Being a great lawyer starts with knowing the law. We’ll provide you with a solid foundation in your first year. After that, you can pursue a broad education or focus on one of our many practice areas.

Great lawyers solve big problems. We’ll help you develop the critical reading and analytical skills you’ll need to help your clients. We’ll train you using innovative techniques like client simulations and the problem method, and we’ll give you opportunities to put your skills to the test in our Externship Program or one of our innovative law clinics.

No matter what kind of law you plan to practice, employers tell us that the most important skill is the ability to write well. In your first year, you’ll take twice the legal writing credits required by most other law schools. After that, you’ll continue to improve your writing in one of our many upper-level writing courses.

Whether you’re a criminal lawyer negotiating a plea deal or a business lawyer drafting a contract, you’ll often have to help your client reach an agreement with an opposing party. We’ll train you in negotiation fundamentals in one of our introductory negotiation courses, and you can further hone your skills in advanced courses such as the Business Negotiator and the Labor Negotiations Workshop.

Whether you’re in court or at the bargaining table, you’ll need strong speaking and listening skills. You can join our Toastmaster’s Club and practice public speaking in a non-threatening environment with supportive feedback. In addition, we bring in drama coaches to help you perfect the art of speaking in an engaging and persuasive way. Once you’re confident, you can compete on one of our award-winning moot court, mock trial or alternative dispute resolution teams.

Developing a winning legal strategy requires researching the law. We’ll teach you the skills you need in your full-year Legal Analysis, Research & Writing course. You’ll have access to a state-of-the-art law library and the latest online research tools, along with the guidance of a team of eight full-time faculty members and the support of six librarians.

Lawyers must be able to manage their time, prioritize their work, organize large amounts of information and work as part of a global team. We teach you these skills in our litigation and transactional clinics, where you take a case or project all the way from start to finish.

A commitment to excellence transforms everything you do in your professional and personal life.  Excellence is shattering the bar and rising up to meet new challenges.  Excellence does not settle for “good enough” and requires you to put your best foot forward every day. Excellence entails perseverance in the face of adversity, initiative to take on new opportunities, enthusiasm for even the most mundane of tasks, and a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
— Terri Lynn Helge, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs

Integrity is at the heart of lawyer professionalism. Clients and the broader justice system expect the highest ethical conduct from attorneys, and our programs help foster and develop that core value.
— Aric Short, Professor of Law and Director, Professionalism and Leadership Program

In the private sector, in government, and in the non-profit world, the number of lawyers in prominent positions of leadership is disproportionate to their numbers in the community at large.  Beyond the limelight, whether in helping communities identify and articulate the issues they face, in facilitating difficult conversations about those issues, or in helping our communities engage them, lawyers are often called to step forward.  The legal education we provide at Texas A&M is designed to empower our students with both the skills and the compassion to serve as effective leaders in those and other settings. 
— Robert B. Ahdieh, Dean and Anthony G. Buzbee Endowed Dean’s Chair

Loyalty is a commitment to something other than and larger than yourself.  Aggies are loyal to each other, to Texas A&M, and to this great country we live in.
— Glynn S. Lunney, Jr., Professor of Law and Professor of Engineering, TAMU Class of ’84

As a major public institution of higher education, Texas A&M University has both an extraordinary opportunity and a special responsibility to create and maintain a climate that affirms diversity of persons as well as diversity of views. Diversity is an indispensable component of academic excellence. A commitment to diversity means a commitment to the inclusion, welcome and support of individuals from all groups, encompassing the various characteristics of persons in our community. Among these characteristics are race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, socioeconomic background, religion, sexual orientation and disability. As we harness the power of diversity, we will provide students, faculty and staff a university experience rich in perspectives and opportunities to learn from each other. 
— Texas A&M Commitment to Diversity

Pro bono service is volunteering to provide helpful legal work (at no cost) to those who otherwise could not afford it. To pursue a career in law is to pursue a career in service. 
­— Rosalind Jeffers, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Director of the Equal Justice Program