The Academy of the Advocate
July 27 – August 10, 2025
The 2025 Academy of the Advocate begins July 27, 2025, with an afternoon orientation and first class in Scotland. However, the first class session is a mandatory online pre-departure orientation session which will be held a few weeks prior to the start of the Academy. The date and time of this session will be released at a later date.
Students registered for the Academy will be sent information about how to access the mandatory online pre-departure orientation session. Regular classes continue through August 10, 2025. Grades are based on students’ participation in discussion and performance on graded advocacy exercises, including a “Final Argument” for the School of the Appeal students and a “Final Trial” for the students participating in the School of the Trial and the Advanced School of the Trial. All “finals” will take place on the last day of the program.
The Baylor Law Academy of the Advocate at St Andrews has been approved by the American Bar Association Accreditation Committee.
Welcome to the Academy of the Advocate at St Andrews, one of the finest training grounds for aspiring courtroom advocates in the world.
Situated near the birthplace of English Common Law in historic St Andrews, Scotland, the Academy is a result of a unique partnership between Baylor University (founded in 1845), the oldest continually operating university in Texas, and the University of St Andrews (founded in 1413), the third oldest university in the English-speaking world. Here, students step into an immersive, two-week trial and appellate advocacy experience led by some of the finest civil trial lawyers, criminal prosecutors, sitting judges, and renowned advocacy professors in America—an experience that will see them emerge with knowledge and skills they will call on for the rest of their lives.
The program is organized into three schools: the School of Appeal, the School of the Trial, and the Advanced School of the Trial. Intimate by design, with a student-to-faculty ratio of approximately 3 to 1, the program is limited to a maximum of 60 students. Following enrollment, students select a school and complete the course of study in the two-week session. Upon completion of any school, they receive three semester (or five quarter) hours of credit. Students who participate at the end of the summer program find that they can return and still do a clerkship in the fall.
Attracting students from all over the country, The Academy of the Advocate is held in the striking setting of St Andrews, where the art and craft of advocacy unfolds amidst the rich history of British Common Law. The enduring traditions of trial by jury. The right to appeal. Nowhere do those traditions more colorfully and dramatically come to life than in St Andrews.
To learn more about St Andrews' history, please visit www.st-andrews.ac.uk/about/
The Baylor Law School Academy of the Advocate at St Andrews has been approved by the American Bar Association Accreditation Committee.
