Traditional methods of legal education tend to emphasize litigation-related materials and analysis. Prospective business lawyers historically have had to learn major skill sets through “on-the-job” training and experience rather than in a planned and organized educational curriculum. South Texas College of Law Houston addresses these skills systematically through an organized program that provides a core set of skills to those students who desire to become business lawyers.
The Mission of the Center includes:
- Teaching a curriculum designed to train law students to become business lawyers;
- Offering a certificate (similar to a major in undergraduate study) to those who complete a specified number of hours and maintain a certain grade point average in course work related to transactional practice;
- Offering an academic perspective on issues in the practice of transactional law, including especially issues of professional ethics;
- Offering training programs and continuing legal education programs in transactional practice;
- Enhancing outside awareness of South Texas College of Law Houston as a school which trains students and lawyers for excellence in transactional practice; and
- Involving, and utilizing the skills and knowledge of, practicing attorneys in achieving the goals of the Center.
History
The Transactional Practice Center was created during the 2004-2005 academic year to advance the training of transactional lawyers. Through the Center transactional practice courses have been created, staffed and taught to law students, and a Certificate Program has been created for students who wish to concentrate their studies on that area of the law. Since the fall semester of 2005 the Texas Journal of Business Law has been housed at the Center.