History

Baylor University was organized in Independence, Texas, by the Baptist denomination in Texas in 1845. It was granted a charter by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on February 1, 1845. The University was named for Judge R.E.B. Baylor, a Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas member and later a state district court judge.

In 1849, Baylor and another trustee of the University, Judge Abner S. Lipscomb of the Supreme Court of the State of Texas, began teaching classes in the "science of law." Baylor University was thus the second university west of the Mississippi to teach law. St. Louis University, beginning in 1842, was the first. Lipscomb died in 1856.

The School of Law was formally organized at Baylor in 1857, and Judge Royall T. Wheeler, also a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, was appointed head of the law school. When the law school opened, R.E.B. Baylor, Captain W.P. Rogers, and John Sayles were on the faculty with Wheeler. They were all part-time teachers when thirteen students were in the law school upon its organization. Students completed a two-year study course, including a moot court course and other lecture courses.

Sayles devoted much of his time to the law school and later printed his lectures as Sayles' Treatise on the Practice in the District Courts and Supreme Court of Texas. He was the first law textbook writer in the state. He later wrote several other practice books and compiled various editions of Sayles' Texas Statutes, eventually becoming Vernon's Texas Statutes several generations later.

Wheeler resigned as the head of the law school in 1860. The first law class graduated in 1858 during his tenure, and twenty-nine others had graduated by the time of his resignation. Of these, the most renowned was Thomas J. Brown, who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1893 to 1911, then Chief Justice from 1 911 to 1915.

Baylor Law suspended operations during the Civil War. In 1866, R.E.B. Baylor, Sayles, R.T. Smyth, John Alexander, and James E. Shepard were reappointed to the law school faculty. Though Smyth is recognized as the full-time resident faculty member, Shepard is generally recognized as the second Dean of the law school. Shepard served in this capacity until the law school suspended operations again in 1871. Records of students or graduates during this time are incomplete.

R.E.B. Baylor taught a course in Constitutional Law until he died in 1873. Sayles and Shepard continued to be listed as members of the faculty of the University until 1883, and Shepard is believed to have taught law courses up until then. In 1883, the School of Law at Texas University opened, and law classes would not be offered regularly at Baylor for another thirty-seven years.

Baylor University moved to Waco in 1886 and combined with Waco University. At this time, there was no formal law department. The school offered several law classes, including those related to constitutional law and jurisprudence, but no law degree was offered.

In 1918, under the direction of President Samuel Palmer Brooks, the university was reorganized into colleges. Brooks encouraged the board of trustees to create three new departments on campus, including a new law department. The board of trustees formally approved the law department on December 22, 1919. Through several contacts, Brooks narrowed his list of leaders of the new law school to one--Allen G. Flowers. Flowers had served as a deputy prosecuting attorney for six years in Arkansas and had taught law for one year at the University of Arkansas. Flowers accepted the position on April 3, 1920.

Brooks and Flowers sought to develop a practice-oriented institution and soon hired a local judge, James P. Alexander, as a part-time instructor. Law classes began in October 1920 in the basement of the Carroll Science Hall. Twenty-five students enrolled in courses, and ten were pursuing a law degree. Enrollment increased to fifty-four students during the 1921-22 school year, and the law school added another faculty member, Judge Nathaniel Harris.

To accommodate larger class sizes, the law school moved to a small residential structure--dubbed "Jurisprudence Hall"--for the 1921-22 school year. This building was used to conduct classes and provided faculty office space. A fire to the Carroll Chapel and Library Building in 1922 required transferring of about 2000 law books to Jurisprudence Hall. By the fall of 1922, the size of the book collection had increased to about 2500 volumes.

Baylor, led by the highly motivated Dean Flowers, sought in 1922 to receive "first-class" recognition of the law department by the Supreme Court of Texas. Such recognition would permit Baylor law graduates to become licensed in Texas without having to pass the state bar exam. On February 1, 1923, the Supreme Court granted such recognition less than three years after the re-establishment of the law school. The spring of 1923 also brought the graduation of the first law class at Baylor, which included Drummond W. Bartlett, Jennings C. Brown, Mills Cox, William Lacy Sleeper, and Joseph Franklin Wilson.

