Agricultural Law

Agricultural law has been described as a field that presents practitioners with a litany of diverse issues including property rights, eminent domain, farm leases and purchases, denial of government program benefits, food labeling laws and food safety, organic program compliance, antitrust law, administrative law, conservation easements, water law, international trade, nuisance claims and right to farm laws, farm business succession planning, spray drift claims, grazing and hunting leases, and negotiating and litigating agricultural contracts.  For decades, agricultural law has presented critical legal and policy questions for lawyers and policy makers, and as agriculture changes, new legal issues and policy questions continue to present opportunities for lawyers. 
 
At Texas Tech Law School, students have the opportunity to receive classroom instruction on topics that are relevant to agricultural law issues, participate in student internship and clerkship opportunities with an agricultural law focus, and join student organizations with other students who are interested in agricultural law for professional and personal development.

Core Courses

• Agricultural Law
• Water Law
• Texas Land Titles
• Income Taxation (advanced required course)
• Estate Planning
• Wills and Trusts (advanced required course)

Additional Relevant Courses

A wide variety of legal issues impact agriculture. Students interested in agricultural law should consider the following courses that are relevant to a career in agricultural law or policy.

• Business Entities (advanced required course)
• Commercial Law (advanced required course)
• Real Property Finance & Trans
• Administrative Law
• Energy Law
• State and Local Taxation
• Texas Mineral Titles
• Banking Law
• Environmental Law
• First Amendment Seminar
• Int’l Business Transactions
• Legislative Process
• Oil and Gas Lease Negotiation
• Oil and Gas
• Corporate Restructuring
• Employment Law
• Securities Regulation
• Statutory Interpretation
• Taxation of Business Entities
• Vineyard and Winery Law
• Land Use Law

Student Organizations and Student Activities

• Tech Law Agricultural Law Association
• Student Writing Contests and Law Review / Law Journal Opportunities

Conferences and Professional Organizations

• American Agricultural Law Association
  • Student Competitions
  • Students and Young Professionals Outreach Committee

Externships and Clerkships

Many opportunities exist for externships and clerkships in the agricultural law field – including in private practice, trade associations, and government agencies. To learn about current opportunities, please contact Amber Miller, Director of Agricultural Law Programming at mil56193@ttu.edu, or Kayla Wimberley, Assistant Dean for Career and Professional Development at kayla.wimberley@ttu.edu.