Texas Tech University School of Law

Texas Tech University School of Law boasts a rich history spanning more than 45 years. In the 1930s, Alvin R. Allison, a self-described “country lawyer from Levelland,” could not afford to attend one of the three American Bar Association-accredited law schools in Texas. Instead of attending law school, he earned his law license by apprenticing under a local attorney for two years and passing the Texas Bar Examination in 1934. His struggle to become a lawyer inspired his quest to establish a law school in West Texas at his alma mater, Texas Technological College. The Texas Tech Board of Directors hired Richard B. Amandes as the School of Law’s first dean in 1966, and in 1967, the first class, comprised of 72 students, enrolled at Texas Tech Law. The ABA granted accreditation to the school in August 1970, which followed accreditation from the Supreme Court of Texas in 1968. In 1969, Texas Tech Law gained membership to the Association of American Law Schools. Since opening, the School of Law has graduated thousands of students, including the first woman to head a major federal law enforcement agency, the Army’s highest-ranked military legal officer, and some of the nation’s top litigators. Texas Tech Law offers a robust clinical program, three academic centers, nine dual-degree programs, three concentration programs, a regional externship program, a recognized legal practice program, and a competitive advocacy program that has earned 31 national and international championships. Ranked second in student satisfaction among U.S. law schools and six-time ranked “Best Value Law School” by The National Jurist, it is no surprise that Texas Tech Law attracts professors who are passionate about teaching. In fact, Texas Tech Law professors have won the University’s Departmental Excellence in Teaching Award in two of the past four years, and five professors have been recognized with the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award since 2010. The Princeton Review has named Texas Tech Law professors among the nation's most accessible, and for three consecutive years, Texas Tech Law was listed in the top-25 law schools for Hispanic students by Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine. With quality students, talented faculty, and devoted staff, the School of Law continues to produce gifted attorneys who work across the state, region and country.