As the size of classes and the volume of resources increased at the law school, the need arose for yet another move to a new facility. In the fall of 1923, the law school moved to the restored Carroll Chapel and Library Building, which would continue as the law school's home until 1947.

Baylor began to receive national recognition in the 1920s for its focus on practical training in law schools. In particular, Baylor offered a course titled "Practice Court," which is believed to be the first among American law schools. Judge Alexander developed the course when he arrived as a part-time instructor and continued to teach it for twenty years.

Twenty-two individuals graduated from Baylor School of Law in 1925. Among these was Leon Jaworski, who, at 19, was the youngest law graduate in the history of Texas. Increased enrollment during 1925 and 1926 required the addition of another full-time faculty member, Thomas E. McDonald. In 1926, Judge Harvey Richey joined Baylor as a part-time faculty member; in 1930, Abner E. Lipscomb joined Baylor as a full-time faculty member.

By 1930, Baylor exceeded the required number of faculty and volumes of resources to be considered for accreditation by the American Bar Association. Baylor employed three resident faculty members and offered a library containing over 9000 volumes. The American Bar Association visited the school in 1930, and Baylor received full accreditation in December 1931.

Flowers, who had guided the law school from its infancy to its national recognition as a quality institution for legal education, died in 1935. More than 200 students had received a law degree from Baylor under Flowers' leadership.

Thomas E. McDonald, a law faculty member since 1925, became dean of the law school in 1935. Baylor Law, during this time, continued to aspire to gain recognition as a top law school nationally and, in 1938, became a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

The law faculty expanded to four full-time members by 1938, including McDonald, Abner E. Libscomb, Lennart Larson, and James A. Carlson. Part-time members included Harvey M. Richey, James P. Alexander, and Nat Harris. Before the 1938 school year, Lipscomb received a job offer in Washington, D.C. He asked Abner V. McCall, a 1938 graduate who had earned the highest score to that date on the Texas Bar Examination, to take his place on the faculty.

McDonald died suddenly in 1939 and was replaced on an interim basis by Carlson. Lipscomb, who had remained in Washington for two years, returned as law school dean in 1940-41. That year, Alexander won the Democratic nomination as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. Alexander had developed and taught Practice Court since the reestablishment of the law school and now turned the reigns over to Judge Joseph W. Hale, a Waco Court of Civil Appeals member. Hale taught the course until the law school closed during World War II in 1943.

Lipscomb accepted an appointment into the military in 1941 and was replaced as dean by Leslie Jackson. That year, Margaret Harris (Gordon) Amsler joined the faculty full-time and served as a professor for almost thirty-two years.

The law school ceased operations from 1943 to 1946 during World War II. The law school reopened in 1946, with Amsler serving as acting dean. Jackson returned as dean in 1946 and remained until 1948. During this period, the law school experienced a rapid increase in enrollment, from about 100 in the fall of 1946 to 402 in the fall of 1949. In addition to the rise in enrollment, the law library also grew during this period, and the space provided in the Carroll Library was no longer adequate to house the entire law school. In 1947, the university gave the law school the "Law Annex," a frame building across Speight Avenue from the Carroll Library. During the next few years, additional space was provided but was not entirely adequate to serve the needs of the law school.

In 1948, the university appointed McCall as dean of the law school. The increase in enrollment required the law school to hire additional faculty members, several of whom would serve the university for several decades. In 1947, Judge Frank M. Wilson began to share the duties of teaching Practice Court, a responsibility he assumed for the next two decades. In 1948, the school hired Edwin P. Horner and John R. Wilson, both SMU School of Law graduates. The following year, the school hired Angus S. McSwain, Jr., a 1948 Baylor graduate, and member of the first editorial board of the Baylor Law Review.

As the need for new facilities grew, a financial source appeared. Ralph W. Morrison, a businessman from San Antonio, had died and left part of his estate to a trust, with income payable to Baylor. Baylor President William R. White agreed to use half of this income for a new law school if legal questions could be answered. The trustees of the Morrison Trust filed a declaratory judgment proceeding in a San Antonio court. With Horner and McSwain's assistance, McCall submitted a brief to the court requesting that part of the trust income be devoted to the law school. The court's judgment in October 1954 permitted funds for this purpose.

