Texas A&M’s outpost in Dallas/Fort Worth is recognized as a national contender and among the best in Texas for its quality programs and community impact.
This week, U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 edition of Best Graduate Schools ranked Texas A&M University School of Law No. 53 nationally out of the nearly 200 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association. Several of A&M Law’s programs landed in the top 10 nationally, with Intellectual Property Law at No. 7 and Dispute Resolution at No. 8. The law school also ranked No. 25 in the critical arena of Legal Writing.
Over the past eight years, Texas A&M Law has invested significantly in growing its faculty, recruiting high-caliber students, building flagship centers of excellence and establishing a dozen clinical programs. The result has been a rapid rise in prominence at the national level, as well as growing impact in Fort Worth, across North Texas and throughout the state.
Robert B. Ahdieh, Dean & Anthony G. Buzbee Endowed Dean’s Chair, says the momentum in rankings reflects the quality of the law school faculty, the efforts of its staff and the accomplishments of its students.
"I could not be more proud of the impactful work that our faculty and staff are doing — and of the caliber of our students here at Texas A&M Law. Our unprecedented rise in the U.S. News rankings — and the advances in student quality, educational innovation, bar passage, and post-graduate employment that underlie that rise — can be credited entirely to them,” Ahdieh said. “I look forward to our continued trajectory of success here in Aggieland North!"
The underlying indicators of student quality and success have seen striking progress in recent years. By the standard measures of incoming student profile — undergraduate GPA and LSAT median scores — A&M Law now ranks nationally 30th and 55th, respectively. Average student debt has also plummeted, enabling graduates to enter careers with more options and fewer hurdles.
In 2020, A&M Law’s pass rate for first-time takers of the Texas bar exam was 89.89 percent, placing it first among Texas law schools. Graduate employment results are notable as well, with 96.9 percent of 2020 graduates employed, and 93.8 percent placed in full-time, long-term, bar-passage required or JD-advantage positions — an increase from the Class of 2019, whose employment rate was in the top 20 in the nation.
Highlighting Texas A&M Law’s impact on the community is the increase of 22 places in its ranking for Clinical Training (from No. 54 to No. 32 nationally). The measure of experiential learning opportunities available to law students is important, reflecting preparation of graduates for practice, given their experience working on real-world cases for actual clients. A&M Law is now the highest ranked law school in Texas in clinical education. The law school was also ranked No. 34 in the nation for Environmental Law.
The overall national rankings gain of seven places this year is part of an increase of thirty places over the last two years, and more than 100 places since Texas A&M University acquired the law school in 2013.
This latest increase puts Texas A&M Law squarely among the top-ranked law schools in Texas along with University of Texas, Austin (No. 16), Southern Methodist University (No. 52), Baylor University (No. 58), and University of Houston (No. 60).
“With the quality of our faculty and student community, the ambitions we have set for ourselves in advancing human knowledge and preparing the next generation of lawyers and leaders, and the momentum that the University and its support have generated,” Ahdieh says, “the sky truly is the limit. For all we’ve accomplished, the best days are still ahead.”