THE TEXAS TECH
SCHOOL OF LAW
STRIVES FOR
WELL-DESERVED
RECOGNITION
By Jennifer Ritz
Photos by Darrel Thomas,
Student Media
THE
I N THE
WEST
Mention the Texas Tech School of Law
outside of Texas and you're likely to hear,
"Texas Tech has a law school?" Heck,
you're liable to hear that in some parts of
Texas. The truth is, yes, we have a law
school-an outstanding one. It is one of
Texas Tech's shining stars, and one of its
best-kept secrets.
Even if you were aware of the school,
most alumni don't know that the average
bar exam pass rate at the law school for
the llas decade is 89 percent. The spring
2000 class boasted a 100 percent pass rate
on the bar exam, the first for any Texas
law school in 17 years! The impressive bar
passage rates prove that the law school is
top-notch, thanks in part to the rigorous
cnniculum imparted by the faculty.
However, the powers that be aren't willing to rest on their laurels. The School of
Law welcomed a new dean last summer,
Maj. Gen. Walter B. Huffman, who has
many exciting changes in store. He is a
graduate of Texas Tech and the Texas Tech
School of Law. He and his wife, Anne,
relocated to Lubbock from Washington,
D.C., in the summer of '02.
Huffman says he is pleased with the
outstanding faculty, bar passage rates and
how the school looks on paper. A case in
point is the Boston College Range Finder,
a study that bases ratings on entering students' grade point averages and entrance
exam scores.
There are seven tiers in the Boston
College Study. The law school rests in the
third with 26 other university law schools,
enjoying the company of law schools at
Boston University, The College of William
and Mary, George Mason University,
Tulane University, Baylor University,
University of Oklahoma, Temple
University and Maryland University.
Huffman is quick to point out there are
other rankings that are less complimentary, such as the annual poll by U.S. News &
World Report. Some opinions of Tech's
law school may be unfairly low thanks to
M A R C H I A P R I L 2005 2 1
its place in the magazine's annual ranking.
In 2002 we were ranked in the fourth
tier among American law schools, which
admittedly isn't good. But to understand
the ranking you need to know that U.S.
News bases 40 percent of the score on a
school's national reputation. Huffman tells
a funny story that makes the U.S. News
and World Report law school rankings
look a little cockeyed.
He says that several years ago Yale
University, which is always at the top of
the U.S. News & World Report ranking,
took it upon themselves to show the report
is, in many cases, flawed. (It's worth mentioning that Yale deserves being ranked at
the top of any ranking because it is one of
the top law schools in the nation.) Yale's
poll revealed Princeton University and
Penn State ranked at the t o p v o t e r s gave
them high marks for the quality of their
law schools.
"The most interesting part," says
Hnffman, "is that Princeton and Penn
State* did not even have law schools."
And you thought popularity contests
ended in high school.
Even though U.S. News's study has
been shown to be skewed in favor of older
established schools and Ivy League institutions, Huffman believes that other parts
of the ranking are worth studying. He has
dissected what's entailed in the remaining
60 percent of the ranking and has begun
making strides to improve areas such as
the library and student to teacher ratio.
"Fundamentally, we're in excellent
shape," Huffman says. "We have a high
bar passage rate, our faculty is talented
and does an excellent job of mentoring
2 2 TEXAS T E C H S I N
though their open-door policy, and they
write and publish a lot of books that are
used by other professors in other law
schools. Employers hire Tech graduates
because they're well-prepared and learn
good ethical values and professionalism
while they're here."
Huffman stresses that while he wants to
improve the law school's reputation
nationally, Texas Tech is a regional law
school, not a national law school. In other
words, the focus at the Texas Tech School
of Law is on quality, not quantity.
"We don't want to be Texas (The
University of Texas Law School)," he
says. 'We do what we do better than anybody else; that's our goal."
As mentioned previously, Huffman has
set his sights on further improving the
library. Prior to his departnre, former dean
Frank Newton put forth the idea of a
tuition increase to better fund the library.
Law students voted to accept the measure.
The additional money generated, roughly
$1 million a year, goes directly toward
improving the library. Huffman is quick to
note the library was never poor quality and
that many private attorneys in Lubbock
use it regularly. But, there's always the
need for new books and capital expenditures to keep the library operating at an
optimal level.
Another aspect Huffman is addressing
is the student to professor ratio. Currently
the ratio is 20: 1, which many law schools
find enviable. However, over the past few
years the class sizes have creeped up.
