Definitions

When used herein, “Faculty” shall mean faculty of the School of Law; “Dean” shall mean Dean of the School of Law; “Office of the Dean,” shall mean Dean of the School of Law, or where proper “Assistant Dean” or “Associate Dean,” “Instructor” shall mean any member of the instructional staff of the School of Law.

Scope

These rules cover only the subject enumerated and do not govern, or limit the existing and customary authority of the Faculty and Dean, as may be specified by the University and/or Board of Regents. These rules shall be construed in harmony with the rules and standards of the American Bar Association, and with the Rules Governing Admission to the Bar of Texas as adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas.

University Regulations

All law students shall be subject to general regulations of the University on matters not specifically covered by the regulations of the School of Law, and to the authority of the University administration and officials. 

Declaration of Intention to Study Law

The Supreme Court of Texas, which admits candidates to the practice of law in Texas as provided by Rules of Court, requires that all such candidates must file a formal Declaration of Intention to Study Law, on forms supplied for that purpose, by October 1 of the applicant’s first year of law school. The Declaration of Intention to Study Law provides for the certification of good moral character by a committee of the local bar association of the applicant’s home community. All persons who plan to practice in Texas are required to file such declarations. Forms are available at the Texas Board of Law Examiner’s web-site, https://ble.texas.gov/home

Email as an Official Means of Communication by TMSL

TMSL uses email as an official form of communication and sends correspondence to students’ TSU email addresses. Students should frequently check and maintain their TSU email account. Failure to read the email sent to a student’s TSU email address does not relieve the student of the responsibility to act or respond in a timely manner to messages TMSL sends via email. Students working with TMSL as a tutor, study group facilitator, teaching assistant, or in any other similar capacity are required to send all email regarding such business using their TSU email account.

Changes as of July 30, 2004

Inserted VI. Dual Degree Programs, as approved by the faculty on May 4, 2004

Removed STUDENT BAR ASSOCIATION CONSTITUTION and replaced with new constitution. Submitted by the SBA President in April 2004

Changed Constitutional Law from required fall courses in second year to course required to be taken at anytime during the second year

Changes as of July 15, 2005

Addendum. The above changes to “Constitutional Law from required fall course in second year to course required to be taken at anytime during the second year, should have read, changed

“Constitutional Law to required second year course to be taken during the fall of second year.”

This is a nunc pro tunc change to the above, based on faculty’s adopted curriculum changes, effective for the 2003-04 academic year.

Changes as of July 20, 2006

Inserted C-exclusion as applied to 1L Substantive Courses III, Sec 3A

Changes as of July 10, 2007

Removed previous Honor Code and replaced with revised Honor Code approved by the faculty spring

semester 2007.

Inserted revised paragraph Article III, Section 4A2, Special Provisions for the disabled.

Deleted that forms could be available at the law school.

Inserted that forms are now available at the Texas Board of Law Examiners web site,

www.ble.state.tx.us

Removed out of date procedure for Special Provisions for the Disabled and replaced with current

procedure.

Honor Code – Replaced previous Honor Code with present Code October 2007.

Changes as of July 20, 2009

Inserted (Inserted under Article III, Scholarship, Section 2 (B) (1), “The Law School’s Requirements

for a Seminar Paper.”

Changes made as of September 15, 2009

Changed the formula for determining the number of permitted absences from 2 x course-hours + 1 to 2

x course-hours – 1. This change is effective spring semester 2010.

Changes made as of April 27, 2011

Changed second year curve range of 2.33 – 2.50 to 2.50 – 2.75.

Changed Dual Degree Programs from 2004 and inserted Dual Degree Programs approved by the

faculty, Spring 2011.

Changes made as of July 2013

Added Mock Trial to Special Activities Credit.

Changed second year Grade Guidelines

Changes made as of April 2016

Revised Honor Code

Changes made as of July 2016

vii

Changed to time period of Admission after Dismissal from two years to one year.

Changes made as of July 2017

Inserted Legal Analysis Writing Directive

Updated Required Courses approved by the faculty spring 2017

Inserted “without written permission of the Dean.”

Omitted “R” provisions, grades for multiple semester course.

Changes made as of July 2018

Inserted Admissions Character and Fitness Hearing Procedures

Changes made as of August 2019

p. 2 Inserted TSU/TMSL email policy.

p. 15 Removed the notation that a grade of C- does not apply to 1L substantive courses.

pp. 17-18 Updated the description of the first-year uniform exam to reflect the current first year

grading curve and provided recent data on the attrition rate.

pp. 26-28 Updated the academic standards regrading probation and academic alert. Updated

standards for continuation and graduation to reflect the adoption of the simulated multistate bar and

essay exam and consequences for failing to achieve a passing score and the circumstances under

which a student must attend Skills Academy.

p. 30 Updated the permitted number of absences section to account for the courses that meet in blocks

of time longer than 50-minute blocks and include a chart with the minute conversion for each type of

course (credit hours).

p. 33 Revised the list of second year required courses to reflect that Commercial Law may be taken

anytime in the second year or the Fall Semester of the third year. Removed Federal Taxation from the

list of required third year courses.

p. 34 Added a note that prohibits second year students from enrolling in an elective in the Fall

Semester of their second year, but they may take an elective in the Spring Semester (depending on their

available credit hours). Updated to state that all students must complete 6 required hours of

experiential learning in order to graduate.