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St. Mary's University School of Law

One Camino Santa Maria
San Antonio, TX 78228-8601
Phone: 210.436.3523; Toll-free: 866.639.5831; Fax: 210.431.4202
E-mail: lawadmissions@stmarytx.edu; Website: www.stmarytx.edu/law

Introduction

St. Mary's University School of Law was founded in 1927 as part of the oldest and largest Catholic university in the Southwest. St. Mary's is located in the beautiful, unique, and legendary city of San Antonio. San Antonio combines a diverse blend of historic sites, natural beauty, charming vistas, and urban amenities. With its culturally rich population and environment, San Antonio is the perfect backdrop for the mission and goals of the School of Law. Enriched by the spirit of the Society of Mary (Marianists), the school imparts to its students the knowledge and attributes of mind and character essential to public service. St. Mary's is vigilant of the need to preserve a tradition of excellence in legal education with the development of new programs and methodologies for the changing world, and now offers a part-time evening program in addition to its traditional full-time day program.

Library and Physical Facilities

The Sarita Kenedy East Law Library is the largest legal information center in San Antonio and the surrounding area. The library is housed in a spacious, bright, and beautiful building. There is ample study-table seating and large private study carrels. Small conference rooms accommodate groups for discussion and collaboration. A federal depository library, the collection consists of print, microfilm, and multimedia items totaling over 400,000 volumes (or equivalent), which cover a wide range of subjects, including US federal and state laws, and foreign, comparative, and international law. The collection and resources are cataloged and searchable through an automated library information system. The library subscribes to LexisNexis, Westlaw, Loislaw, HeinOnline, LLMC-Digital, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), the Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text, Congressional Universe, AccessUN, the United Nations Treaty Series, and other information databases. Computers and Internet access, both wired and wireless, are available and supported throughout the library facilities. The library is staffed with eight degreed librarians and about eight paraprofessionals who provide friendly, quality service.

The Law Classroom Building contains four amphitheater-style classrooms with electronically retractable walls and a newly renovated and technologically advanced modern courtroom at its center. Electrical outlets and data ports are located at each student's seat, and the public lounges provide wireless access.

The School of Law's four primary buildings are located around an oak-shaded quadrangle, forming a central gathering spot. The Alumni Athletic and Convocation Center offers 135,000 square feet of wellness and fitness options. The center provides for ceremonial facilities as well as athletic endeavors.

Curriculum

Required full-time, first-year courses are Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Legal Research and Writing, Civil Procedure, Property, and Torts. All students must also take the required courses of Professional Responsibility, Evidence, and Texas Civil Procedure (only required of those planning to take the Texas bar examination), as well as a specified number of courses from a menu-style core curriculum. Students must also complete a research paper.

Clinical Legal Education

The Clinical Program at St. Mary's offers three clinical classes: Civil Justice, Criminal Justice, and Immigration/Human Rights. The clinics teach substantive law, lawyering skills, and responsibilities through the supervised representation of low-income clients and the development of community-based projects. The Civil Justice Clinic represents persons who are homeless; victims of violent crimes; persons who are undocumented, primarily in family law; social security claims; consumer issues; and tax controversies. The Criminal Justice Clinic accepts representation of individuals of any age in misdemeanor and low felony cases as well as some innocence claims.Immigration/Human Rights students represent indigent foreign nationals and refugees in Immigration Court and assist clients with applications for asylum, T and U (trafficking and violent crime victim) visas, and benefits under the Violence Against Women Act.

International Law

The St. Mary's Institute on World Legal Problems is conducted at the University of Innsbruck in Austria during July and August. The program is designed to provide law students with a broader understanding of global issues and the role law can play in their peaceful resolution.

Seven justices of the United States Supreme Court have participated in the program as distinguished visiting jurists—former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist; current Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.; Justice Antonin Scalia; Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; and former Justice John Paul Stevens. The program draws students and faculty from all parts of the United States and abroad. It has included students from at least 100 American law schools as well as from Austria, Hungary, China, and Russia. More than 40 visiting professors from law schools in the United States and several foreign countries have also participated.

The Innsbruck Institute is part of the law school's program in international and comparative law.

The St. Mary's University School of Law Institute on Chinese Law and Business is a new program of legal studies that prepares law students for the challenges of representing clients doing business with Chinese partners. This summer program is conducted with the cooperation of Beihang University in Beijing.

St. Mary's houses a Center for Terrorism Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution dedicated to the study of legal issues associated with terrorism, with particular emphasis on cyberspace and information assurance technologies.

