Patricia Wilson

Patricia A. Wilson is the Associate Dean and the William Boswell Chair of Law. She was named Interim Dean of Baylor Law School in July 2023 and served in that role until July 2024. A member of the Baylor Law faculty since 1993, she has taught courses on Employment Discrimination, Employment Relations, Labor Law, Family Law, Property, Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Consumer Protection, and Legal Writing. She taught the first-year Property course for 12 years and has also taught courses on Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Consumer Protection, and Legal Writing. Dean Wilson serves as a Minority Law Student Advisor and, for the past 10 years, has coached multiple moot court teams each year, with her teams achieving exceptional success.

Students benefit from Dean Wilson’s professional and personal experience in the classroom, where she supplements textbook cases with real-life examples. Before joining the Baylor Law Faculty, she practiced law for seven years, including four years with American Airlines, Inc. There, she managed litigation matters worth millions of dollars, negotiated and drafted contracts for topics as diverse as software licensing and health care plan administration, and handled matters involving airline regulation and employment discrimination.

Dean Wilson has published articles on property, real estate issues, and client counseling. For years, she regularly spoke at continuing legal education seminars in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago on such topics as legal ethics and complex real estate negotiations.

Service is particularly important to Dean Wilson. In 2005, she established the People’s Law School at Baylor Law—an annual event designed to educate members of the Waco community about their legal rights and make the law “user-friendly.” She was the driving force behind that program for the program’s first 15 years. Dean Wilson has served as the National Moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, having been a member of the Governing Board on two separate occasions and was the Moderator of the Texas Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Dean Wilson has served on numerous national boards and committees, including the State Bar of Texas Consumer and Commercial Law Council, the American Bar Association Competitions Committee, the Dispute Resolution Center Board, and as President of the Waco-McLennan County Bar Association. In 2016, Dean Wilson was honored as the Outstanding Professor for Contributions to the Academic Community.

Dean Wilson earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University (B.A., 1982, Sociology), graduating with distinction. She received her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., 1985), where she was named a Wigmore Scholar and was a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of International Law and Business.

Dean Wilson and her husband, Michael Jones, are the parents of four children. She enjoys spending time with her family, especially her three spirited grandchildren.

Courses Taught

Employment Discrimination, Employment Relations, Family Law, and Labor Law