Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. Baylor Law School is affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco, Texas. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1931 and has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1938. The program offers training in all facets of law, including theoretical analysis, practical application, legal writing, advocacy, professional responsibility, and negotiation and counseling skills. Baylor Law School has been nationally ranked a "top-tier" law school by various publications in recent years. History Established in 1857, Baylor Law School was the first law school in Texas and the second law school west of the Mississippi River. Law classes continued until 1883 when the school was discontinued. In 1920, the Board of Trustees reestablished the law school (called the Law Department at that time) under the direction of Dean Allen G. Flowers. The school was temporarily suspended from 1943–1946 as a result of World War II. Bradley J.B. Toben has served as Dean of the Law School since 1991. He is the longest serving dean in the nation among the 203 ABA accredited law schools. Academics Baylor Law School operates on a quarter system The Law School also has four graduating classes per year. Each matriculate class has a separate application pool and applicants are required to apply to the quarter in which they would like to begin. A typical academic year consists of three-quarters, with students choosing to take off the fourth quarter of the year to complete a clerkship or internship. However, students may elect to complete the program in only 27 months by attending every quarter. The school's curriculum focuses more on the positive state of the law than a normative one and on actual practice in the court system. In addition to the standard Juris Doctor degree, Baylor Law students can obtain a combined JD with either the Master of Business Administration (both traditional and with an emphasis in healthcare administration), the Master of Taxation, the Master of Public Policy and Administration, or the Master of Divinity degree. First-year program First-year students are required to take the following mandatory courses and satisfactory completion is required before moving to upper-level courses. The required courses are: Civil Procedure Constitutional Law: Structure, Power and Legislation (4) Contracts Contracts 1 Contracts 2 Criminal Law Criminal Procedure Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication (LARC) LARC