U.S. News & World Report identified the St. Mary’s University School of Law as the most diverse law school among those listed in Texas, according to an index released today as part of its Best Graduate Schools 2016 guidebook.

The St. Mary’s University School of Law placed within the top 25 among law schools from across the nation included in U.S. News & World Report’s list of “The Most Diverse Law Schools.”

U.S. News & World Report set out to “identify law schools where students are most likely to encounter classmates from a different racial or ethnic group.”

The index was based on “the total proportion of full- and part-time minority J.D. students – not including international students – and the mix of racial and ethnic groups on campus during the 2014-2015 academic year,” according to the publication.

Groups considered in the calculation included black, Asian, Hispanic, American Indian, Pacific Islander, white and multiracial, according to the publication.

Hispanic students are St. Mary’s Law’s largest minority group – 41 percent of students, according to the publication.

St. Mary’s enrolled the third-largest percentage of Hispanic students among the nation’s law schools. The other Texas law schools in the index ranged from 18 percent to 9 percent Hispanic.

“The St. Mary’s School of Law encourages educational excellence and the development of ethical leadership among students with diverse family heritage and a wide variety of backgrounds,” said Dean Stephen M. Sheppard, J.S.D. “St. Mary’s inclusive environment creates a foundation from which to launch the careers of the next generation of legal professionals, which will promote justice for years to come.”

St. Mary’s was also honored among the nation’s “Most Diverse Law Schools” by PreLaw Magazine in its winter 2015 edition.

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