News

Baylor Law’s mock trial team won the 2023 Tournament of Champions (TOC), the second time Baylor Law has won this prestigious competition. The Baylor Law team of Gage Jones, Varun Reddy, Vivian Noyd, and Greta Andersen competed against 15 other national teams from top law schools, including Georgetown, NYU, California Berkeley, and UCLA.

Beth Toben, Adjunct Professor of Law at Baylor Law and Assistant County / District Attorney in Limestone County, has been recognized with the prestigious Lone Star Prosecutor Award.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Jeremy Counseller, J.D., The Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law at Baylor, has been selected as dean of the University’s nationally ranked Baylor Law School. His appointment is effective July 1, 2024.

Baylor’s Veteran’s Clinic has served the legal needs of more than 2,000 veterans.

Professor of Law Elizabeth M. Fraley was honored recently with the Louise B. Raggio Award by the Dallas Women Lawyers Association (DWLA). The award recognizes Professor Fraley’s outstanding achievements as a trial lawyer, a legal educator, and an advocate for women in the profession.

Baylor Law's Fall 2023 Commencement ceremony will take place Friday, November 3, 2023 at 4:00pm CDT at First Baptist Church of Waco. The livestream will be available on Baylor Law's Youtube channel.

In the fall of 2022, the Baylor Law Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic began working with Bassey Ubokudom, a graduate of Baylor University. Inspired by the lack of affordable home care options for their aging grandparents, Bassey, and co-founder Alysha Nagar founded Shana, Inc., an online platform that offers on-demand home care services for the elderly, disabled, and members of other vulnerable populations at an affordable price.

The 2023 Baylor Law Leadership Symposium, hosted in collaboration with the Association of American Law Schools Section on Leadership and the Baylor Law Review, was held on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Under the theme “Power of Speech: Creating Environments in Which Free Speech and Civil Discourse Thrive,” the virtual event brought together legal scholars, professionals, and experts to discuss the critical issues surrounding free speech, civil discourse, and their significance in today’s society.

On September 28, 2023, Baylor Law hosted acclaimed Constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar, the Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, for a compelling lecture titled “The Founding Fathers and the Importance of Civil Discourse.”

The team of Rebekah Miller and Anna Jennings edged out the team of Nicholas Baker and Jake Adams to take the top spot as winners of the 2023 Dawson & Sodd, PLLC Moot Court Competition at Baylor Law.

Professor of Law Brian Serr is appointed to the Louise L. Morrison Chair of Constitutional Law at Baylor Law. This Chair was most recently occupied by the late Prof. David Guinn, who retired in 2020.

Professor of Law Matt Cordon has been named the A. Royce Stout Chair of Law. A member of the Baylor Law faculty since 2000, Cordon became Interim Associate Dean of Baylor Law on July 1. He will continue to serve as Director of Legal Writing and has long been active as a faculty leader at Baylor University. He has received two separate outstanding professor awards from the University, one for scholarship in 2004 and one for teaching in 2019. He has been twice elected to serve as Chair of the Faculty Senate, including terms in 2007-08 and 2020-21.

The University of Texas School of Law CLE Program has honored Professor of Law Elizabeth Miller with the 2023 W. Page Keeton Award for Excellence in Continuing Legal Education. UT Law CLE bestows this honor on individuals in the legal community who have made a profound impact on the profession through their unwavering commitment to continuing legal education.

Interim Dean and Professor of Law Patricia Wilson has been appointed to the William Boswell Chair of Law. The Chair was most recently held by Prof. Emeritus Michael Morrison, who retired in 2021.

Former United State Magistrate Judge Christine A. Nowak (JD, ’05) has been named the 2023 Young Baylor Lawyer of the Year. Dean Emeritus Brad Toben (JD, ’77) publicly announced the honor at a recent Baylor Lawyers Network reception at the State Bar of Texas annual meeting.

In early 2022, the Baylor Law Entrepreneurship Clinic began working with Dominik Kuhn, a Swiss exchange student in the Entrepreneurship Program at the Baylor Hankamer School of Business. Dominik had an idea to revolutionize how art students take their work from their canvases and send it out into the world. In Dominik’s own words, he set out to create “a place where young artists can take the first step to make a name for themselves.” Art By Students, LLC was born in pursuit of this vision.

Stetson University College of Law’s Center for Excellence in Advocacy has honored Professor of Law Emeritus Gerald Powell with the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional contributions to teaching advocacy.

