SMU Dedman School of Law, commonly referred to as SMU Law School or Dedman School of Law, is a

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

located in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Jason P. Nance serves as its current dean. Founded in February 1925, the school located is on the

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

campus. In February 2001, it was renamed SMU Dedman School of Law in honor of benefactors Robert H. Dedman Sr. and his wife Nancy Dedman. One of ten law schools in Texas, it was the only one in the city of Dallas until the University of North Texas at Dallas (

UNT UNT or University of North Texas is a state university in Denton, Texas. UNT or Unt may refer to: * Unt (surname), an Estonian-language surname * Unt (album), ''Unt'' (album), a 2024 album by Pinhead Gunpowder * ("A New Era"), a political party in ...

) opened its

in 2014.

Admissions

Statistics

SMU has a 1L class size of 226. Out of the 2,334 people who applied, 780 were offered admission. 224 out of 780 applicants offered admission were accepted, meaning that 28.72% of those offered admission ended up attending the school. The median LSAT at SMU is 163, and the 25th percentile LSAT is 158. The median GPA is 3.76, and the 25th percentile GPA is 3.43.

Academic profile

SMU Dedman School of Law offers

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

, and

Doctor of Juridical Science A Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD; ), or a Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD; ), is a research doctorate degree in law that is equivalent to a Ph.D. degree. In most countries, it is the most advanced law degree that can be earned. Australia ...

degrees. The school offers two joint degree programs, a J.D./M.A. in Economics and a J.D./M.B.A. The J.D./M.A. in Economics is offered in connection with the SMU Department of Economics in Dedman College, and the J.D./M.B.A. is offered in connection with the Cox School of Business at SMU. SMU Dallas

The class that enrolled in the fall of 2019 has a median LSAT score of 161 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.7. LSAT/UGPA medians were calculated by the Law School Admission Council based on matriculant lists provided by the law school to the American Bar Association. Each JD student must complete 87 credit hours. Thirty-one of these hours comprise the mandatory first-year curriculum. After the first year, students must complete a course in professional responsibility, two upper-level writing courses (including an edited writing seminar in which an extensive scholarly, expository writing project is reviewed and critiqued by the professor), Constitutional Law II, and a practical skills course. All students are required to perform 30 hours of public service before graduating.

Programs and resources

Dedman Law is home to four independent

law journals A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also provid ...

: ''The SMU Law Review'', '' Journal of Air Law and Commerce'', '' The International Lawyer'', and the ''SMU Science & Technology Law Review''. Dedman Law offers several law clinics for upper-division students. The law clinics include: the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Child Advocacy Clinic, Civil Clinic, Criminal Justice Clinic, Family Immigration Detention Clinic, Federal Taxpayers Clinic, First Amendment Clinic, Consumer Advocacy Project, Small Business Clinic & Trademark Clinic, Judge Elmo B. Hunter Legal Center for Victims of Crimes Against Women, Innocence Clinic, Patent Law Clinic, and Vansickle Family Law Clinic. Dedman Law offers a summer program at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Oxford, England Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, numerous international programs, and Underwood Law Library. Underwood Library

Underwood Law Library

SMU's Underwood Law Library is the largest private academic law library west of the Mississippi River. Its collections include approximately 666,498 law-related volumes and equivalents, ranking the library among the top 20% of all law libraries in the United States.

Rankings

In 2024, SMU Dedman School of Law was ranked No. 42 in the nation by '' U.S. News & World Report.''

Employment

According to SMU's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 80% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. SMU's

Law School Transparency Law School Transparency (LST) is a nonprofit consumer advocacy and education organization concerning the legal profession in the United States. LST was founded by Vanderbilt Law School graduates Kyle McEntee and Patrick Lynch. LST describes its ...

under-employment score is 10.8%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2018 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at SMU for the 2020–2021 academic year is $83,464. The average amount borrowed for law school by members of the 2014 graduating class was $124,617.38.

Notable faculty

Bryan Garner Bryan Andrew Garner (born November 17, 1958) is an American legal scholar and lexicographer. He has written more than two dozen books about English usage and style such as ''Garner's Modern English Usage'' for a general audience, and others for l ...

