Why the University of Houston Law Center?
The University of Houston Law Center is the leading law school in the nation’s fourth-largest city. Excellence and value are the hallmarks of our law school. We encourage prospective students to investigate all of the advantages that make the Law Center what it is: an unparalleled value in legal education and a great place to launch a career in law.
Incoming students for Fall 2022 will be the first to access the new John M. O'Quinn Law Building and all the amenities the state-of-the-art facility has to offer. Click one of the images below to take the virtual tour!
Admissions Questions
Why I chose Houston Law
Rankings
Since 2018, UHLC has received more awards from preLaw magazine than any other law school. Click here to find out more.
Over the past six years, the Law Center student body has diversified, with 35-45 percent of students coming from diverse backgrounds, and almost 50 percent who are either a first-generation law school student, first-generation college student or first-generation American. The Law Center was ranked among the top 46 law schools with the highest percentage of racial or ethnic minorities by U.S. News in December 2020 at 37.8 percent. Almost 22 percent of the tenured or tenure-track faculty are members of underrepresented backgrounds.
More Reason to Choose Houston Law
Salary Rankings
- #31 in Public Sector Salary – The Law Center is tied for #31 in terms of median starting salary among graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level.
- #50 in Private Sector Salary- The Law Center is tied for #50 in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates.
- #3 in Texas for Private Sector Salary – The Law Center is #3 in Texas in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates.
Source: 2020 Law School Rankings, Internet Legal Research Group (ILRG)
Additional Considerations
- We are a highly ranked law school located in one of the nation’s top legal markets. The city of Houston is also home to the world’s largest health care and medical complex and recognized as the energy capital of the world with multiple Fortune 500 companies headquartered here.
- The Law Center is among the nation’s best law schools in a number of categories. Our Intellectual Property Law and Health Law programs are consistently ranked in the Top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. We are considered one of the “best value” law schools in terms of offering a high-quality legal education at a competitive cost. The Law Center is ranked 23 by the National Law Journal among Go-To Law Schools based on the percent of graduates hired by the largest 100 law firms in the U.S.
- Earn your law degree at a top law school taught by professors that take a modern approach to their teaching and incorporate practical skills to reinforce legal theory.
- As a core strength of the Law Center, we emphasize collaboration rather than competition. To help achieve this, full-time and part-time evening students are placed into sections in which they share all their first-year classes.
The Law Center maintains a broad course offering that affords not only exploration of the law, but also the opportunity for focused study of many different types of law degrees.
The Law Center’s clinical programs offer hands-on training in which our students have worked on precedent-setting cases in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Law Center’s Career Development Office provides our upper-division students with opportunities to participate in externships with non-profit organizations and government agencies and judicial internships with federal appellate and district courts as well as state appellate and trial courts. A wealth of opportunities are available in the Houston area, but Law Center students have earned credit for work performed in other areas of the country and globally, across the world.
Earn more than a J.D. degree - Add MBA, M.A., or Ph.D.!
The UH Law Center is among the national leaders in the number of dual degree programs offered. Our innovative programs allow students to earn two degrees in less time than it would take to complete the degrees separately. Students interested in pursuing this option must make separate applications to the UH Law Center and to the desired program. Dual degree programs include a J.D. with:
- LL.M. with the University of Houston Law Center
- MBA with the University of Houston Bauer College of Business
- M.A. in History with University of Houston
- MSW with University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work
- MPH with The University of Texas Health Science Center
- M.D. with Baylor College of Medicine
- MPP with the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs
- MPA with the University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
- MSF with the University of Houston Bauer College of Business
The Office of Admissions is happy to arrange a tour and first-year class visit! Please view the Admissions Event Calendar to select a date and time that best fits your schedule and to register. Please schedule your tour and class visit at least 24 hours in advance. Once you have submitted your registration, you will receive a confirmation email and additional details regarding your visit.