Nationally ranked programs in trial advocacy and dispute resolution
Championship Advocacy at South Texas College of Law Houston
At South Texas College of Law Houston, advocacy is part of the academic core and brings active, performance-based work to legal education.
The Advocacy Program trains trial and appellate lawyers through structured coursework, competition, and direct critique. Students graduate having already mastered what most lawyers do not experience until their first years in practice: standing, speaking, responding under pressure, and defending their position in real time.
The commitment to excellence has earned South Texas Law students 148 national advocacy competition championships and a place at or near the top of every national ranking of law school advocacy programs.
The Advocacy Experience at South Texas Law
Through the Advocacy Program, students learn to construct and effectively deliver compelling arguments in every forum a practicing lawyer is likely to encounter. Students are trained to know the record, anticipate questions, and respond with clarity. Precision is developed through repetition. Rounds are judged by faculty, alumni, and local practicing attorneys. They provide direct feedback to sharpen students’ skills in the same way courtroom experience does.
The Advocacy Program includes coursework and extracurricular opportunities that allow students to build the practical skills necessary for a successful advocate.
The program is a strong fit for students who:
- Want performance-based legal training;
- Are comfortable being coached;
- Thrive in structured, high-expectation environments; and,
- Intend to litigate or argue in professional settings.
Program Components of South Texas Law’s Outstanding Advocacy Program
Experiential Advocacy Courses
These courses are rooted in experiential learning, offering students the opportunity to become practice-ready advocates through hands-on simulated legal work. Students perform the tasks real lawyers perform with regular feedback and deliberate attention to their own growth as advocates.
The Texas Advocacy Concentration
The Texas Advocacy Concentration (TAC) offers students either a criminal or civil focus with curriculum including core doctrinal and experiential courses taught by practicing attorneys. The TAC gives students a structured path to developing the core skills of effective advocacy. TAC students are eligible for the Honors Certificate in Texas Advocacy, which includes additional requirements in writing, competition, mentorship, and GPA.
Intercollegiate Competition Teams
South Texas Law students compete in intercollegiate mock trial and moot court competitions across the country. Each time they do, they carry the reputation of the Advocacy Program and the entire community with them.
Intramural Mock Trial and Moot Court
Intramural competitions allow students outside the Intercollegiate Competition Teams to hone their skills through experiential learning beyond traditional coursework. Students are presented with a case and develop briefs, practice arguments and ultimately compete against other South Texas Law students.
Demanding Advocacy Program Builds Practice-ready Skills
Participation in the Advocacy Program requires commitment. The culture is demanding because the profession is demanding.
Students are expected to:
- Prepare beyond scheduled practices
- Accept critique and adjust
- Be accountable to their team
- Maintain professionalism in performance settings
Winning competitions naturally results from our standard, but the precision, resilience, and readiness you gain are the real outcomes.
In the 2025-26 competition season, South Texas Law students claimed two national championships, earned six national finalist team awards, captured one regional championship and two regional finalist team awards, took home five best brief awards, and collected 10 individual speaking awards. These are not ordinary results. They are a testament to the talent, preparation, and competitive fire that define this program, and they make us all proud to be part of this community.
There are 194 accredited U.S. law schools. For 2026, U.S. News & World Report ranked South Texas Law 6th in trial advocacy among all of them. That ranking comes from a national survey of academics at peer law schools – faculty who study and teach advocacy and know what excellence looks like.
Our moot court program ranked 2nd in the nation. That ranking comes from the Blakeley Advocacy Institute, which tracks performance across competitions throughout the year. It is not a reputational survey. It is based on results – how teams perform when they show up and compete.
South Texas College of Law Houston is one of only two law schools ranked in the top 10 of both.
The Standard Is High for STCL Houston Advocacy Program
Where winning is business as usual, preparation is a reflex. Advocacy graduates from South Texas College of Law Houston consistently report entering practice ahead of their peers in:
- Courtroom presence;
- Trial structure and strategy;
- Comfort responding to judicial questioning; and,
- Professional composure under pressure.