* Paul Hardin III * A. Kenneth Pye * Dale Carpenter

Notable alumni

* James A. Baker, Justice of the Texas Supreme Court * Keith Bergelt, former U.S. Diplomat and CEO of Open Invention Network * Jane J. Boyle is a district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas * Dan Branch, former member Texas House of Representatives * Angela Braly, former president and chief executive officer for WellPoint (now

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

) * Raleigh Brown, member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

; Texas State District Court judge in Abilene * Jeff Cox (Legal Law Masters in Taxation), judge since 2005 of the Louisiana 26th Judicial District Court of Bossier and Webster parishes * Catherine Crier, Dallas County District Judge, investigative journalist * Robert H. Dedman Jr., former CEO of ClubCorp * Robert H. Dedman Sr., founder of private club network ClubCorp, Inc. and the law school's co-benefactor * Craig T. Enoch, former associate justice of the

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court o ...

* Gerald J. Ford, noted Texas banker and businessman * David C. Godbey, federal judge *

Rusty Hardin Russell "Rusty" Hardin Jr. (born October 6, 1941) is an American attorney and head of the Houston law firm Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C. which he established in 1996. Early life Hardin attended a private military academy in Chattanooga, Tennes ...

, an American attorney and head of the Houston law firm Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C * Nathan Hecht, Chief Justice of the

* Yukio Horigome, Justice, Supreme Court of Japan * Todd Ames Hunter, Texas State Representative * Jerry Jones Jr., Chief Sales and Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

* S. M. Krishna, Minister of External Affairs of India and Former

Chief Minister of Karnataka The Chief minister (India), chief minister of Karnataka is the Head of government, chief executive officer of the Government of Karnataka, government of the Indian state of Karnataka. As per the Constitution of India, the governor of Karnatak ...

* Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., Justice,

Supreme Court of Missouri The Supreme Court of Missouri (SCOMO) is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constituti ...

* Barbara M. Lynn, Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas * Robert B. Maloney, federal judge * Bagir Manan,

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia () is the head of the Supreme Court of Indonesia. Election process The chief justice and his or her deputy is elected by the Supreme Court justices from among the members of the court. Sometimes ...

* Harriet Miers, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, White House Counsel for

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

* Getoar Mjeku, Deputy Minister of Economy of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

* Robert Mosbacher Jr., an American businessman, founder of BizCorps * James Latane Noel Jr., Attorney General of Texas * Irma Carrillo Ramirez, circuit judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...

since 2023 * John Ratcliffe, American politician who is the 6th

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

and served as the Congressman for Texas's 4th congressional district from 2015 to 2020. * Trevor Rees-Jones, founder and chairman of Chief Oil & Gas * Robert Rowling, founder of TRT Holdings, the holding company of Omni Hotels & Resorts and

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international wikt:co-ed, co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice, Los Angeles, Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of ca ...

* Edward B. Rust Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Founded in 1922, it is the largest property and casualty insurance, property, casualty and auto i ...

Mutual Automobile Insurance Company *

Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers; born December 1, 1952) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and United States Navy, Navy veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of F ...

, American businessman, politician and junior

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He served as 45th

Governor of Florida The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...

from 2011 to 2019. * Lamar Smith, the former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for Texas's 21st congressional district * Helmut Sohmen, chairman of

BW Group BW Group is a maritime company involved in shipping, floating gas infrastructure and deep-water oil & gas production. The company has over 450 vessels managed by an international team of over 12,000 staff worldwide. The group was founded by Sir ...

and a former Hong Kong legislator * William Steger, Judge,

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...

Gillian Triggs Gillian Doreen Triggs (born 30 October 1945) is an Australian and British public international lawyer, specialising in human rights and trade and commercial law. She is also an academic, barrister, and director. She became widely known in Aust ...

, President of the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of the Commonwealth of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body fu ...

* Tsai Hong-tu, a Taiwanese businessman and banker * Lamar White, investigative journalist known for his work on racism and political corruption in the Deep South

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dedman School Of Law Law, Dedman School of Law schools in Texas Universities and colleges established in 1925 1925 establishments in Texas