Over the Summer, students in the Baylor Law Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic had the opportunity to work with Rescue Her, Inc., a nonprofit organization on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking. Rescue Her exists to empower survivors of sex trafficking to live in freedom by providing both crisis response and long-term advocacy to adult trafficking victims. The staff spends its days talking directly with survivors and supporting them in various ways, from coordinating with law enforcement to locating shelter and providing necessities. For over a decade, the company has been helping victims from all over the globe and developing community engagement tactics to achieve one goal: to end sex trafficking.

In late 2022, the Baylor Law Entrepreneurship Clinic began working with Christina Gonzalez, a recent Baylor University Hankamer School of Business graduate. As an undergraduate student, Christina saw a need she could help address: raising awareness about domestic violence and sexual abuse. It was in pursuit of her vision to change the way individuals view abuse that Mine Not Yours, LLC was born.

Nicholas Lewis of the University of Georgia School of Law has emerged victorious as the winner of Top Gun XIV, Baylor Law’s highly acclaimed National Mock Trial Competition. Through an awe-inspiring three-hour final round, Nicholas skillfully persuaded a distinguished panel of experienced trial lawyers, edging out his formidable opponents, finalists Clarke Doig of Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and Ameen Hussaini of LMU Loyola Law School.

In 2023, Baylor Law School hosted its seventh annual Business Law Boot Camp — a unique, week-long program covering a wide range of business law subjects. Distinguished transactional attorneys offered their real-world perspectives and experience as they covered a variety of topics—from contract drafting to trademark and advertising issues—in dynamic classroom sessions.

The Executive Committee of the Baylor Law Alumni Association proudly announces that Dean Brad Toben, JD ’77, has been named the Baylor Lawyer of the Year for 2023. This prestigious recognition highlights Dean Toben’s extraordinary accomplishments and unparalleled contributions to Baylor University, the Law School, and the legal profession.

Baylor Law has once again seized the coveted title of the nation’s top moot court program in the University of Houston Law Center’s Blakely Advocacy Institute Moot Court Program Ranking. This marks Baylor Law’s second time at the top of the ranking, having previously claimed the top spot in 2019.

Baylor Law is excited to announce the upcoming Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition for 2023, which will bring together accomplished advocates from 16 prestigious trial advocacy schools across the country. From May 31 to June 4, Baylor Law will host this invitation-only tournament, generously sponsored by MG+M The Law Firm.

“It was a role that was needed,” Sam Smith says about her new position as Baylor Law School’s Diversity and Events Coordinator. The conviction in her voice points to her passion not just for the issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion – which is considerable – but for the students she serves and supports.

Ronnie Turner, Jr. (JD, ’10), Senior General Attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, has been named the 2022 Young Baylor Lawyers of the Year. Dean Brad Toben (JD, ’77) publicly announced the honor at a recent Houston Baylor Lawyers Network reception.

Baylor Law has again demonstrated its excellence in appellate advocacy with a resounding victory at the American Bar Association (ABA) National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC). Tiffani Skroch and Dandee Cabanay, along with their brief co-writer Andrew Boone, emerged as the champions of the largest moot court competition in the country.

Tom Featherston, JD ’72, the Mills Cox Chair of Law, has taught Baylor Lawyers for 40 years and counting. Featherston is a Texas icon of estate planning, trusts, and marital property law. Every trusts and estates lawyer in Texas knows the name Tom Featherston.

The Baylor Law team of Emma Scofield, Meghan Thomas, and Student Coach Emily Ullom was named the 2023 ABA Client Counseling Competition National Champions on Saturday, April 1. This marks the first time Baylor Law has won this annual event that features teams from law schools across the United States competing in simulated client counseling scenarios.

On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, Baylor Law presented over 100 awards and honors to an outstanding cohort of students. The esteemed John Williams and Florence Dean Minton Student Awards Ceremony and Lecture Series was the perfect stage to recognize these future Baylor Lawyers for their diverse impact and remarkable achievements in academics, service, competitions, and other areas.

The legal writing team at Baylor Law is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Ultimate Writer Legal Writing Competition. Courtney Conner took first place and an $8,000 prize. The second-place winner, Andrew Boone, who won the competition in 2022, took home $1,500, and Winston Bribach took third place and a $500 prize. Jordan Gonzales, Anna Schmidt, Jake Weathers, and Riley Zoch received honorable mentions.