Judicial Internships

St. Mary's students may participate in a wide range of pregraduation judicial internships with outstanding state and federal courts. Students work under the supervision of a judge or staff attorney, performing legal research and writing projects that often include the drafting of orders that will be used to decide pending cases, the composition of jury instructions, the researching of evidentiary questions, or attendance at settlement conferences.

Admission Standards

St. Mary's goal is to create an intellectually stimulating student body composed of persons with diverse backgrounds who share a desire for academic excellence and accomplishment in the practice of law. In addition to academic ability, St. Mary's seeks evidence of qualities such as leadership ability, maturity, community organization skills, knowledge of other languages and cultures, a history of overcoming disadvantage, public interest accomplishments, or success in a previous career. A faculty committee reviews all applications. No one is automatically rejected. All files are read.

Student Activities

St. Mary's has over 30 active student organizations. Student organizations are a key part of the collegial environment of the law school.

St. Mary's has two law reviews—the St. Mary's Law Journal and The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Minority Issues. The reviews offer students excellent opportunities to develop advanced legal research and writing skills. The Law Journal has been cited as a persuasive authority in hundreds of court decisions.

St. Mary's students are active in moot court and mock trial competitions. During the spring semester, first-year students participate in a school-wide moot court competition. Second- and third-year students can compete in on-campus tournaments and in St. Mary's External Advocacy Program (EAP). St. Mary's EAP students travel throughout the US to attend the ABA National Moot Court, National Mock Trial, ATLA Mock Trial, and negotiation competitions.

Career Services

The role of the Office of Career Services is to assist law students and graduates with their career searches by informing them of career options and job-search strategies and connecting them with potential employers. Career Services does so by sponsoring programs and job fairs designed to educate, facilitate, and connect students with potential employers during and after law school.

One-on-one confidential strategy sessions with the assistant dean provide a unique opportunity for students to develop a personal plan to assess and meet their career goals. The office maintains a job bank and a résumé bank. The Student Resource Center offers an extensive and up-to-date library of career resources and directories of attorneys, as well as computer terminals with Internet resources, to help students direct and begin their careers in legal and nontraditional positions. Students have extensive opportunities to interact with alumni, who assist with career programming and networking events throughout the year.

For the students in the class of 2010 who reported employment status, 86 percent are employed, with almost all of them working in the legal field.

LLM Degrees

St. Mary's offers both an LLM Degree in American Legal Studies and another in International Comparative Law.

Applicant Profile

St. Mary's University School of Law

This grid includes only applicants who earned 120–180 LSAT scores under standard administrations.

  GPA    
LSAT
Score		 3.75+
Apps		 3.75+
Adm		 3.50–
3.74 Apps		 3.50–
3.74 Adm		 3.25–
3.49 Apps		 3.25–
3.49 Adm		 3.00–
3.24 Apps		 3.00–
3.24 Adm		 2.75–
2.99 Apps		 2.75–
2.99 Adm		 2.50–
2.74 Apps		 2.50–
2.74 Adm		 2.25–
2.49 Apps		 2.25–
2.49 Adm		 2.00–
2.24 Apps		 2.00–
2.24 Adm		 Below 2.00
Apps		 Below 2.00
Adm		 No GPA
Apps		 No GPA
Adm		 Total
Apps		 Total
Adm
175–180 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
170–174 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
165–169 0 0 5 5 3 3 6 6 0 0 4 4 3 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 23 23
160–164 20 20 15 15 12 12 17 17 12 12 13 12 4 4 6 6 0 0 1 0 100 98
155–159 21 20 54 52 61 61 53 51 50 50 27 26 12 10 6 4 1 1 3 3 288 278
150–154 35 30 65 51 98 71 106 71 96 41 58 25 37 9 5 2 6 2 8 3 514 305
145–149 21 2 39 3 66 0 67 4 67 3 44 0 26 1 8 0 2 0 7 0 347 13
140–144 8 0 26 0 31 1 43 0 38 2 34 1 18 0 8 0 1 0 10 0 217 4
135–139 0 0 2 0 11 0 11 0 18 0 11 0 3 0 5 0 1 0 3 0 65 0
130–134 0 0 2 0 2 0 6 0 5 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 25 0
125–129 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
120–124 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 105 72 208 126 285 149 313 151 288 108 194 68 106 27 44 14 13 3 33 6 1589 724

Apps = Number of Applicants
Adm = Number Admitted
Reflects 99% of the total applicant pool; highest LSAT data reported.