University of Virginia School of Law

The University of Virginia School of Law.

Clay Hall and Caplin Pavilion

For the class entering in the fall of 2020, 299 out of 5,472 J.D. applicants matriculated. The 25th and 75th LSAT percentiles for the 2020 entering class were 164 and 172, respectively, with a median of 170. The 25th and 75th undergraduate GPA percentiles were 3.49 and 3.96, respectively, with a median of 3.90.[5] The class of 2023 consists of students from 38 states and the District of Columbia and from 144 undergraduate institutions. The age range was 20 to 37. 52% of the class was female, 48% male, and 33% identified themselves as people of color. 70% of the class had postgraduate experience.[5]

The LL.M. Program admits around 40-50 students each year.[6] It provides an American legal education to lawyers who have obtained their first law degree in their home countries; LL.M. candidates take classes alongside J.D. students, allowing participants to fully engage in the community and plan their own coursework [7] The S.J.D. Program has about 10-20 candidates, and it is intended primarily for aspiring legal academics.[8][9]

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) for first-year law students at UVA Law for the 2020-2021 academic year is $85,396 for Virginia residents and $88,396 for nonresidents.[10] Law School Transparency has estimated that the debt-financed cost of attendance for three years, based on data from the 2019–2020 academic year, is $304,672 for residents; the estimated cost for non-residents is $314,961.[11]

Spies Garden

UVA Law receives no funding from the state; instead, the school depends upon the generosity of private donors (bolstered by its over 50% alumni giving rate), its substantial endowment (US $ 555 million[12]), the 5th largest among all law schools, and student tuition payments. In 1995–1997, UVA Law used entirely donated funds to renovate and expand its buildings on the University's North Grounds to include the former facilities of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, which built a new campus several hundred yards away.

The Arthur J. Morris Law Library holds more than 820,000 volumes, including substantial collections of federal, state, and international documents, manuscripts, archives, and online research databases.[13]

UVA Law Library

UVA Law maintains an extensive roster of student organizations, including chapters of the Federalist Society, the American Constitution Society and the St. Thomas More Society. The Virginia Law Weekly, UVA Law's student-run weekly newspaper, has been published since 1948. The paper has been cited in several court cases, including in the dissenting opinion of Justice Powell in the U.S. Supreme Court case Patterson v. New York.[14] In addition to its news content, the VLW also contains student-submitted content, which often includes humorous and creative pieces. The Law Weekly has won the American Bar Association's previous three "Best Newspaper Awards," in 2006, 2007, and 2008.[15]

Each spring, over one hundred students write, direct and perform in The Libel Show, a comedy and musical theater production that was first organized in 1904. Its performers roast Law School professors, student stereotypes and life in Charlottesville throughout each of its three nightly showings. Professors write and sing their response to the students' jokes at the penultimate performance.

The school hosts an annual softball tournament to raise money for ReadyKids, an organization that provides care and counseling for at-risk families in Central Virginia, and the Public Interest Law Association, which provides public service internships for law students. 51 different law schools send teams to compete in men's and co-rec brackets. In 2017, $25,000 was raised.[16]

UVA Law's curricular programs include the programs in Law & Business and Law and Public Service, as well as programs in international law, legal and constitutional history, criminal law, human rights, race and law, environmental and land use law, immigration law, intellectual property, public policy and regulation, health law, law and humanities, and animal law. UVA Law also has programs that help students build skills, such as the legal writing program, courses in professional ethics, trial advocacy and public speaking, and other practical-skills courses. The Princeton Review ranked UVA Law as first in "Best Quality of Life" and "Best Professors" among the nation's law schools, second in "Best Classroom Experience," fifth in "Toughest to Get Into," and sixth in "Career Prospects."[18] The 2016 QS World University Rankings for law schools ranks UVA Law in the range of 51–100 worldwide and as the 13th-best law school in U.S.[19]

Clinics

Supreme Court Clinic

Among the more than 250 courses and seminars offered each year, UVA Law has 18 clinics:

• Appellate Litigation
• Child Advocacy
• Criminal Defense
• Employment Law
• Entrepreneurial Law
• Environmental and Regulatory Law
• Family Alternative Dispute Resolution
• First Amendment Law
• Health Law
• Immigration Law
• Innocence Project
• International Human Rights
• Litigation and Housing Law
• Nonprofit Clinic
• Patent and Licensing I
• Patent and Licensing II
• Prosecution
• Supreme Court Litigation

UVA Law has long been regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States. As of 2020, UVA Law ranked No. 1 in Best Classroom Experience, Best Professors and Best Quality of Life according to The Princeton Review. U.S. News & World Report ranks UVA Law as eighth in the nation. In the 2019 Above the Law rankings, which focuses on employment outcomes, UVA Law ranked first in the nation.[22] A study published in the Journal of Legal Education ranked UVA Law fourth in the number of partners in the National Law Journal's top 100 firms.[23]

According to UVA Law's official 2019 ABA-required disclosures, 92.6% of the Class of 2018 obtained non-school funded full-time, long-term, JD-required employment ten months after graduation.[24] A 2019 analysis conducted by Law.com placed Virginia in second for employment outcomes, behind Columbia, with 92.64% of graduates obtaining employment within ten months.[25]

1. 1904–1932 William Minor Lile
2. 1932–1937 Armistead Dobie
3. 1939–1963 F.D.G. Ribble
4. 1963–1968 Hardy C. Dillard
5. 1968–1976 Monrad G. Paulsen
6. 1976–1980 Emerson Spies
7. 1980–1988 Richard A. Merrill
8. 1988–1991 Thomas H. Jackson
9. 1991–2001 Robert E. Scott
10. 2001–2008 John C. Jeffries Jr.
11. 2008–2016 Paul G. Mahoney
12. 2016–present Risa L. Goluboff

• University of Virginia School of Law