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Dedman School of Law

SMU Dedman School of Law, commonly referred to as SMU Law School or Dedman School of Law, is a law school located in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in February 1925. SMU Law School is located on the campus of its parent institution, Southern Methodist University.

SMU Dedman School of Law

Veritas Liberabit Vos (Latin)

Southern Methodist University

1925

Private

$1.633 billion (parent institution for FY 2019)

Jason P. Nance

Dallas, Texas, U.S.
32°50′47″N 96°47′10″W / 32.8464°N 96.7861°W / 32.8464; -96.7861

900

50 full-time

42nd (tie) (2024)[1]

www.smu.edu/law

SMU's Law School was renamed SMU Dedman School of Law in February 2001 in honor of its benefactors, Robert H. Dedman Sr. and his wife, Nancy Dedman. SMU Law School was the only law school in Dallas until UNT opened its law school in 2014, and it is one of ten law schools in Texas. The current dean of the law school is Jason P. Nance.

Underwood Law Library[edit]

SMU's Underwood Law Library is the largest private academic law library west of the Mississippi River .[4] Its collections include approximately 662,465 law-related volumes and equivalents, ranking the library among the top 20% of all law libraries in the United States.[4]

Rankings[edit]

In 2024, SMU Dedman School of Law was ranked No. 42 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.[1]

Costs[edit]

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at SMU for the 2020–2021 academic year is $83,464.[7] The average amount borrowed for law school by members of the 2014 graduating class was $124,617.38.

Bryan Garner

Paul Hardin III

A. Kenneth Pye

Dale Carpenter

former U.S. Diplomat and CEO of Open Invention Network

Keith Bergelt

is a district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Jane J. Boyle

former member Texas House of Representatives

Dan Branch

former president and chief executive officer for WellPoint (now Anthem)

Angela Braly

member of the Texas House of Representatives; Texas State District Court judge in Abilene[8]

Raleigh Brown

(Legal Law Masters in Taxation), judge since 2005 of the Louisiana 26th Judicial District Court of Bossier and Webster parishes[9]

Jeff Cox

Dallas County District Judge, investigative journalist

Catherine Crier

former CEO of ClubCorp

Robert H. Dedman Jr.

founder of private club network ClubCorp, Inc. and the law school's co-benefactor

Robert H. Dedman Sr.

former associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court

Craig T. Enoch

noted Texas banker and businessman

Gerald J. Ford

federal judge

David C. Godbey

an American attorney and head of the Houston law firm Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C

Rusty Hardin

Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court

Nathan Hecht

Texas State Representative[10]

Todd Ames Hunter

Chief Sales and Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of the Dallas Cowboys

Jerry Jones Jr.

Minister of External Affairs of India and Former Chief Minister of Karnataka

S. M. Krishna

Justice, Supreme Court of Missouri[11]

Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.

Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas[12]

Barbara M. Lynn

federal judge

Robert B. Maloney

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia

Bagir Manan

an American businessman, founder of BizCorps

Robert Mosbacher Jr.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff, White House Counsel for George W. Bush

Harriet Miers

American politician who is the 6th Director of National Intelligence and served as the Congressman for Texas's 4th congressional district from 2015 to 2020.

John Ratcliffe

founder and chairman of Chief Oil & Gas

Trevor Rees-Jones

founder of TRT Holdings, the holding company of Omni Hotels & Resorts and Gold's Gym

Robert Rowling

chairman and chief executive officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

Edward B. Rust Jr.

American businessman, politician and junior United States senator from Florida. He served as 45th Governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019.

Rick Scott

the former U.S. Representative for Texas's 21st congressional district

Lamar Smith

chairman of BW Group and a former Hong Kong legislator

Helmut Sohmen

Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas[13]

William Steger

a Taiwanese businessman and banker

Tsai Hong-tu

investigative journalist known for his work on racism and political corruption in the Deep South

Lamar White

Justice of the Texas Supreme Court

James A. Baker

federal judge

David Godbey

Justice, Supreme Court of Japan

Yukio Horigome

Attorney General of Texas

James Latane Noel Jr.

President of the Australian Human Rights Commission

Gillian Triggs

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia

Bagir Manan