Plans had begun for the new law school in 1951, and construction of the law school began in 1954. Stanley W. Bliss of Austin was employed as architect, and Eitze-Kitchens Construction Company of Austin was hired as general contractor. Construction was completed at an estimated cost of about $560,000 in the summer of 1955.

Soon after the Morrison Constitution Hall opened in the fall of 1955, it was touted as one of the most advanced teaching facilities in the southwest region of the United States. The three-story, air-conditioned building contained a courtroom auditorium, a small appellate courtroom, and four classrooms. The library, which included about 30,000 volumes by 1956, could hold about 50,000 books.

Whereas the old facility limited the ability of the law school to attract students, the Morrison Constitution Hall opened the door to significant increases in enrollment. One-hundred-seventy students were enrolled in the fall of 1956, and gradual increases led to an enrollment of almost 400 by the mid-1970s. Numerous changes among the faculty occurred as well. In 1956, William J. Boswell, who had taught on a part-time basis for more than two decades, joined the faculty on a full-time basis. Della Geyer, who served as law librarian for three decades, joined the law school the same year. During the summer of 1957, Erwin A. Elias joined the law faculty.

During the time that the law school adjusted to its new facility, Dean Abner V. McCall assumed many responsibilities that were delegated to other members of the administration and staff members in the current law school. During his eleven years as Dean, McCall was responsible for long-range plans and policy decisions, admissions, budget, alumni relations, curriculum, fund-raising, faculty matters, the law library, placement, scheduling, and scholarships. McCall also taught courses in evidence, practice court, torts, introduction to law, constitutional law, conflict of laws, and the legal profession.

In 1959, the Baylor Board of Trustees appointed McCall to the office of chief executive vice-president. He was appointed as the tenth president of Baylor University in 1961. When McCall assumed the vice president position, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Boswell as Dean. The law school continued to grow, reaching 270 students by 1965. Several changes to the faculty also occurred, including the addition of Hulen D. Wendorf in 1961.

In 1963, the law school began recognizing the accomplishments of its alumni and faculty by awarding the Baylor Lawyer of the Year award at the annual Law Day banquet. The first recipient was A.J. Folley, followed by Leon Jaworski (1964) and M. Price Daniel (1965).

Boswell served as Dean for six years and then resigned to return to full-time teaching. Angus S. McSwain, Jr., who had served as a faculty member since 1949, was appointed Dean. McSwain would lead the law school for the next nineteen years, the longest tenure of any dean in the law school's history. McSwain emphasized classroom teaching as the law school's primary objective. By the early 1970s, the law school grew to about 350 students, and the law library increased its holdings to about 75,000. During the early years of McSwain's tenure, several new faculty members arrived, including Loy M. Simpkins (1965), an attorney originally from Oklahoma; David Guinn (1966), who was eventually honored as Master Teacher and is currently the senior faculty member; R. Matt Dawson (1971), a 1938 graduate of Baylor Law who practiced law for many years in Corsicana; W. Frank Newton (1972), who later became the Dean at Texas Tech University School of Law; Peeler Williams, Jr. (1972), who had served as a part-time instructor at the law school for several years; and Susan Kendrick (1973), who has served as a professional librarian for more than thirty years.

In 1966, Judge Frank M. Wilson, the long-time teacher of the Practice Court program, donated to the law school his collection of 2,135 rare books and fifty documents dating back to the Middle Ages. The law school renovated the Morrison Constitution Hall for the first time in 1974, adding the Leon Jaworski Wing to improve the capacity for students and library resources. Jaworski was, among his many accomplishments, a 1925 graduate of the law school, founder of the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, and former president of the American Bar Association. The Jaworski Wing nearly doubled the law library's capacity, providing ample study space for the student body.

One year after the completion of the Jaworski Wing, the law school received a $600,000 gift from Mills Cox, a Houston businessman who was a member of the 1923 graduating class at Baylor.

Several faculty changes occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and many current law faculty arrived. Such faculty includes Michael Morrison (1977), Thomas Featherston (1982); William Trail (1982); David Swenson (1982); Ronald Beal (1983); Bradley J.B. Toben (1983); and Michael Rogers (1984).