It’s not confidence in the abstract; it’s proven competence from having done the work multiple times, under scrutiny, with constructive coaching along the way.
Successful, experienced alumni return to coach and judge. They strengthen the program and the results by reinforcing expectations, sharpening performance, and modeling what effective courtroom advocacy looks like in practice. That continuity protects the standard.
For more information, contact: Professor Rob Galloway, W. James Kronzer, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Advocacy, Vice President, Advocacy, rgalloway@stcl.edu or click here: Advocacy Program.
National Leader in Dispute Resolution
In today’s legal world, attorneys spend considerable time in negotiations, mediations, and arbitrations. Therefore, it’s critical that law students learn how to effectively advocate for a client using these methods of representation.
The Frank Evans Center for Dispute Resolution at South Texas Lawserves as the focal point for dispute resolution education, helping place the law school at the forefront of experiential education. The dispute resolution program was ranked 18th in 2024 by U.S. News & World Report, and preLaw magazine has ranked South Texas Law one of the best for dispute resolution.
Winning National Dispute Resolution Competitions
The Frank Evans Center manages and administers a number of regional, national, and international law student competitions focused on representing clients using a variety of dispute resolution methods.
Under the supervision and coaching of faculty and alumni, students participate in numerous competitions. To be eligible to compete, students must try out at the DR Intramural Tournament held annually in September. For more information on the Intramural, please email jtrimble@stcl.edu.
South Texas Law dispute resolution teams have brought home 26 winsin recent years and an unprecedented number of appearances as finalists. The last several years have been fantastic for the DR competition teams, and they continue to thrive and succeed.
Students Study Actual Cases in Dispute Resolution Courses
South Texas College of Law Houston offers a comprehensive Dispute Resolution curriculum. With education in the core dispute resolution courses, students are provided the necessary legal knowledge and practical skills training to competently and expertly represent clients. Students in the mediation classes are provided the unique experiential opportunity of mediating real cases.
Gain Real-World Experience in Solving Disputes
South Texas Law students can gain real-world experience in resolving a variety of disputes through their enrollment in the Mediation Clinic. Students act as neutral third-party mediators who assist others in resolving their disputes. Through this clinical experience, students develop and refine a variety of interpersonal skills that are important to effective problem-solving and practical lawyering.
South Texas Law Dispute Resolution Faculty, Staff, and Coaches
The Frank Evans Center is proud to be associated with leading dispute resolution teachers and scholars. The work of the center’s faculty and staff who serve on a regular basis is complemented by others who associate with the center for a variety of independent projects and programs.
Student Leaders Join the Dispute Resolution Board
The Dispute Resolution Board is a student-led group that provides students with practical dispute resolution skills in negotiation and mediation, and it works closely with the law school’s nationally known Frank Evans Center for Dispute Resolution. In its inaugural year of 2024-25, the board successfully coordinated a negotiation workshop and bootcamp, brought alumni to campus to demonstrate civil and criminal negotiations, assisted the center with Intramural tryouts, and helped to coordinate the inaugural Tri-Law Negotiation Competition with the three Houston area law schools. If you are interested in getting more involved, please email thedrboard@gmail.com.
For Students Nationwide: Inter-School Negotiation Practicum
Since its inception in 2019, more than 5,000 students from 58 law schools have participated in the Inter-School Negotiation Practicum.
Participants are paired with a student from another law school in another city and negotiate over a one-month period using actual court documents from a pending federal lawsuit. The practicum, which draws at least 400 students from 18 schools each semester, is offered twice a year.
For more information about the Frank Evans Center, email Prof. Debra Berman at dberman@stcl.edu or click here: Frank Evans Center for Dispute Resolution.
South Texas College of Law Houston’s unmatched dedication to practical legal skills training prepares students to become exceptional lawyers — equipped with the competence and confidence to advocate for clients in the courtroom from day one.
