Celebrating Ten Years of Helping Students at the University of Texas at El Paso Meet Their Professional Goals
1998-2008
Welcome to the Law School Preparation Institute at the University of Texas at El Paso, a program in University College. The Institute is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2008, and we are proud of this milestone. Originally founded by professors WIlliam Weaver, Robert Webking and Dennis Soden, over the last ten years the LSPI has graduated more than 350 students who have attended approximately 65 different law schools. Many of these students have returned to Texas and El Paso and have taken up various jobs with government, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector.
The Institute was the first program of its kind in the country and is still the most rigorous of all prelaw programs nationwide. Open to UTEP undergraduate students the prelaw program extends over two summers, and students who complete the program receive nine units of college credit as well as extensive, comprehensive guidance and aid in preparing for the Law School Admissions Test, law school, and the law school application process.
The Institute runs an internship program for its students as well as a summer clerkship program for law school students after the summer of their first or second year. Both the internships and the clerkships come with stipends, and students are placed in offices such as those of federal judges, general district court state judges, the El Paso County Prosecutor, Las Americas, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, the Eighth District Court of Appeals and others.
We also run a summer high school law camp that has recently been extended to four weeks long. High school students are transported to and from UTEP free of charge, are provided with lunches, and engage in various activities such as case reading and analysis, mock appellate trial, field trips to law related venues such as courts, and hear special guests speak on various topics.
Main Office: 915.747.8866
Email: Rachel Serrano, Administrative Assistant
