Practice Management

Let me qualify what I am about to say by stating that you need to attend the law schools at which you get accepted.  You can succeed at any law school, but each do have their qualities and preferences.

If you are considering law school, and you want to judge your chances, you cannot ignore Houston, Texas as the place for your legal education.  It is the fourth largest city in the United States, it is the center of the energy industry, it is home to the largest medical center in the World that is utilized by people through the World.  It is, in short, a dynamic place even if it is a little humid.

Houston is also a giant legal center that houses many Big Law firms, fortune 500 companies, and it is the place for much international commerce.

In this regard, Houston has three good law schools from which to choose --  University of Houston Law Center, Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and South Texas College of Law.  Each of them is well established and each is ABA approved, so there is nothing there to distinguish to three of them.

For purposes of disclaimer, my wife and I and my sister all attended South Texas College of Law.  My daughter is currently attending the University of Houston Law Center.

Each school is accomplished in its own way.  Each has a dynamic story to tell.  But, based upon your future chances and debt, the question becomes which invitation to accept should you have a choice between these institutions?

Both UH and TSU are public Institutions, while STCL is a large private law school in downtown Houston.  As a result, its tuition is already much higher than either of the other two.  STCL is one of the cheaper private law schools in the way of tuition, but it is not on the list of top law schools providing full or substantial scholarships and grants to its students.  It stands to reason, therefore, that if you go to STCL you will likely leave with more debt or strongly deplete the resources of you and your family.  It does not help that all three Houston law schools are guilty of greatly increasing tuition and fees the last few years.

With this understand ing of cost and debt, you can tell much my reviewing the employment trends of law school students and graduates as published in The National Law Journal for Texas.  In short, where are you statistically likely to end up with all of your effort and resources.

If the goal is to land a job with Big Law (the National Law Journal's list of 250 largest law firms), which pay richer salaries, then you are three times more likely to get one of those jobs graduating from UH than STCL or TSU.  Nearly 15% of UH's graduating class get Big Law jobs, while this is below 5% for both TSU and STCL.

If your interest is in public interest law two points are evident. You need to keep your debt down because these jobs, although often more rewarding, do not pay as much.  TSU has the highest number of graduates taking public interest jobs, while UH and STCL hardly register in this area.  Also, TSU is the cheapest of the law schools in Houston to attend in the way of tuition and fees.

Do you think there might be a better opportunity for you in working for big business once you graduate?  There is nothing wrong with that.  But, here as well UH's graduates far out pace both TSU and STCL in the number of their graduates that get good paying jobs with business.  Also, UH has a renown MBA program and you may obtain a joint JD/MBA at UH.

If you think you might like a judicial clerkship when graduating, UH leads in this category as well with STCL placing about half as many in these positions, and TSU barely registers in this regard.

Government jobs after law school might not pay as much, but they offer generally good benefits and job security.  Both STCL and UH place a good number of graduates in government jobs.  TSU lags behind.

As with each of the Houston law schools a large percentage of their graduates go solo or join smaller law firms.  Fewer UH graduates do because of the large placement in Big Law firms, business, judicial clerkships, and government jobs.

UH has virtually no first year attrition and few transfer out of the school, while STLC is higher but negligible.  TSU, however, should be shown some concern over the fact that it loses over 10% of its first year students to attrition, a larger number transfer from the school, and a large number of its graduates remain unemployed.  There are just some things for which cheaper tuition and fees cannot not account.

I will let you be the judge, but all indicators would indicate that UH is the best choice unless you want to go solo or join a smaller firm upon graduation.  If so, however, it is important to keep in mind that STCL is more costly.  This might leave TSU if this is your choice.