Ryan Hering and Olivia Schoffstall, Baylor Law Moot Court Team members, have been recognized for their exceptional oral advocacy skills, winning the Top Oral Advocacy Team award at the prestigious John R. Brown National Admiralty Law Moot Court Competition held in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Finalists in Baylor Law School's annual intraschool Faegre Drinker Spring Moot Court Competition demonstrated their appellate advocacy skills before a distinguished panel of judges and a large audience on Monday, March 20, 2023. When the judges returned their decision, the team of Kingrey Sullens and Kelton Munch narrowly edged out the team of O'quilla Jones and Rachel Brooks to take the championship spot.

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will hear two cases at the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center on Thursday, March 23. The public is invited to attend the hearings in the Jim Kronzer Appellate Advocacy Classroom and Courtroom (Room 127) at the law school which will begin at 9am.

Baylor Law’s interscholastic moot court team took first place at the prestigious 31st annual Conrad B. Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, hosted by St. John’s University and the American Bankruptcy Institute. The team of Maddie Gay, Tansy Ackermann, and Casey Cooper emerged victorious – and Amber John, Jacob King, and Paige Browne – made a strong showing, ending as octa-finalists.

Baylor Law will keep tuition costs flat for the fourth consecutive year. This decision is part of the school’s ongoing efforts to make legal education more accessible and affordable to students. The 0% tuition increase means that students will continue to pay $1,471 per course hour per quarter, the same rate since the 2018-19 academic year.

The ABA Client Counseling Competition addresses fundamental skills necessary for all successful attorneys, namely the ability to interview, counsel, and support a client through their legal issue. Competitors conduct an initial interview with a person playing the role of the client and then address both the client’s legal and non-legal needs. Students are called on to explain various aspects of the attorney-client relationship, build rapport, determine client goals, and consider applicable law and options that may be available to the client.

We could use your help to judge.

On February 11, 2023, Baylor Law hosted the 18th annual People’s Law School, a half-day event offering free courses designed to make the law more accessible. More than 200 participants came to Baylor Law for the first in-person People’s Law School since 2020.

On Friday, Thursday, February 9th, Rhasean Stephens, President of Baylor Law’s Veteran and Military Legal Society and Director of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs Josh Borderud attended a roundtable discussion with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis R. McDonough.

The Baylor Law team of Michel Tagliabue, Sarah Megan Erb, and Vivian Noyd were runners-up at the 2023 Hunton Andrews & Kurth Invitational National Moot Court Competition, the ‘National Championship’ of moot court competitions.

On Thursday, January 26, Baylor Law announced the winners of the 2022 The Paper Chase Legal Writing Competition, Texas’s premier legal writing contest. According to the Judges from the Texas Young Lawyer Association (TYLA), this year’s winner is Gloria Jones of the University of Texas School of Law. Second Place was awarded to Colin Hickl of SMU Dedman School of Law, and Jacob C. Swanson of SMU Dedman School of Law took Third Place. The high-stakes legal writing competition stands out for its challenging real-world writing prompt and a significant cash prize award of $5,000 for first-place winner Gloria Jones and $7,000 in total prizes.

Ryann Connell of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and Will Cowan of the University of Houston Law Center are this year’s winners of The Closer, the nation’s most challenging transactional law competition. The runners-up in this year’s demanding competition were Alyx Thompson of the University of Tennessee College of Law and Evan Nelson of Emory University School of Law.

Ryann Connell of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and Will Cowan of the University of Houston Law Center are this year’s winners of The Closer, the nation’s most challenging transactional law competition. The runners-up in this year’s demanding competition were Alyx Thompson of the University of Tennessee College of Law and Evan Nelson of Emory University School of Law. Their fellow competitors also chose Connell and Cowen via secret ballot as the winners of the Professionalism Award.

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Strategic Initiatives Stephen Rispoli has been named the 2023 Access to Justice Award recipient by the Association of American Law Schools.

The US Senate has confirmed Cindy Dyer, JD ’93, to become the next Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP), with the rank of Ambassador. Dyer’s appointment by President Biden earlier this year was confirmed by a unanimous bipartisan vote of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Baylor University School of Law announces the 14 law schools and student competitors that will participate in the seventh annual The Closer Transactional Law Competition in January 2023.

Baylor Law student Amanda Alvez is one of three recipients of the 2022 Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA) Diversity Scholarship.

On Friday, November 18, 2022, McLennan County celebrated Adoption Day, where 36 children in foster care realized their dream of finding a forever family at Baylor Law before McLennan County Judge Nikki Mundkowsky.

