Baylor Law School Again Ranked Among Nation's Elite

by Alan Hunt

WACO, Texas - Baylor University's School of Law again has been recognized by a national legal publication as one of the best law schools in the country. A study by The National Jurist ranks Baylor Law School 16th out of the 177 law schools in the nation.
Baylor and the University of Texas School of Law are the only two Texas law schools, among nine in the state, to be ranked among the top 20 schools and to make the "Fifty Best Law Schools" list.
Other schools ranked along with Baylor in the top 20 include the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Stanford, UCLA, Cornell, Notre Dame, Georgetown, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, New York University and Duke.
The publication based its ranking on five factors: quality of teaching; employment rate; faculty-student relations; reputation among attorneys, and bar exam pass rate. These factors were selected based on responses to a survey asking students to rate the importance of 39 different factors in selecting a law school.
Quality of teaching was identified by the students as the single most important factor, and the employment rate was ranked as the second most important.
The magazine's employment rate score reflects the percentage of graduates who had jobs nine months after graduation. Baylor's figure, at 96 percent, was at the high end of the listings. Baylor also scored high on the "reputation among attorneys" factor and the bar exam pass rate score. Baylor has ranked first in Texas pass rate statistics 20 of 28 times since 1983, when the Texas Board of Law Examiners first made the results public.
Brad Toben, dean of Baylor Law School, said, "The results of the study are especially gratifying because the findings reflect our students' perceptions of the legal education they are receiving.
"The study results validate our curriculum and method of instruction. Our students are keenly aware that while their tenure here will be rigorous, they understand that the skills they will acquire prepare them for the competitive arena that is our nation's legal system.
"The Baylor law experience is unique due to the relationships that develop between the faculty and the students. The result is a loyal alumni base that serves as a foundation of great strength for the school," said Toben.
The national ranking of Baylor Law School by The National Jurist continues the school's distinguished reputation. Baylor Law School's ranking in the The National Jurist study represents the second major study to place the school among the nation's top law schools during the past two years. Baylor recently was rated in The Princeton Review's Guide to Law Schools as fourth in the nation in teaching excellence.
For more information, contact Toben at (254)-710-1911.