Patricia Wilson, J.D.

Associate Dean & William Boswell Chair of Law Baylor Law School

  • Waco TX

Expert in family law, employment law & legal ethics and founder of the People’s Law School to make the law user-friendly

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Baylor University

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Biography

Professor Patricia A. Wilson has been a member of the Baylor Law faculty since 1993. Her teaching responsibilities include Employment Discrimination, Employment Relations, Labor Law, and Family Law. She taught the first year Property course for 12 years, and she has also taught courses on Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Consumer Protection, and Legal Writing. Professor Wilson serves as the Minority Law Student Advisor. She is currently taking a hiatus from serving as the Faculty Advisor to Baylor Law's Client Counseling Team given her duties as a member of the ABA Law Student Division Competitions Committee, which include writing the problems used in the Regional and National Client Counseling Competitions.

In the classroom, students benefit from Professor Wilson's professional and personal experience, where she supplements textbook cases with real-life examples. Before joining the Baylor Law Faculty, Wilson practiced law for seven years, including four years with American Airlines, Inc. There, she litigated matters worth millions of dollars, negotiated and drafted contracts for topics as diverse as software licensing and health care plan administration, and handled matters involving airline regulation and employment discrimination.

Family Law is of particular importance to Professor Wilson. In addition to raising two children of their own, she and her husband, Michael Jones, have fostered more than 20 children over two decades and adopted two children in the process. This immersion in the foster care system has given Wilson has a clearer understanding of the complexities of family law. It is Professor Wilson's goal to train her students to become fair, ethical advocates in the face of such complicated, life-altering issues.

Professor Wilson speaks regularly at continuing legal education seminars in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago on such topics as legal ethics and complex real estate negotiations. She has presented and led discussions at the Oxford Round Tables at Oxford University on gender issues in the tenure process. She is a former member of the State Bar of Texas Consumer and Commercial Law Council, and served as the Council secretary from August 2006 to July 2008. She is currently contributing editor for the Family Law section of the General Practice Digest of the State Bar of Texas. Wilson is a trained mediator and she is actively involved in the Waco community serving on the boards of a number of local nonprofit organizations.

Areas of Expertise

Employment and Labor Law
International Law
Family Law

Education

Northwestern University Law School

J.D.

International Law and Business

1985

Editorial Board, Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business
John Henry Wigmore Scholar (full tuition scholarship)

Purdue University

B.A.

Sociology

1982

Graduated "With Distinction"

Affiliations

  • General Practice Digest : Contributing editor
  • Kaplan PMBR Bar Review Course : Lecturer
  • ABA Client Counseling Subcommittee : Chair
  • Waco/McLennan County Bar Association : Director
  • Cooperative Baptist Fellowship : Member
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Media Appearances

Newly chosen Baylor Law School dean lauded for depth of experience

Waco Tribune-Herald  online

2023-11-19

Jeremy Counseller, J.D., The Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law at Baylor, is highlighted in this article for his appointment as dean of Baylor Law School beginning July 1. Also quoted are Baylor Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., Interim Law Dean and Professor Patricia Wilson, J.D., and Brad Toben, J.D., who served as law dean for 31 years.

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CBF general assembly challenged to ‘come and see’

Baptist Standard  online

2022-07-01

Patricia Wilson, J.D., professor and associate dean at Baylor Law School and member of Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco, completed her time as moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, reflected on serving during a global pandemic following the CBF general assembly in Dallas.

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Do not lose heart while tending the soil of God’s work, speakers urge CBF assembly

Baptist News Global  online

2021-08-27

Patricia Wilson, Associate Dean and professor of law, was promoted from her position as moderator-elect to moderator at a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship business session. She is one of the three women leading this national organization for an unprecedented three-year period.

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Articles

Recreating the Law School to Increase Minority Participation: The Conceptual Law School

Texas Wesleyan Law Review

Patricia A. Wilson

2010

By now, there is more than enough evidence that minorities are significantly under-represented in the legal profession...

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