Washington and Lee University School of Law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (April 2013)

Coordinates: 37°47′29.2″N 79°26′37.9″W / 37.791444°N 79.443861°W / 37.791444; -79.443861

Washington and Lee University School of Law
W&L law logo.jpg
Motto Non incautus futuri (Latin)
Motto in English "Not Unmindful of the Future"
Established 1849 by John White Brockenbrough
Type Private school of law
Dean Nora Demleitner
Academic staff 113[1]
Students 407
Location Lexington, Virginia, USA
Campus National Historic Landmark, Rural, 325 acres (1.32 km2)
Former names Lexington Law School (1849-1866)
Colors Royal Blue and White
         
Nickname "The Generals"
Website law.wlu.edu

The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. Facilities are currently on the historic campus of Washington and Lee University in Sydney Lewis Hall. W&L Law is known as one of the smallest top law schools in the country, with a total enrollment of approximately 400 students in Juris Doctor and Master of Laws programs and a 9.52-to-1 student to faculty ratio.[2] W&L Law is ranked 26th out of 194 nationally in the 2014 US News and World Report Best Graduate Schools Rankings.[3]

Contents

History [edit]

The Lexington Law School, the precursor to W&L Law, was founded in 1849 by Federal Judge John White Brockenbrough and is the 17th oldest active law school in the United States and the third-oldest in Virginia. The Law School was not integrated into Washington and Lee University (then known as Washington College) until after the Civil War when Robert E. Lee was president of the university. In 1866, General Lee annexed the School of Law to the university and appointed Judge Brockenbrough as the first Dean. In 1870, former Virginia Attorney General John Randolph Tucker was appointed to the faculty and later became Dean followed by his son Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. In 1900, the law school moved into the newly built Tucker Hall in memory of Dean Tucker. Tucker Hall also housed the law school's first law library—the Vincent L. Bradford Law Library. After significant periods of growth, the law school moved into new Tucker Hall after the original building was destroyed in a fire and the law library was rebuilt with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In 1920, W&L Law joined the Association of American Law Schools. The Washington and Lee Law Review began publication in the Autumn of 1939 and is still in regular publication. After World War II, enrollment increased despite a period of low enrollment during the war. In 1950, the School of Law established its chapter of the Order of the Coif, one of only 80 such chapters in the country. The School of Law admitted its first female students in 1972, and opened its current home, Sydney Lewis Hall, in 1977. In 1992, the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Wing was added to Sydney Lewis Hall and the Wilbur C. Hall Law Library at a dedication ceremony attended by Justice Powell and presided over by Chief Justice William Rhenquist. In 2008, Dean Rodney Smolla instituted the new third-year program. This new and unique program turned the entire third year into an experiential curriculum which emphasizes practice, professionalism, and service. The program became compulsory for W&L Law students in 2011. On December 21, 2011 Washington and Lee University School of Law announced Nora Demleitner as the new Dean, the first woman to hold the position and the 17th overall since 1849.[4]

Sydney Lewis Hall [edit]

Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. '31L

Sydney Lewis Hall is the home of the school of law on the historic campus of Washington and Lee in Lexington, VA. Lewis Hall was built in 1977 with a $9 million gift from Best Products founder Sydney Lewis and his wife Frances of Virginia. In addition to lecture halls, classrooms, and offices for faculty and staff, Lewis Hall houses the 150-seat Millhiser Moot Courtroom with the accompanying Robert E. Stroud Judge's Chambers and the Roger D. Groot Jury Room. Lewis Hall also has a cafeteria for students, staff, and faculty called the Brief Stop, which serves food, snacks, and drinks. As part of its newly initiated $35 million campaign, "Honor Our Past, Build Our Future," the School of Law plans on renovating and expanding Lewis Hall with a new wing which includes an identifiable front entrance and foyer for motorists; instructional space; a professional development wing; new space for consolidated clinics, including ease of access for clients; an improved faculty lounge; group study/interview rooms; faculty offices; new third-year workspace, and a trial court room.[5]

Lewis Hall's cornerstones are the Wilbur C. Hall Law Library and Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Wing. The 58,155-square-foot (5,402.8 m2) Wilbur C. Hall Law Library includes a separate faculty library, a rare book room, and an audio-visual media center and is open 24-hours a day. The library houses more than 439,347 volumes and is unique in offering each student personally-designated work and storage space. The Powell Wing was built in 1992 to house the professional and personal papers and archives of the United States Supreme Court Justice and noted W&L alum as well as other manuscript collections, rare books, and archives of the law school.[6] The Powell Wing includes an expanded main reading room space, in addition to stack area and work space for the papers. The archives are managed by full-time staff and are open to researchers, faculty, and students. Woods Creek Apartments, across the street from Lewis Hall, serve as on-campus residence apartments for law students, though about 90% of law students choose to live off-campus.