When the school was chartered in 1967, it
was designed for a class size of roughly
220, meaning the size of the school should
be around 600 students after attrition. At
present the student body has nearly 700
students. Huffman has implemented a new
admissions model that will whittle down
the class size, back to 220.
It's worth mentioning that not every
area of the law school is being altered.
Texas Tech School of Law excels in technology. We rank second in the nation
among law schools for information technology education and support, meaning
students have unfettered access to new
computers and computer programs. As
with every academic endeavor today, computers are an integral part of law school.
Tech also has a number of programs,
some in existence and some being
developed, which set it apart from most
law schools.
Victoria Sutton, an associate professor
of law, heads the new Center for
Biodefense, Law and Policy. She has a
master's in public administration and a
doctorate degree in environmental sciences as well as a law degree. She also
served President Gwrge H.W. Bush as
assistant director in the White House
Science Office and in the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Her
combination of degrees and her extensive
experience in the fields of science and
technology make her a perfect fit to head a
program devoted to the study of bio-terrorism and biodefense, a growing concern
for Americans.
A program that brings international
attention to Tech's law school is the
Summer Law Institute in Guanajuato,
Mexico. Professor Jorge A. Radrez,
who received both his undergraduate
and law degrees from Harvard, oversees
the program.
Guanajuato, considered Mexico's cultural and colonial center, is home to the
Universidad de Guanajuato, where the
institute is held. The summer program
offers an opportunity for American law
students to engage in United StatesMexico legal studies while also learning
about Mexico's culture and heritage.
Texas Tech partners with the University of
New Mexico for the institute, which hosts
students from 17 universities nationwide.
'Texas Tech School of Law is fortunate
to be a full partner in the Summer Law
Institute because of the close economic,
historical and cultural ties between Texas
and Mexico," Ramirez says. "Not only
does Texas share the longest border with
Mexico of any state, but it accounted for
46 percent of all U.S. exports to Mexico in
1998. It will be almost impossible for any
21st century Texas lawyer not to come in
contact with some international legal
issues during their careers, regardless of
the area in which they choose to practice.
Therefore, exposure to international law
and its intersection with domestic law
must become an important component of
any law school education."
Tech also offers semester-abroad study
programs at the University of Lyon in
Lyon, France, and the Universidad de
Pablo Olavide in Sevilla, Spain.
There are also plans to open two new
centers for collaborativeresearch. One will
focus on w m b i i g the study of medicine
and law. Texas Tech is one of few
American campuses that house both a law
school and medical school on one wntiguous campus. Huffman wants to utilize the
synergy between the law school and medical school to create a center that will be on
the cutting edge of medicalllegal issues.
Another center will zero in on water law
and policy as well as water needs and utilization. Water is the most valuable natural
resource. Water usage and water nights are
two issues that pose growing numbers of
legal questions. Take for example notorious oilman T. Boone Pickens' recent purchase of land overlying the Ogallala
aquifer-he plans to pump and sell water
to one of Texas' metropolitan areas: El
Paso, San Antonio or Dallas. What this
means for West Texas and the Panhandle
remains to be seen, but the outcome will
not be good for already water-starved
farmers. Huffman foresees the Texas Tech
program as a resource for these types of
battles over water. The center will utilize
l'be Team TecbSchool of law draws its shcdentsfrom a variety ofpkaces: manyfrom
Tech, of course, but akio Texm A M
University, TCQAustin Cob&?,West Point,
the Air Porce Academy and UlZd as well as
other Big I 2 schook. Ovsrd, 75 universities are repressented
experts from the School of Law, the
College of Agricultural Sciences and
Natural Resources and the College of
Engineering.
A final area on which Huffman is working is revitalizing alumni relations. The
school's alumni magazine, Cornerstone,
fell by the wayside years ago. Contact with
alumni was sporadicbefore Huffman came
on board, and he has been visiting groups
of law school alumni to drum up support
forthe school. Huffman wants alumni to be
an integral part of the School of Law.
The Texas Tech School of Law has a
firm foundation, as well as many accomplishments on which to hang its hat. New
leadership and needed upgrades will
ensure the school will continue its winning
tradition and carve a niche as the best in
the West.
To learn more about the Teras Tech School
of Law, or for alumni information, please
log on to www.law.ttu.edu.
*Perm State does have a law school today;
however; it did not at the timeof Yale'sstudy.
89 percent average bar exam
pass rate for the last 10 years