.C., on September 9, 2022.

For the third time in five years, Baylor Law’s Moot Court interscholastic team has clinched another national championship at the E. Earle Zehmer Moot Court competition held in Orlando. In a testament to the depth of talent of Baylor Law’s moot court teams, two Baylor Law teams advanced to the final round of the competition and faced off for the championship on Monday, August 21, 2022.

Since 2002, Baylor Law has hosted the Texas District and County Attorneys Association’s (TDCAA) Advanced Trial Advocacy Course during the ‘intersession’ between the Summer and Fall Quarters. Building on this decades-long partnership, Baylor hosted two of TDCAA’s educational programs this summer: its Advanced Trial Advocacy Course and its Advanced Appellate Course.

For the second time in four years, the American Bar Association (ABA) has awarded Baylor Law with its prestigious E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award. The ABA has selected Baylor Law’s innovative Leadership Development Program to receive the 2022 Award, following the selection of Baylor Law’s Practice Ready Program in 2018.

Baylor Lawyer Cindy V. Tisdale (JD '95) of Granbury was sworn in as President-Elect of the State Bar of Texas during the State Bar's Board of Directors meeting on June 9, 2022. Tisdale will serve as the Bar's President from June 2023 to June 2024. She is the owner and principal of the Law Office of Cindy V. Tisdale and is Of Counsel at Lynch, Chappell & Alsup in Midland.

Stephanie Dunnam Mabry joined Baylor Law as its Director of Development in the Spring of 2022. She received her Bachelor of Arts in history and political science from Baylor University and a Master of Arts in Politics and Society in Historical Perspective from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.