Board of Advocates

Office location: 1112
713-646-1775
e-mail gtreece@stcl.edu

The South Texas Advocacy Program is among the elite advocacy programs in the United States, with 98 national titles, and consistently rated in the top five by U.S. News and WorldReport. The year-round program immerses second- and third-year students inthe mechanics, artistry, and strategy of trial skills and appellate proceedings.Students compete in more than 30 advocacy tournaments across the country each school year bringing home more than 96 national titles, twice that of anyother law school in the country.

The Advocacy Program’s strength is bolstered by the college’s nationally recognized Legal Research and Writing Program. The written briefs submitted as part of competition are often key factors in success and the foundation of oral arguments. U.S. News and World Report places South Texas’ legal writing program in the top 20 of the country. The marriage of these two strengths, advocacy and writing, assures success for our students in competition and later in practice.

Led by Associate Dean T. Gerald Treece, the Advocacy Program is supported by hundreds of alumni who provide the resources, knowledge, and countless hours of coaching to our students. All teams are coached by dedicated teams of alumni committed to the program and shaping the next generation of outstanding attorneys.

The Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution

Office Location: 1114 Cullen
713-646-2998; Fax 713-646-2996

The Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution, established in 1994upon the initiative of South Texas College of Law Board Trustee Robert A. Mosbacher, is the product of years of work by its Founding Director, Judge Frank G. Evans. Its Advisory Board, comprised of members of the law school faculty and staff plus some 250 prominent lawyers, judges, physicians, scientists, and business leaders, actively supports the Center.

The goals of the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution are:

• To provide a comprehensive conflict resolution curriculum for law students;
• To offer basic and advanced conflict resolution training to a broad range of constituencies;
• To promote professionalism in the field of conflict resolution;
• To advance knowledge regarding conflict resolution through scholarship, publication, and demonstration; and
• To develop new and innovative ways to advance responsible conflict resolution processes and protocols.

To meet these goals, the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution has initiated the following programs:

1. Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution
The Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution is engaged in a collaborative project with business and governmental leaders in Latin America and the United States to design, implement, and test:
• Advanced conflict resolution systems that offer a wide range of fair, affordable, efficient, and effective conflict resolution processes;
• State-of-the art communication and risk evaluation technologies that enable parties to resolve their disputes without regard to time, distance, or language barriers; and
• A system of plans and activities that encourage cultural awareness, stable business investments, economic growth, and productive job opportunities for people in    Latin America and the United States.

2. Research and Publication
The Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution is engaged in a number of ongoing research and publication projects, including A History of Texas ADR, which traces the history of Spanish and Anglo-Saxon conflict resolution methods over the past two centuries.

3. Mediation and Arbitration Training
The Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution offers both classroom and skills training courses in mediation and arbitration concepts and practices. In advanced training provided by the Mediation Clinic, law students learn how to provide services as mediators or arbitrators and also how to represent their clients as advocates in ADR procedures. In addition, law students engaged in the Mediation Clinic learn the practical aspects of Family Law practice, offering pro bono coaching assistance to divorcing parents in the Online Parent Coaching Program.

4. ADR Advocates Competitions
The Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution offers special competition training and guidance to law students engaged in the American Bar Association’s competitions in negotiation, mediation, and client counseling.

5. The Annual Institute
Each year, the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution, in conjunction with the State Bar ADR Section and other ADR-related organizations, hosts an Annual Institute on Responsible Conflict Resolution, which provides a community-based forum for the exchange of information and ideas regarding the use of responsible conflict resolution protocols and processes.

Corporate Compliance Center

Office Location: 809T
713-646-1759; Fax 713-646-1759
e-mail dwalton@stcl.edu

The Center’s mission is to provide attorneys, business people, and the South Texas College of Law community with timely education and materials concerning corporate compliance. The Center will pursue this mission through three types of activities.

  • Transactional Practice Center - (Website Coming Soon)

    • Office Location: 735 Tower
    Professor David East - 713-646-1879; e-mail wdavid@stcl.edu

    A primary focus of the Transactional Practice Center is to create and teach a core curriculum for the training of law students to become business lawyers. The Center is pursuing that mission through three educational activities. First, it offers a series of upper division electives that teach a core set of skills in a variety of business simulation exercises, including a leveraged buyout and commercial real estate transaction. Second, it offers an academic perspective on issues found in the practice of transaction law, including professional ethics. Third, it has developed a Certificate Program, which is a multi-course sequencing of classes that allow students to develop a transactional practice concentration. The Center also provides outreach to the larger community in numerous activities. It offers training and continuing legal education events on transactional practice, both nationally and internationally. Through a vigorous national Board of Advisors it will involve and utilize the skills and knowledge of the practicing bar both for curriculum development and training programs. It will explore collaborations with other institutions in recognition of the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of transaction practice.

    The Transactional Practice Center is also engaged in developing the law and contributing to the body of legal scholarship surrounding transaction practice. It houses the Texas Journal of Business Law.

    Certificate in Transactional Law Practice


    The Transactional Law Practice Certificate Program is a curricular pathway for students interested in pursuing legal careers representing clients in planning, negotiating, structuring, and documenting business transactions. It is designed to provide law students with a strong background in basic business law concepts, an opportunity for in-depth study of advanced business and business-related legal doctrine and practice, and intensive practice-oriented instruction focusing on the skills essential for transactional law practice.

    South Texas College of Law has a long tradition of excellence in skills oriented legal education, and the Transactional Law Practice Certificate Program builds on that tradition by providing a comprehensive and integrated course of study through which students may develop competence in transactional matters that business lawyers routinely handle, including working with clients in planning and implementing business transactions; negotiating and drafting legal documents; and advising and counseling clients on the applicable laws and regulations governing various aspects of the deal. Students need not have any special business background or experience to participate in the Transactional Law Practice Certificate Program. Students from all academic and professional backgrounds–including the humanities, sciences, engineering, and business–are encouraged to consider enrolling in the Program and taking business and transactional courses. Moreover, since most lawyers do some transactional work, even students who do not expect to have exclusively transactional law practices are encouraged to consider participating in the program.


    Students must apply for admission to the program. Normally students should apply after completing the first thirty (30) semester hours of required law school courses and before completing forty-five (45) semester hours or during their third semester of full-time study. Exceptions will be made only in rare cases.

    To receive the Certificate at graduation, students must satisfy the followingrequirements:
    • Three core business law courses
    • Three elective business-related courses
    • One general transactional skills course
    • One specialized transactional skills course
    • Satisfaction of the Substantial Writing Requirement by writing on a business- or transactional practice-related topic
    • A 3.333 cumulative grade point average across all Certificaterelated courses and a 3.000 overall cumulative law school grade point average