Programs and admissions [edit]

W&L Law's full-time Juris Doctor program, one of the smallest in the country, is the primary degree-program at the Law School. The Class of 2013 entered at 145-student strong with a median LSAT of 166. The current admissions rate at W&L Law is 24.3%.[7] International exchange programs are available for Juris Doctor students with the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, University of Western Ontario in London (Canada), Trinity College in Dublin, and the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen. The School of Law also offers a small LLM program to foreign educated lawyers and a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Health Administration program with Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Rankings and reputation [edit]

Washington and Lee University School of Law ranked 26th out of 194 nationally in the 2014 U.S. News and World Report ranking of America's law schools.[3] The School of Law ranked 18th on the 2012 U.S. News' ranking of law schools by recruiters from the top national law firms[8] and 12th on the 2014 U.S News ranking of law schools that send the most students to clerk for a United States federal judge.[9] Brian Leiter ranked W&L Law's endowment-per-student as 14th in the country, at $214,000 per student, when adjusted for cost-of-living.[10] National Jurist ranked W&L Law 15th in its list of best law schools for standard of living and 18th in its ranking of the best law libraries.[11][12] The National Law Journal ranked W&L Law 34th in its 2013 "Go-To Law Schools" list of law schools that send the highest percentage of students to the 250 largest law firms in the United States.[13] The 2013 edition of On Being a Black Lawyer: The Black Student's Guide to Law Schools, ranked W&L Law 25th in its rankings of the best law schools for black law students.[14] In 2013, National Jurist named W&L's law faculty as the 10th most influential in legal education.[15]

Juris Doctor curriculum [edit]

The Juris Doctor curriculum at W&L consists three unique and integrated years of full-time study with a mix of traditional casebook method and practice-oriented courses.

First-year

In the 1L year, students take required foundational courses in contract law, tort law, civil procedure, criminal law, property law, professional responsibility, administrative law, and international law. Additionally, each student is assigned a small section in which one substantive required course also serves as a legal writing course. This small section consists of approximately 20 students. 1Ls are also assigned to an upper-level student from the Burks Scholar Program who teaches legal research and Bluebook methods.

Second-year

In the 2L year, students focus on advanced coursework. W&L requires evidence law and constitutional law in the second-year as well as the completion of an upper-level writing requirement. The writing requirement can be satisfied through a seminar course, through an independent writing project, or a note in one of the law journals. All other courses in the 2L year are electives and commonly include corporate law and tax law as well as many other classes and seminars.

Third-year

The new third-year program, which began in the fall of 2010, replaced further elective advanced coursework based on the casebook method as is the norm in most ABA law schools. Instead, the program is meant to simulate client experiences. The 3L year requires students to exercise professional judgment, work in teams, solve problems, counsel clients, negotiate solutions, serve as advocates and counselors — the full complement of professional activity that engages practicing lawyers as they apply legal theory and doctrines to the real-world issues of serving clients ethically and honorably within the highest traditions of the profession.

Each semester begins with an immersion course. The two-week immersion focuses on litigation and alternative dispute resolution in the Fall semester and transactional practice in the Spring semester. Each student is then enrolled in practicum courses of their choosing. These courses cover substantive and advanced law but do so through practical methods of drafting paperwork and problem-solving rather than casebook and the socratic method. Students are also required to take a course in the legal profession as well as a law-related service requirement. Finally, each student is required to be involved in one of W&L's legal clinics, externship programs, or transnational programs to gain real-client experience. The program is flexible and allows students the ability to tailor their schedule and, if they wish, to take several traditional casebook method courses.

The Honor System [edit]

The Honor System has been run by the student body since 1905 and is derived from Robert E. Lee during his tenure as President of the University. Any student found guilty of an Honor Violation by his or her peers is subject to a single penalty: expulsion. The Honor System is defined and administered solely by students, and there is no higher review. A formal review, occasionally including referenda, is held every three years to refine the tenets of the Honor System. Students continue to support the Honor System and its single penalty overwhelmingly, and alumni regularly point to the Honor System as one of the distinctive marks they carry with them from their W&L experience. W&L Law students enjoy several distinct benefits from the Honor System. These include more freedom in exam taking as well as an informal account system at the Brief Stop cafeteria in Sydney Lewis Hall. These are balanced by the strict penalty of a violation of the Honor System.

Students pledge the following prior to turning in assignments and exams:

"On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unacknowledged aid on this (exam, test, paper, etc.)."

