Mission Statement:

As a member of the Baylor University community, the School of Law shares in the University's mission to educate men and women by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.

Baylor University is dedicated to the traditional responsibilities of higher education: dissemination of knowledge, transmission of culture, search for new knowledge, and application of knowledge. Moreover, within the context of a culturally diverse community, Baylor University strives to develop responsible citizens, educated leaders, dedicated scholars, and skilled professionals who are sensitive to the needs of a pluralistic society.

As a professional school, the School of Law has a particular obligation to develop students who have the character, maturity, skills, and values needed to assume leadership positions in a profession charged with responsibility for maintaining and improving our nation's system of justice. Given that the legal profession is dedicated to providing service to clients, this obligation mandates first that the School of Law provide a program of education that endeavors to prepare students to provide legal services competently upon graduation.

The School of Law therefore seeks to expose students to those basic legal principles that serve as the foundation for our system of justice; to develop in students the core lawyering skills of clear thinking, writing, and speaking; and to provide students experience using this knowledge and skill to perform a reasonable range of lawyering tasks.

The obligation to develop students prepared for professional leadership also mandates that the School of Law expose students to the history, traditions, and values of the legal profession. Among these values is a commitment to public service and leadership within one's community and profession, a commitment to ensuring meaningful public access to our system of justice, and respect for and adherence to the ethical standards of the profession.

Perhaps the most fundamental value in a profession dedicated to service of clients, however, is the value of attaining and maintaining competence in one's field of practice. Meeting the obligation of preparing students to assume their responsibilities within an honorable profession therefore is the principal mission of the School of Law.

As part of the University's mission, the search for new knowledge is necessarily a part of the mission of the School of Law as well. The search for knowledge through scholarship, by faculty and students alike, is accordingly encouraged within the context of the principal mission of teaching and the School of Law, but this pursuit is secondary to and in service of the principal mission of preparing students for the practice of law.