The Thurgood Marshall School of Law is an ABA accredited law school

Law school

A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

 in Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, that awards J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence). It is part of Texas Southern University

Texas Southern University

Texas Southern University is a historically black university located in Houston, Texas, United States....

.

History

Its history can be traced back to a 1946 lawsuit implicating protections for racial minorities under the U.S. Constitution, Sweatt v. Painter

Sweatt v. Painter

Sweatt v. Painter, , was a U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully proved lack of equality, in favor of a black applicant, the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. The case was also influential in the landmark case of Brown v...

, brought by Heman M. Sweatt, and tried by Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...

. The Texas Constitution mandated separate but equal

Separate but equal

Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law that justified systems of segregation. Under this doctrine, services, facilities and public accommodations were allowed to be separated by race, on the condition that the quality of each group's public facilities was to...

 facilities for whites and blacks. Mr. Sweatt was refused admission to the University of Texas School of Law

University of Texas School of Law

The University of Texas School of Law, also known as UT Law, is an ABA-certified American law school located on the University of Texas at Austin campus. The law school has been in operation since the founding of the University in 1883. It was one of only two schools at the University when it was...

 because he was black. In order to pre-empt the possibility of Mr. Sweatt obtaining a successful court order , the legislature passed Texas State Senate Bill 140, which established a university to offer courses of higher learning in law, pharmacy, dentistry, journalism, education, arts and sciences, literature, medicine, and other professional courses. It opened in 1946 as the "Texas State University for Negroes," and later changed its name in Texas Southern University in 1951.

Thurgood Marshall School of Law has been consistently ranked number one in achieving diversification in its student body.

Joint degrees

Two joint degrees are offered in conjunction with other professional schools on campus:

• JD / MBA
• JD / MPA

Student Demographics and Statistics

Gender: 43% Male, 57% Female.

Age: average 26. 60% younger than 30. 32% over 30.

Race: 54% African-American,
7% Asian-American,
17% Caucasian,
21% Hispanic,
1% Foreign Nationals.

Average LSAT score: 147.

Average GPA: 3.00.

The overall bar passage rate for TMSL for the past five years is 77.43%.

Notable alumni

• Belvin Perry
  Belvin Perry
  Belvin Perry Jr. presently serves as chief judge in the Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit. He was the presiding judge for the high profile Casey Anthony murder trial.-Early life and career:...
  
   (J.D., 1977), chief judge in the Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit, presiding judge for the high profile Casey Anthony murder trial.
• Craig Washington (J.D., 1969), Former U.S. Congressman, 18th District (Texas).