Baylor integrates its legacy of practical law training into its comprehensive curriculum, effectively preparing students for success in business and transactional practice as well as litigation upon graduation.

“When you go to Baylor, you come out ready.”

That’s been the school’s reputation for generations. Law firms and new lawyers alike have felt the impact of the practical education that Baylor Law School delivers when it comes to litigation. Today’s law firms want new associates who are prepared to do the work required of them—whether it’s in litigation or transactional practice areas. Toward that end, Baylor Law School’s Business and Transactional Law Program provides comprehensive readiness and rigor through innovative academic, experiential, and professional development components.

Professor Leah Teague is the Director of Business Law Programs and Leadership Development at Baylor, and Professor Beth Miller holds the M. Stephen and Alyce A. Beard Chair in Business and Transactional Law. They have been instrumental in enhancing business and transactional law programming at Baylor Law. “While the data we have about our overall alumni population suggests that our alumni are almost evenly distributed between transactional and litigation fields, we are aware that many of our alumni spend some years in litigation practice before moving to transactional and corporate law,” Teague says. Miller added, “We are finding that we have more and more students who are already interested in transactional practice when they start law school or who develop the interest during law school after being introduced to it in their coursework. We want to prepare all our students to be well rounded lawyers, and now we offer students a more robust preparation for entering transactional practice right after law school.”

This is especially helpful for students going into big law, where the clients tend to be big businesses. Students need to have a good understanding of how businesses work – how they’re organized, how they conduct their business. “It’s a necessity in today’s legal environment that law students have a foundation in business and transactional areas,” Teague says. Both law firms and their clients are demanding a higher level of basic business competency from new associates.

Miller, Teague, and their colleagues built a program based on the expertise of the faculty while leveraging key third-party content like Hotshot videos and experiential learning to help students move up the learning curve of transactional law.

Transactional and business coursework at Baylor Law

All Baylor Law students historically complete Practice Court – a two-quarter, three-course advocacy training ground to get a taste of litigation. In addition, all Baylor Law students now take a term devoted to transactional law. Early in their second year, Baylor Law students take Business Organizations I, Trusts and Estates, Taxation and Accounting Principles for Lawyers, and a transactional drafting course.

Those who opt to deepen their work in transactional law get hands-on training that is focused on the kind of work they want to do. They can take practical coursework in any of numerous transactional tracks, including Business Planning, Commercial Law, Estate Planning, Healthcare Law, Intellectual Property, Real Estate and Natural Resources, and more.

“Law firms get the benefit of new associates who are ready to hit the ground running in both litigation and transactional,” Teague says. “You can tell a Baylor lawyer because they are well prepared – usually steps ahead of graduates from other schools. We’ve now applied our all-encompassing litigation approach to transactional law. And we turn out graduates who can tackle difficult subjects. They roll up their sleeves and jump in, which is what law firms and their clients should expect from new associates.”

*Foundational content from Hotshot supports deep learning *

Baylor Law faculty use a blended-learning approach for much of their instruction. In a number of transactional courses, faculty assign Hotshot videos on topics like accounting or M&A basics as prework. Then in class, the instructor can go deeper into the basic concepts covered in the videos. Teague says instructors might suggest even more Hotshot videos to students who don’t have any business background so they can get grounded in the concepts.

The videos are especially helpful in Basic Tax, Business Basics, Mergers and Acquisitions, Contract Drafting, and the Business Law Boot Camp. The Tax and Business Basics classes have projects where students must understand how an income statement and balance sheet work and create them. Hotshot videos become tutorials as students do the projects. That way students learn the concepts and put them into practice by creating statements of their own.

“When we’re focused on basics like income, expense, gain, loss, or depreciation, some students know the material, but most don’t,” Teague says. “These concepts are like a foreign language. One explanation in a class is not enough. Students need repetition and reinforcement. Assigning Hotshot videos ahead of time allows them to come in without the ‘deer in the headlights’ look.”

Teague says students tell her they appreciate the additional resources to prepare for class. They even go back and look at them later to prepare for projects. Instructors have been able to reduce the amount of extra time they spend reviewing concepts one on one with students as well.

“Before, I needed to schedule extra classes for those students who had not been exposed to these concepts,” Teague says. “Hotshot has made my teaching easier because now there are additional resources I can assign. And when they come into class, we’re starting at a different level.”

Tips for implementing third-party content into coursework

Law schools are continually evolving to help their students be more “practice ready” at graduation. Teague talks to colleagues at other schools who are working to get people ready to practice.

One common theme is “how do we help our faculty evolve their approach?” Teague thinks third-party content, such as videos from Hotshot, can be part of the answer.

“When you’re asking professors to teach complex material in a new way, it’s helpful to be able to point them to resources that assist,” says Teague. “Hotshot videos are such a resource.”

Teague suggests using third-party content to level the playing field. If some students are at a disadvantage, faculty can use this supplemental material to help students catch up on their own time and in their own space without the faculty having to develop material from scratch. Then, faculty can serve as backup and support when someone wants to go deeper into a particular area. This might help persuade a reluctant professor to give these resources a try.

Preparing students for the future

Teague noted that many law schools now offer formal tracks and coursework in transactional and business law. “There are generally two major practice areas in law firms – transactional and litigation,” she says. “More and more law schools are going to organize their coursework that way as well. They want to reflect the career aspirations of their students and to meet the demand from law firms that want to hire new associates who are prepared to step into transactional practice.”

Baylor Law is helping with this shift by giving students the chance to get as comfortable with businesses and transactions as they are with litigation. Baylor faculty are committed to helping students with practical instruction and resources that meet them where they’re at and put them on solid footing in the transactional space.

Hotshot can work with your school or firm to implement a blended-learning model in your curriculum or training program. We can also brainstorm other ways to engage and educate your students and associates. Contact us to learn more.