On Friday, November 18, McLennan County celebrated Adoption Day, where 36 children in foster care realized their dream of finding a forever family at Baylor Law before McLennan County Judge Nikki Mundkowsky.

Baylor Law Veterans Clinic recognized Curtis Brown and Dominic Braus (JD ’09) as the 2022 Advocates of the Year at the Waco-McLennan County Bar Association luncheon on Friday, November 4.

The Waco Chapter of The Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (TEX-ABOTA) has selected Baylor Law’s Jim Wren to receive the 2022 Civility and Ethics Award for outstanding ethics and civility in his professional career.

The team of Catherine McKinney and Maria Zermeno Simon edged out the team of Danielle Hayes and Tiffany Dunkin to take the top spot as winners of the 2022 Dawson & Sodd, PLLC Moot Court Competition at Baylor Law.

The Executive Committee of the Baylor Law Alumni Association has selected Michael P. Heiskell (J.D. ’74) as the 2022 Baylor Lawyer of the Year. Cynthia Clack (J.D. ’78), President of the Baylor Law Alumni Association, presented Heiskell with the award during a recognition luncheon at the Fort Worth Club on Thursday, September 15th.

Patricia Diaz-Rodriguez (LL.M.'19) was recently elected Region II President of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA). Region II serves members of the HNBA in New York. She was sworn in during the National Hispanic Bar Conference in Washington, D.C., on September 9, 2022.

For the third time in five years, Baylor Law’s Moot Court interscholastic team has clinched another national championship at the E. Earle Zehmer Moot Court competition held in Orlando. In a testament to the depth of talent of Baylor Law’s moot court teams, two Baylor Law teams advanced to the final round of the competition and faced off for the championship on Monday, August 21, 2022.

Since 2002, Baylor Law has hosted the Texas District and County Attorneys Association’s (TDCAA) Advanced Trial Advocacy Course during the ‘intersession’ between the Summer and Fall Quarters. Building on this decades-long partnership, Baylor hosted two of TDCAA’s educational programs this summer: its Advanced Trial Advocacy Course and its Advanced Appellate Course.

For the second time in four years, the American Bar Association (ABA) has awarded Baylor Law with its prestigious E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award. The ABA has selected Baylor Law’s innovative Leadership Development Program to receive the 2022 Award, following the selection of Baylor Law’s Practice Ready Program in 2018.

Baylor Lawyer Cindy V. Tisdale (JD '95) of Granbury was sworn in as President-Elect of the State Bar of Texas during the State Bar's Board of Directors meeting on June 9, 2022. Tisdale will serve as the Bar's President from June 2023 to June 2024. She is the owner and principal of the Law Office of Cindy V. Tisdale and is Of Counsel at Lynch, Chappell & Alsup in Midland.

Stephanie Dunnam Mabry joined Baylor Law as its Director of Development in the Spring of 2022. She received her Bachelor of Arts in history and political science from Baylor University and a Master of Arts in Politics and Society in Historical Perspective from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Adjunct Professor David Deaconson, JD ’83, has been honored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA) as the 2022 Outstanding Mentor of Texas. The TYLA honored Deaconson for his dedication to mentoring young lawyers and furthering the importance of mentoring in the legal profession.

Baylor Law student Rachel Rickel has been named Baylor Law’s most recent ‘Mad Dog’ after winning the Summer 2022 Mad Dog Mock Trial Competition. Fellow student Lexie Ammons was the finalist.

How does a winning trial attorney ensure that the jurors are well-suited to decide the specific case on trial? That is the objective of a successful voir dire—and the aim of ADA Ryan Calvert’s first-ever Voir Dire Boot Camp offered to Baylor Law students in May 2022.

After three grueling days of rigorous competition, Haley Kairab of the University of Georgia School of Law was declared the winner of Top Gun XIII, the thirteenth annual iteration of Baylor Law's intense National Mock Trial Competition.

Baylor University has selected Professor of Law Jeremy Counseller to receive the 2021-2022 Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching (Tenured).

Baylor Law 3L Lizzie Allen was recently selected to receive a highly selective Equal Justice Works Fellowship. She will provide direct representation and advocacy for students with disabilities at risk of, and currently navigating, the juvenile justice system.

Student advocates who will compete in Baylor Law's Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition, the most challenging mock trial competition in the country, have been named. The invitation-only tournament pits the best advocates from 16 trial advocacy schools against one another in a head-to-head, winner-take-all contest June 1-5 at Baylor Law.