Clinics, journals, moot court, and centers [edit]

The Law School houses nine clinical programs:

The Law School is home to the following centers, archives, and projects:

The Law School offers five moot court programs:

The Law School is host to four academic journals:

Student organizations [edit]

Notable alumni [edit]

W&L Law has produced many notable graduates in Virginia, and at the national and global level. Included amongst the alumni ranks are two Justices of the United States Supreme Court, six Presidents of the American Bar Association, two Solicitors General of the United States, one major party candidate for President of the United States, Presidential Cabinet members, as well as numerous state governors, United States Congressmen, United States Senators, federal and state judges, influential academics, business leaders, and distinguished attorneys. The list below is not exhaustive. The date following the name is the Law School class. Alumni with two dates also attended as undergraduates and the order is alphabetical.

Notable faculty [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "W&L Law School Faculty". W&L Law Website. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
  2. ^ "Top-Law-Schools.com". top-law-schools.com. Retrieved 2010-12-06. 
  3. ^ a b "grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com". grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. Retrieved 2013-03-11. 
  4. ^ "Nora V. Demleitner Named Dean of Washington and Lee School of Law". law.wlu.edu. Retrieved 2011-12-21. 
  5. ^ "www.law.wlu.edu/campaign". Retrieved 2012-01-16. 
  6. ^ "law.wlu.edu/powellarchives". Retrieved 2012-12-17. 
  7. ^ "abovethelaw.com". Retrieved 2012-12-05. 
  8. ^ "www.usnews.com". www.usnews.com. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
  9. ^ "http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2013/04/11/which-law-schools-grads-get-the-most-judicial-clerkships?s_cid=rss%3Acollege-rankings-blog%3Awhich-law-schools-grads-get-the-most-judicial-clerkships". www.usnews.com. 
  10. ^ "leiterlawschool.typepad.com". leiterlawschool.typepad.com. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
  11. ^ "www.nationaljurist.com". Retrieved 2011-07-17. 
  12. ^ "www.nationaljurist.com". Retrieved 2013-03-21. 
  13. ^ "http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202589189668&interactive=true". 
  14. ^ "www.onbeingablacklawyer.com". Retrieved 2012-10-18. 
  15. ^ "National Jurist, January 2013". Retrieved 2013-01-02. 
  16. ^ "Edward L. Allen". ALLEN, ALLEN, ALLEN & ALLEN, P.C. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  17. ^ "Ronald J. Bacigal". Washington and Lee University;. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  18. ^ "Newton D. Baker". NNDB Soylent Communications. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  19. ^ "Terry Brooks". NNDB Soylent Communications. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  20. ^ "Nathan P. Bryan". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  21. ^ "William James Bryan". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  22. ^ "Stokely G. Caldwell, Jr.". 
  23. ^ "Bruce L. Castor, Jr.". , County of Montgomery, PA. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  24. ^ "Lewis Preston Collins II". Ranker.com. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  25. ^ "John J. Davis". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  26. ^ "John W. Davis". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  27. ^ "Mark Steven Davis". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  28. ^ "W&L Law Alums Win Elections in Virginia, Indiana". Washington and Lee University. Retrieved 31 December 2012. 
  29. ^ "John Goode". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  30. ^ "Bob Goodlatte". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  31. ^ "Charles A. Graves". Washington and Lee School of Law. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  32. ^ "Morgan Griffith". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  33. ^ "Duncan Lawrence Groner". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  34. ^ "James Hay". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  35. ^ a b "Homer A. Holt". West Virginia State Archives. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  36. ^ "Walter Kelley". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  37. ^ "James L. Kemper". National Governors Association. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  38. ^ "Ruby Laffoon". National Governors Association. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  39. ^ "Scott Marion Loftin". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  40. ^ "John Otho Marsh, Jr". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  41. ^ Addkison-Simmons, D. (2010). Henry Mason Mathews. e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1582
  42. ^ "Robert Murphy Mayo". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  43. ^ "John Ashton MacKenzie". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  44. ^ "Thomas Chipman McRae". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  45. ^ "Robert E. Payne". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  46. ^ "Miles Poindexter". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  47. ^ "Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr". NNDB Soylent Communications. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  48. ^ "William Ray Price, Jr". Your Missouri Courts. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  49. ^ "Robert W. Ray". 
  50. ^ "Alfred E. Reames". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  51. ^ "Robert Shepard". 
  52. ^ "Ashley L. Taylor Jr.". 
  53. ^ "Charles L. Terry, Jr". National Governors Association. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  54. ^ "Paul S. Trible, Jr". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  55. ^ "William M. Tuck". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  56. ^ "Henry St. George Tucker III". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  57. ^ "David Gardiner Tyler". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  58. ^ "H. Emory Widener, Jr". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 
  59. ^ "H. Emory Widener, Jr". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Retrieved 21 December 2012. 

External links [edit]
Academics
  • The College
  • Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics
  • School of Law
2008-0831-WashingtonandLeeUniversity.jpg
Student life
Media
People
Campus
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Washington_and_Lee_University_School_of_Law&oldid=556357612"