As you decide where to attend law school, consider that you are beginning to chart your professional career. Your law school experience is critically important in establishing your foundation for a 21st century legal practice. South Texas continually works to update, upgrade, and exceed expectations for teaching, technology, and fundamental skills development.

Located in downtown Houston, surrounded by hundreds of law offices and legal service providers, South Texas College of Law offers students an environment primed to meet the challenges confronting the increasingly complex, globalizing legal profession. The atmosphere fosters the pursuit of excellence in acquiring legal knowledge and professional skills, while instilling the need to maintain the highest ethical standards. The faculty, 59 fulltime professors and 40 adjunct professors, prides itself on being accessible to the student body and providing exposure to a broad range of subjects, pedagogical techniques and viewpoints.

To accommodate the demands of an ever-evolving profession, the South Texas physical facilities continue to expand. The Fred Parks Law Library, opened in 2002, providing extensive resources, both on-line and traditional text, for South Texas students and the Houston legal community. In the fall of 2003, the beautiful T. Gerald Treece Courtroom and Advocacy Center were unveiled, providing a mix of traditional courtroom and high-tech trial tools for learning. In the fall of 2004, the Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution was dedicated. Mediation and other alternative dispute resolution techniques will be the focus of learning in the center formerly known as the Center for Legal Responsibility.

The Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution is the fifth Center of Excellence at South Texas. Already leading by example are the school’s nationally known Advocacy program, with 94 national titles in mock trial and moot court, and the Law Institute for Medical Studies working to bridge the medical and legal professions. The Corporate Compliance Center and the Transactional Practice Center were created in the fall of 2004. The Corporate Compliance Center targets students interested in business law or working as in-house counsel, and the Transactional Skills Center teaches students and practicing lawyers skills for performing business transactions, creating partnerships, and buying or selling corporations.
The globalization of the legal profession means that most attorneys, at sometime in their career, will be faced with clients, cases or transactions that involve international law. South Texas provides numerous opportunities for international and comparative study. You can attend South Texas programs in England, Denmark, Ireland, Malta, Mexico, The Netherlands, and Turkey. A full semester abroad program with the University of Aarhus in Denmark or Leiden University in The Netherlands will immerse you in the international legal community. Internships with the Association of Defense Counsel working at The Hague are coordinated through South Texas for any student in the U.S. hoping to take part in the court’s
historic proceedings.

The learning process can be greatly enhanced at South Texas by participation in one or more co-curricular or extra-curricular organizations. The student organizations appeal to a diverse array of students who may be interested in pursuing legal issues pertaining to a specific special interest group, or in a specific niche of the law like public interest law or sports law. More than 30 student organizations, four law fraternities and four student publications operate on campus.

Please take time to examine the academic program at South Texas College of Law carefully. Students planning to pursue a full-time or part-time legal education can enroll in the spring or fall and soon find their place among the nation’s future lawyers. A superior and accessible faculty, a well-qualified and diverse student body, a wide array of academic programs, and attractive and modern facilities provide the fundamentals of a first-rate legal education. I wish you the best of luck as you search a place to build your professional foundation.
Sincerely,

James J. Alfini
President and Dean