Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University is an ABA-accredited law school offering Juris Doctor and Master of Law degrees, committed to fighting for justice, social change, and economic empowerment.
At an early age, Marshall recognized racial injustice in America. To combat them, he used legal means; one major case Marshall took to court was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which ended segregation.
Admissions and Financial Aid
Thurgood Marshall School of Law honors a life dedicated to justice and equality for all in America, including African-Americans, women, and other minority groups. He championed civil rights for African-Americans as a US Supreme Court Justice before earning himself the nickname of “Mr. Civil Rights.” TMSL proudly continues this legacy by offering scholarships for students looking to attend law school – offering equal opportunity and equal access through legal education for everyone interested.
TMSL is committed to providing every student with an education that gives them every chance at success. Their student services staff assists students with admissions and financial aid applications, connecting alumni and community organizations and offering opportunities to gain insight into the legal profession through internships and externships.
TMSL also offers academic support programs, allowing students to participate in legal writing courses and utilize its law library, which houses over 350,000 books and abundant electronic resources. Students can stay abreast of legal news and research through blogs and newsletters from TMSL.
Admissions committee members consider factors like an applicant’s motivation and intellectual capacity as part of the admissions process, considering their undergraduate record and LSAT score. They may also consider leadership ability, work experience, extra-curricular activities, graduate study in another discipline, background, and personal characteristics when making their decisions.
TMSL offers several scholarships for those aspiring to attend law school, including the Brady, Baudin, McKernan & Pendley Civil Rights Law & Public Service Endowed Scholarship worth up to $20,000. To be considered, eligible students must be enrolled in an accredited law school with a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher.
People interested in applying to TMSL should visit its website to find information on how and when to apply for its programs, along with application deadlines and submission requirements (Letters of Recommendation/Official Transcripts).
Student Services
At TMSL, the student body is composed of students from diverse backgrounds. To accommodate them, the college provides various academic and personal services that aid law school success, ranging from academic advising to counseling services for mental health issues. Furthermore, TMSL assists its students in finding internships or employment opportunities post-graduation and can even help locate suitable housing options.
The educational philosophy at the college places great emphasis on the student as a citizen, encouraging student participation in governance and civic programs as well as offering courses outside their primary fields of study – such as global citizenship, which focuses on interrelations among cultures or intersections of culture and justice which explores searches for fairness within society.
Additionally, the college provides many courses to meet its students’ general education requirements, including an innovative three-quarter core sequence that explores diversity, justice, and imagination in contemporary American society. Furthermore, four courses from three disciplinary breadth areas — humanities/foreign language, social sciences, and natural science/mathematics — must also be taken to complete general education requirements.
TMSL also provides legal writing programs and an ethics seminar that teaches students to identify complex legal problems, making them essential for their education. Furthermore, the school emphasizes professionalism and ethics within the legal field.
TMSL stands as a leader in legal education innovation. Their 2014-2019 strategic plan details an effective competency-based program with outcomes-oriented objectives. To implement this strategy, TMSL has engaged highly competent faculty members and established programs that facilitate sequential, integrated approaches to learning; among these is an Office of Assessment that collaborates closely with both Center for Legal Pedagogy and Academic Support in improving student outcomes as well as their legal research unit dedicated to collecting data on student performance analysis as well as providing feedback back to teachers.
OCPD
The Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD) offers law students many opportunities for hands-on legal experience. This program aims to equip law students for successful legal careers by helping them build practical skills they’ll find helpful later on in their careers, job search support, assistance networking support services, and encouraging law-related community service activities.
At TMSL, experiential learning is the best path toward becoming a lawyer. This includes internships, externships, and clinical legal studies led by experienced attorneys and professors; additionally, TMSL boasts its Earl Carl Institute for Legal and Social Policy, which supports research that addresses urban community needs.
In addition to academics, TMSL boasts an outstanding athletics program. Men and women athletes compete across basketball, baseball, cross country running, football, golf, soccer, tennis, track & field, and volleyball at this university that offers scholarships to its athletes. TMSL belongs to the Southwestern Athletic Conference for competitive athletics as a member.
Though financing a legal education lies with each student and his or her family, law schools can assist by offering assistance during the application process, counseling students on financing options available to them, and helping with paperwork for financial aid applications.
TMSL also boasts several academic and student organizations, such as the Thurgood Marshall Law Journal – a student-run publication dedicated to civil rights and gender justice – and Gender, Race, and Justice Law Review. Furthermore, Street Law brings law students and professors into high schools to teach children about legal matters.
TMSL’s admissions process considers several criteria, such as leadership ability and prior community involvement, with its ultimate aim being to find students who are motivated and intellectually capable of studying law. In addition, each applicant’s undergraduate record and LSAT score are carefully scrutinized before an admissions committee reviews these factors alongside any additional personal qualities they bring with them.
Careers
Thurgood Marshall School of Law provides numerous career programs to prepare its students for the legal profession, such as the Moot Court Program and externships. Through these, students gain exposure to what it’s like being a lawyer by learning to argue before judges in front of a courtroom setting; additionally, it gives hands-on experience preparing and presenting cases before judges.
The externship program connects diverse NYC public high school students with legal employers during the summer, offering additional programming to prepare them for a legal career. Students are selected based on personal interviews and academic excellence to take part.
TMSL’s career development services include the Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD). This resource offers students various resources to aid their professional success, such as workshops, seminars, and networking events to develop their skills. In addition, TMSL hosts the Price Public Affairs Forum, where speakers discuss relevant contemporary issues.
TMSL stands out among colleges by emphasizing students as citizens. The college encourages participation in campus governance and community service programs to develop leadership, social, and interpersonal skills among its students. Furthermore, an interdisciplinary minor in African-American studies allows further exploration of black history and culture.
Marshall opened his practice after graduating from Lincoln University and began representing the NAACP. He won several landmark cases, such as Murray v. Pearson, against the University of Maryland for its segregationist admissions policy. He later served as Director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
TMSL’s library boasts one of the second-largest collections of legal materials in Texas and one of the oldest libraries dedicated to an African-American law school in the state, boasting more than 350,000 books that are continually expanding. It is open to both TMSL students and faculty alike. It boasts special collections like its e-Discovery Center and Law of Intellectual Property Law collections – not to mention numerous online legal databases available through it!
