New Law School in Texas?

A Texas judge with a history of promoting legal education to minorities is calling on the state university system and Texas legislators to establish a new law school in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, a predominantly Hispanic area.

Judge Susan Criss, a former prosecutor who is now seeking a seat on the Texas Supreme Court, is urging university officials and state legislators to further pursue a proposal for a new law school there that could potentially be enacted into law in 2009, according to a press release provided by Capitol Annex.

“Of the more than 77,000 lawyers in Texas, only 14 percent are from minority populations, according to a report produced last spring by the State Bar of Texas,” says Criss in the written statement. “Yet more than 59 percent of Texas schoolchildren are considered to be from minority populations, and Mexican Americans make up one-third of our state’s population. We need to encourage more minority students to pursue careers in the law.”