Additional changes to the law school occurred in the early 1980s. By 1982, the law school began planning to add a new advocacy building and update the Morrison Constitution Hall and Jaworski Wing. The project, which provided the law school with four courtrooms that provided audio/visual support, was completed in 1985. The M.D. Anderson Foundation, which had also provided significant funding for the Jaworski Wing, provided substantial funding for the Advocacy Wing. The Foundation has continued to be an effective provider to Baylor Law with its generous support for the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center. Before its completion, McSwain resigned in 1984 to return to full-time teaching. Baylor appointed Charles W. Barrow, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, as McSwain's successor. Barrow had served as a member of the Texas Judiciary for more than 27 years and had been honored as Baylor Lawyer of the Year in 1972.

Six months after assuming the position as Dean, Charles W. Barrow presided over the dedication of the new Advocacy Wing of Morrison Constitution Hall, completed in 1985. The addition to the law school and the renovation of the Morrison Constitution Hall and Leon Jaworski Wing would be the last improvements made to Morrison Constitution Hall.

Changes in the law school's leadership occurred in 1991 when Barrow retired as dean after serving from 1984 to 1991. In 1991, Bradley J.B. Toben became the eleventh dean of the law school. Leah Jackson Teague was named as associate dean the same year. Both have remained in their positions as the law school prepared for some of the most significant changes in its history.

Several long-time faculty members retired from full-time teaching from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, including Edwin P. Horner, Angus S. McSwain, Jr., Hulen Wendorf, Peeler Williams, Jr., and John Wilson. Many of the current law faculty arrived between 1986 and 1993, including Gerald Powell (1986), Brian Serr (1986), Jackson Teague (1989), and Elizabeth Miller (1991). Two faculty members who joined during that time, William Underwood (1990) and Melissa Essary (1990), left the Law School to assume leadership positions at other universities. Bill Underwood serves as the President of Mercer University. After serving as their dean for six years, Melissa Essary serves as a tenured faculty member at Campbell University School of Law.

In November 1992, the law school announced a significant restructuring of its highly acclaimed, practice-oriented curriculum. Among these changes included a requirement that students complete courses in the upper-level curriculum in a prescribed sequence to provide structure and organization to the entire program, a restructuring of upper-level electives into formal areas of concentration, allowing students to focus their study in an area of interest; and the restructuring of the first-year writing program, previously known as the Legal Methods program, into the Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication program.

Several professors have been added to the tenure and tenure-track faculty, including Larry Bates (1996), Brandon Quarles (1998), Matt Cordon (2000), Jeremy Counseller (2003), Rory Ryan (2004), Bridget Fuselier (2006), Jim Underwood (2006), Laura Hernandez (2008), Connie Nichols (2008), Luke Meier (2010), and Elizabeth Fraley (2015). Since 2011, Michael Berry has served as Legal Writing faculty along with Susan Kelley-Claybrook Ortiz (2013) and Greg White (2016).

Numerous publications have ranked Baylor's program among the nation's elite, mainly due to its dedication to teaching and its practice-oriented mission. In 1999, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Baylor in the "top tier" of American law schools. Throughout its history, Baylor has maintained the highest bar passage rate in Texas, a testament to the quality of instruction and training at the law school.

To maintain the law school's stature, the faculty and administration recognized that the Morrison Constitution Hall and its additions would not be sufficient to meet the needs of legal education in the 21st Century. In 1992, Baylor Law School began planning to build a new facility that could incorporate current and new technologies and allow Baylor to maintain its reputation as a teaching facility. Six years later, the dream became a reality when the school announced that Walter and Sheila Umphrey of Beaumont, Harold and Carol Ann Nix of Daingerfield, and John Eddie and Sheridan Williams of Houston had made a transformational collective gift to the law school. Groundbreaking for the new Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center was held in 1999 on the banks of the Brazos River. Many additional major gifts were provided in the capital endowment campaign that brought us the new Law Center and substantially enhanced the endowment resources of the Law School.

At its opening, the Umphrey Law Center was one of the nation's most technologically-innovative law school facilities, providing network access throughout the entire law school and advanced audio/visual capabilities. The dramatic increase in technological capacity coupled with Baylor's well-established formula for success has allowed Baylor to introduce a new chapter to an already glorious history.