Brandon Quarles
Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law
B.A., Southwestern UniversityJ.D., University of Mississippi School of Law
M.L.S., University of North Texas
Brandon Quarles has been the Director of the Law Library for nearly ten years. He is responsible for all aspects of library operations, including the following: budgeting; financial management; hiring and supervision of library faculty and staff; collection development; strategic planning with respect to the future growth and development of the Law Library; initiating and monitoring library programs and services; and implementing the use of new technologies in public and technical services. He ensures that the Law Library’s collection and resources are sufficient to meet the primary goal of supporting the teaching and research needs of the Law School’s faculty, staff, and students.
After earning his J.D. from the University of Mississippi in 1993, Quarles entered private practice with the Dallas law firm of Passman & Jones. Shortly thereafter, he decided to return to school for one more degree and enrolled in library school at the University of North Texas. Quarles was awarded a Masters of Library Science in 1995 and moved to Virginia a couple of weeks later to become a reference librarian at the T.C. Williams (University of Richmond) School of Law.
He and his wife, Debbie, loved living in Virginia but felt a strong calling to return to their home state in 1998. The very day after discussing a possible move back to Texas, a job listing for a reference librarian position at Baylor Law appeared on a law librarian listserv. Quarles immediately applied for the position, flew to Waco for an interview, and was firmly ensconced at Baylor a few weeks later.
Quarles teaches the first- and second-quarter research courses in the Legal Analysis, Research, and Communications (LARC) program. He has also produced significant scholarship within the area of legal research. Along with Professor Matt Cordon, he is the coauthor of Researching Texas Law (2d ed. 2008) and Specialized Topics in Texas Legal Research (2005), both published by William S. Hein & Co., Inc. Quarles and Cordon have also coauthored book chapters on Texas practice materials as well as historical Texas legal information. Quarles’ other publications include various book chapters, articles dealing with different aspects of print and electronic research, book reviews, and numerous in-house publications such as research guides.
In addition to his teaching and administrative duties in the Law Library, Quarles has played an integral role in a number of Law School projects over the years. He served on the Law Center Project Committee and coordinated all aspects of the Law School’s physical move to the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center in August 2001. He also chaired the Law School committee that was responsible for all aspects of the American Bar Association/Association of American Law Schools reaccreditation process in 2005 and is doing so for the Law School’s 2012 reaccreditation as well.
When not teaching or running the Law Library, Quarles can often be found running or mountain biking on the trails at Cameron Park or spending time on the rock climbing wall at the Student Life Center. He has enjoyed getting to know some of his students outside the classroom by inviting them to join him on early-morning mountain bike rides.
