A Message from Dean Pryor

Thank you for your interest in learning more about the academic program at the UNT Dallas College of Law. In recent years, a national conversation has taken place among legal educators and legal professionals about ways to improve legal education.  In designing its educational program, the UNT Dallas College of Law has drawn on many insights and findings that have emerged from this conversation.  In addition, the design of our curriculum and instruction reflects our core beliefs about legal education and the legal profession.

Legal education should strive, from day one through graduation day, to develop the full range of skills, aptitudes, and professional values necessary for effectiveness as a legal professional.  It should give students feedback on a regular basis to help them grow in understanding their strengths and areas for improvement.  And it should be deeply tied to the practice and profession of law.  It should build its curriculum by constantly asking: what must an effective lawyer know, understand, and be able to do, in general and in different areas of legal practice? It should give students a good understanding of law in practice—areas of practice, organization and economics of these areas, and changes in the nature of law practice.  And the law school itself should be assessing how effective its own program is in educating and preparing its students.

All of us involved in the UNT Dallas College of Law are excited about and committed to an educational program built on these principles.

Ellen S. Pryor
Professor of Law
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Director, Academic Success Program