University of Texas School of Law - Austin
The University of Texas School of Law began as the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Law when the university was founded in 1883. Texas Law started with two professors and 52 students in the basement of the east wing of the original university building. Texas Law has since grown to more than 1,400 students and offers the doctor of jurisprudence (JD) and the master of laws (LLM). Texas Law has always stayed ahead of trends to ensure that it prepares students for the challenges of the day. The school's first course on oil and gas law was held in 1914, and a legal aid clinic was begun in 1941. The tradition has continued with the founding of the Capital Punishment Center in 1988; the Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution in 1993; and the Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law in 2009, among many other programs and centers. Texas Law is currently one of the only law schools in the world to offer a course on wind energy law, a growing field as the search for alternate energy sources intensifies.