Law students from the best trial advocacy programs in the country will travel to Waco June 1-5 to take part in Baylor Law’s thirteenth annual National Top Gun Mock Trial Competition. The invitation-only, winner-takes-all contest is the nation's most prestigious and intense mock trial competition.

Baylor Law celebrates its achievement of exceeding its $50M Give Light fundraising goal through the generosity of Baylor Law alumni and friends. Baylor Law’s Give Light priorities included opportunities which expand areas of existing excellence and pursue new areas of strategic importance with the support of growing endowment resources.

For the fifth straight year, Baylor Law’s Legal Clinics will honor the hard work, dedication, and sacrifice of McLennan County’s law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical services. During May, Baylor Law’s Estate Planning Clinic will offer free wills and simple estate planning to police, firefighters, EMTs, and their spouses living or working in McLennan County.

On Thursday, March 31, 2022, Baylor Law held its annual awards ceremony to honor outstanding student accomplishments during the past year. The John William and Florence Dean Minton Student Awards Ceremony and Lecture Series celebrates those Baylor Law students who excel both in and out of the classroom. Baylor Law honored students for excellence in academics, advocacy, work on the Baylor Law Review, and pro bono and public service at the ceremony.

Baylor Law faculty member and Waco City Councilman Joshua G. Borderud (J.D.’ 09) received the 2020 American Inns of Court Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service at the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 26th, 2022. The American Inns of Court presents the Sandra Day O’Connor Award to honor a member in the first ten years of practice for excellence in public interest or pro bono activities.

Baylor Law’s annual Faegre Drinker Spring Moot Court Competition ended on Monday, March 21, with students Lauren Leveno and Jamie Mills taking the top spots. Eighty-four teams participated in this challenging competition, making it one of the largest tournaments ever held at Baylor Law.

The Texas Bar Foundation has selected Baylor Lawyer and Adjunct Professor of Law Ben Selman (JD ’73) as the 2022 recipient of the Lola Wright Foundation Award for outstanding public service and the promotion of legal ethics in Texas.

Judge T. John Ward, JD ‘67, the United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Texas who retired from the bench in 2011, will be honored as a recipient of the Texas Bar Foundation’s Outstanding 50 Year Lawyer Award.

Baylor Law congratulates Shannon Sedgwick Davis (JD ’00) on her selection as the 2022 International Citizen of the Year by the World Affairs Council of San Antonio. Sedgwick Davis was honored at a celebration on March 2 at the Red Berry Estate in San Antonio.

Andrew Boone has won first place in Baylor Law’s annual The Ultimate Writer legal writing competition, drafting the best legal document out of several competitors. For his efforts, he was awarded an $8,000 cash prize thanks to the generous underwriting of the Charles and Lisa Frazier Endowed Fund for Excellence in Writing and the law firm of Durham, Pittard & Spalding LLP.

Baylor Law congratulates Lewis R. Sifford (JD ’72) on his selection as the 2022 President of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Sifford was unanimously confirmed at the organization’s National Committee Meeting on January 3.

Students Lexie Ammons, Michael Tagliabue, and brief writer Sarah Megan Erb took top honors in the field of the top sixteen advocacy programs in the nation at the 2022 Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Invitational Championship hosted by the University of Houston Law Center.

More than 100 Baylor Law students recently attended a special presentation by Adjunct Professor of Law Walt Shelton titled “Daily and Periodic Practices to Enhance your Life Quality: Staying Focused and Keeping Balanced.” The virtual session on mindfulness and balance, along with a signed copy of Professor Shelton’s latest book were made possible thanks to a recent grant to the law school from the Texas Bar Foundation to implement comprehensive mental health and wellness offerings at the Law School.

Bess Fisher of the University of Mississippi School of Law and Zachery Hunter of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law are this year’s winners of The Closer, the nation’s most challenging transactional law competition. Runners up in this year’s challenging competition were James Keegan of the University of San Diego School of Law and Megan Sugrue of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Baylor Law has been selected to host one of the 2022 ABA National Client Counseling Regional Competitions via Zoom and invites alumni and lawyers within the legal community to participate as virtual judges.

Bess Fisher of University of Mississippi School of Law and Zachery Hunter of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law are this year's winners of The Closer, the nation's most challenging transactional law competition. Runners up in this year's challenging competition were James Keegan of University of San Diego School of Law and Megan Sugrue of University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Kristine Bridges (JD ’03), current Director of Development for Baylor Law, will transition to become Baylor Law’s Assistant Dean of Career Services. She will take over the role previously held by now-Senior Assistant Dean Angela Cruseturner on January 18, 2022.

