Welcome to the University of Houston Law Center!

The Law Center has been cited as one of the “best values” in legal education today.  We are the leading law school in nation’s fifth-largest legal market, and our curriculum is among the broadest offered in the Southwest.  

Fast Facts

The Law Center was established in 1947 and enrolls more than 1,000 students in its degree programs. We offer J.D., LL.M. and “concurrent” degrees that allow students to obtain two degrees in less time than individual programs would require.

We are currently ranked No. 55 (tied with three other Tier 1 schools) among the nearly 200 law schools in the United States, and we are one of only eight public law schools that offer multiple nationally ranked specialty programs.

As the cost of all graduate education continues to climb, the Law Center is distinguished by relatively modest tuition – especially for in-state students.

The Law Center is truly a “global” school and is well-connected with the international legal and education communities. The international activities of our faculty include visiting professorships, publications in foreign journals, and participation in international symposia and conferences. Click here for more information on our Global Achievments.

We have an outstanding faculty assisted by a large and experienced group of adjunct professors. Since 2004, our faculty have written nearly 80 books and published nearly 200 articles in leading law journals and other publications. Click here for a look at our current faculty scholarship.

The Law Center has more than 13,000 alumni, and about 56% of them live in the greater Houston area.

More than 700 Law Center alumni belong to our Order of the Coif chapter, an honorary scholastic society that recognizes high achievement among law school graduates. Click here to learn more about the Order of the Coif.

Our O’Quinn Law Library includes more than 435,000 volumes, and meets legal information needs with an extensive collection of electronic and traditional resources.

Eight special programs and institutes add depth to our curriculum. The list includes:

• Blakely Advocacy Institute *
• Center for Children, Law & Policy
• Center for Consumer Law
• Criminal Justice Institute
• Center for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law
• Health Law & Policy Institute *
• Institute for Higher Education Law & Governance
• Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law *
  *nationally ranked by US News & World Report

The Law Center offers seven combined and concurrent degree programs. The programs and their affiliated institutions include:

• J.D./M.D. (Baylor College of Medicine)
• J.D./M.B.A. (University of Houston)
• J.D./M.A. in History (University of Houston)
• J.D./M.S.W. (University of Houston)
• J.D./M.P.H. (University of Texas School of Public Health)
• J.D./Ph.D. in Medical Humanities (University of Texas Medical Branch)
• J.D./Ph.D. in Criminal Justice (Sam Houston State University)

Our upper-division students can participate in a number of clinical programs under the supervision of clinical faculty, thereby earning invaluable skills while serving audiences that require assistance. Available options include:

• Civil Clinic
• Civil Practice Clinic
• Criminal Practice Clinic
• Consumer Law Clinic
• Domestic Violence Clinic
• Immigration Clinic
• Juvenile Defense Clinic
• Mediation Clinic
• Transactional Clinic

Accreditation

The Law Center operates with the approval of the American Bar Association and the Supreme Court of Texas, is a member of the Association of American Law Schools, and has a chapter of the Order of the Coif, the national legal scholastic honor society.

Fun Factoids

LEX Seal

The Law Center seal includes three martlets above an opened text inscribed with “LEX,” the Latin word for law. Martlets, symbolizing peace and deliverance, also appear in the University of Houston seal – which in turn is drawn from the coat of arms of General Sam Houston who claimed descent from Sir Hugh of Padavan, an 11th century Norman knight.

Albertus Magnus

The bronze statue that graces the entrance courtyard of the Law Center honors Albertus Magnus, or Albert the Great, a medieval theologian and "Man of Universal Knowledge." Born in Lauingen, Bavaria sometime between 1193 and 1206, he was a bishop, doctor and saint of the Roman Catholic Church, having as one of his students Saint Thomas Aquinas. He taught in Paris and at the Studium Generale in Cologne, a university run by the Order of the Dominicans in the 13th century and one of the first universities in Europe. A dominant figure, he was an influential teacher, an experienced traveler, a keen observer of life and nature and the one learned man of the Golden Age to be called "the Great." He was later declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Albertus Magnus is the best-known work of German sculptor Gerhard Marcks (1889 - 1981) and considered to be his finest by many scholars and artists. The Law Center’s signature sculpture was made from a special cast in Dusseldorf by permission of Marcks and his family. Two other castings exist: one at Albertus Magnus University of Cologne, Germany, and another at the La Universidad de los Andes.