Baylor Law's sixth annual transactional law competition, The Closer, one the nation's preeminent law competitions, gets underway this week. In this innovative and invitation-only competition, students from participating schools vie to win a total of $10,000 in top prizes and bragging rights as a top closer.

Baylor Law School mourns the loss of Master Teacher David Guinn, the retired Lyndon L. Olson and William A. Olson Professor of Local Government and Constitutional Law. Lovingly referred to as "the Godfather," Professor Guinn earned his nickname for his long tenure at the law school, but also for the wide influence he had on state policy and generations of Baylor Lawyers.

Baylor Law student Matthew Maupin has been named the most recent Baylor Law 'Mad Dog,' after winning the Fall 2021 Mad Dog Mock Trial Competition. Fellow student Kristopher Ruiz was the finalist.A long-running tradition at Baylor Law, every Practice Court class competes in the Bob and Karen Wortham "Mad Dog" Practice Court Competition, a week-long contest that occurs at the beginning of the second quarter of the famed Practice Court program.

On Tuesday, November 16, Baylor Lawyer Brit Featherston (JD ’92) was sworn in as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. Featherston was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and took the oath of office from fellow Baylor Lawyer, Chief District Judge Rodney Gilstrap (JD ’81).

On Friday, November 19th, 14 new families were legally formed and 20 former foster children were finally adopted into their new families. For the fourteenth straight year, Baylor Law faculty, staff, and students joined with members of the McLennan County Department of Families and Child Protective Services and the judiciary to celebrate McLennan County’s Adoption Day.

Baylor Law is always immensely proud of our veterans and service members throughout the year, but on this Veterans Day, we publicly honor our military students and celebrate those who have dedicated their time and talents to protect and defend our Constitutional Republic and freedom across the globe.

Baylor Law currently has 17 active, reserve, and veteran members of four different branches of the U.S. and Texas militaries.

The Texas Bar Foundation recently awarded Baylor Law a grant of $6,500 to implement comprehensive and consistent mental health and wellness programming at the Law School. With assistance from the Texas Bar Foundation, under the banner of ‘Mind, Body, and Spirit,’ Baylor Law will execute a multi-faceted program to better support the mental health and wellness of its students.

On Friday, November 5th, Baylor University School of Law’s Veterans Clinic honored Waco attorneys Gavin Lane and Darren Obenoskey with its Advocate of the Year Awards. The annual awards are given to volunteer attorneys who go above and beyond in pro bono legal service to Central Texas veterans and their spouses in the past year.

On Wednesday, October 27th, Assistant Dean Stephen Rispoli participated in a panel discussion hosted by the State Bar of Texas Pro Bono Workgroup – Judiciary Subcommittee.

Former Director of Baylor Law’s award-winning Practice Court program and recently retired Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence, Gerald R. Powell (JD ’77), has been selected by the Baylor Law Alumni Association Executive Committee as the 2021 Baylor Lawyer of the Year.

To honor local veterans, Baylor Law students will offer, for the 10th consecutive year, free estate planning for veterans and their spouses as part of Baylor Law's Veterans Day commemorations. Veterans may obtain up to five documents that will be drafted free of charge: will, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, declaration of guardian, and directive to physicians.

Professor of Law Emeritus Mike Morrison will bring his 40+ years of experience representing cities, counties, and school districts throughout Texas and Arkansas on redistricting issues to a virtual panel discussion entitled "Redrawing Texas: Who Chooses Whom?" on Nov. 1 at 3:30 p.m., hosted by Baylor University’s W.R. Poage Legislative Library and the Institute for oral history. The panel, which is free and open to the public, will discuss the redistricting process in Texas and provide insights into the process currently underway.

Judge K. Nicole Mitchell (JD, '06), United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, has been named the 2021 Young Baylor Lawyer of the Year. Dean Brad Toben publicly announced Judge Mitchell's honor at the 24th Annual Eastern District of Texas Bench Bar Conference in October.

The Baylor University Bookstore will host an in-store book signing event on Friday, October 15th from 4 to 6 pm for visitors to meet and have books signed by Walt Shelton, Adjunct Professor at Baylor Law and one of the most-read faith columnists in Texas.

Baylor University School of Law has announced the 14 law schools that will participate in the sixth annual The Closer Transactional Law Competition in January 2022. The Closer is a highly selective competition with invitations extended to law schools whose programming demonstrates a commitment to excellence in practical transactional law training.