University of Richmond School of Law | |
---|---|
Parent school | University of Richmond |
Established | 1870 |
School type | Private law school |
Dean | Wendy C. Perdue |
Location | Richmond, Virginia, United States 37°34′38″N77°32′19″W / 37.57722°N 77.53861°W |
Enrollment | 408 (Fall 2023) [1] |
Faculty | 137 (Fall 2022) [1] |
USNWR ranking | 66th (tie) (2024) [2] |
Bar pass rate | 79.59% (2023) [3] |
Website | law |
ABA profile | ABA Required Disclosures |
The University of Richmond School of Law (abbreviated as Richmond Law) is the law school of the University of Richmond, a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Law is ranked 66th (tie) in the US by US News, [2] among the top five value law schools by the National Jurist, [4] and one of the Princeton Review's 167 Best Law Schools of 2018. [5]
With approximately 150 J.D. candidates per class year, the University of Richmond School of Law is accredited by the American Bar Association. [6] Richmond Law's Dean, Wendy Perdue, is also a former president of the Association of American Law Schools. [7] Richmond Law is also approved by the Virginia State Board of Bar Examiners [6] and is the most common alma mater of judges in the State of Virginia. [4]
The school was founded in 1870 as a college within the University of Richmond. In 1890, the family of the late T. C. Williams, a university trustee, donated $25,000 as the nucleus of an endowment for the law school. In recognition of this gift, the school was named The T. C. Williams School of Law in 1920. In 2022, the school changed the official name from the "T. C. Williams School of Law" to the "University of Richmond School of Law" in keeping with its naming principle that prohibits the use of names of people who engaged in enslavement or openly advocated the enslavement of people. [8]
In 1914, Richmond College (as the university was then known), including its law department, moved from its location downtown to the present campus. Returning servicemen from World War I created space problems for the college and the law department had to be relocated to the old Columbia Building at Grace and Lombardy streets. In 1920, the law department was reorganized as a separate School of Law within what was now the University of Richmond. [9]
The current Law School building, constructed in the Collegiate Gothic architectural style, was originally opened in 1954, and it was enlarged in 1972 and 1981. In 1991, the building was significantly expanded, renovated, and refurbished. The Law School building now provides modern and technologically equipped classrooms, seminar rooms, a law library, a moot courtroom, faculty and administrative offices, faculty and student lounges, and offices for most student organizations.
The Richmond School of Law was ranked 66th in the 2024 ranking of law schools by U.S. News & World Report . [10] According to US News, the school has 408 students with a student-to-faculty ratio of 5:1. [10]
For the class entering in 2023, the University of Richmond School of Law accepted 41.46% of applicants, with 19.45% of those accepted enrolling. The average enrollee had a 164 LSAT score and 3.75 undergraduate GPA. [1]
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Richmond Law for the 2020–21 academic year is $67,550. [11] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years, based on data from the 2020–21 academic year, is $202,650. [12] For the 2018–2019 school year, 67% of entering students received scholarships. The 50th percentile grant amount of scholarships was $35,000. [13]
According to Richmond School of Law's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 85% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. [14] Richmond's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 11%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2018 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation. [15]
Richmond Law has recently launched several new initiatives focusing on expanding areas of the law such as intellectual property, wrongful convictions and family law. The school is making a strong push to become a center for intellectual property law, as evidenced by the recent founding of the Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) and the offering of a joint degree program with Virginia Tech that will enable students to earn both a Bachelor of Science degree and a Juris Doctor degree in as little as six years’ time. Through the IPI, Richmond law students are able to obtain a certificate of concentration in Intellectual Property Law.
The Institute for Actual Innocence, founded in 2005, works to identify and exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The institute is an academic program that partners students with local attorneys and community leaders to seek post-conviction relief for wrongfully convicted prisoners in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Three days before leaving office, President Obama commuted Dujuan Farrow's life sentence after the Institute for Actual Innocence submitted his case for clemency review. [16]
The University of Richmond Law Review, founded in 1958, publishes four issues a year: the Annual Survey in November, the Symposium Issue in March, and two general issues in January and May. In addition, since 2015, the Law Review has published an online volume each year. Staff members are selected at the end of their first year of law school after participating in a journal competition, which takes into consideration students' grades and the results of a casenote and Bluebook exam.
The Richmond Public Interest Law Review (PILR) is a law review published by the University of Richmond School of Law. The journal, formerly known as the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest, vol. 1 (1996) - vol. 19 (2016), focuses on issues pertaining to social welfare, public policy, and a broad spectrum of jurisprudence.
Publishing three annual volumes, PILR posts its articles and other related content online to reach the widest audience possible. Of these annual publications, two volumes specifically attempt to confront prominent and difficult issues raised by modern society:
The Richmond Journal of Law and Technology (JOLT) is a law review published by the School of Law. It was the first student-edited law review in the world to be published exclusively online. [17]
First published on April 10, 1995, the journal focused on the impact of computer-related and other emerging technologies on the law. Today, JOLT publishes four issues per year containing a variety of technology-related articles including traditional intellectual property issues, telecommunication law, biotechnology, computer law, and emerging areas of constitutional law.
The University of Georgia School of Law is the law school of the University of Georgia, a public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it among the oldest American university law schools in continuous operation. Georgia Law accepted 14.77% of applicants for the class entering in 2023.
Drake University Law School is the law school of Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa. Over 330 full-time students attend the institution. Dean Jerry Anderson is in charge of the University. Founded in 1865, Drake Law School is one of the 25 oldest law schools in the country.
The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative law cases that are initially appealed to the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Established in 1779 as the Supreme Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Virginia is one of the oldest continuously active judicial bodies in the United States.
The Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law is the law school of Temple University, a public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1895 and enrolls about 650 students.
Marquette University Law School is the law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Milwaukee Law Class, MULS is housed in Eckstein Hall on Marquette University's campus in downtown Milwaukee.
William Carrington Thompson was an American jurist and politician.
The University of Oregon School of Law is a public law school in the U.S. state of Oregon. Housed in the Knight Law Center, it is Oregon's only state funded law school. The school, founded in 1884, is located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, on the corner of 15th and Agate streets, overlooking Hayward Field.
Samuel Bernard Goodwyn is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. He previously served as a circuit court judge in Chesapeake.
Margaret Lee Workman is an American lawyer and a former justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. Her 1988 election to the Supreme Court made her the first woman elected to statewide office in West Virginia and first female Justice on the Court.
The West Virginia Law Review is a triannual student-run law review published by the West Virginia University College of Law. It was established in 1894 and is the fourth oldest law review in the United States.
Joseph Dee Morrissey is an American Democratic politician, businessman, and former lawyer who won election to both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly from districts including Richmond or surrounding Henrico County, Virginia. He represented Virginia's 16th Senate district from 2020 to 2024, having been elected during the 2019 election. He represented much of southern Richmond, as well as all of the cities of Petersburg and Hopewell and portions of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George counties. He lost the 2023 Democratic primary for his district.
William & Mary Law School, formally the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, is the law school of the College of William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is the oldest extant law school in the United States, having been founded in 1779 at the urging of alumnus Thomas Jefferson. As of 2023, it has an enrollment of 606 full-time students seeking a Juris Doctor (J.D.) or a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in the American Legal System, a two or three semester program for lawyers trained outside the United States.
Peter Vivian Daniel was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Allen Hayes Loughry, II is a former justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
Tracy William Thorne-Begland is an American judge on the General District Court of Richmond, Virginia, appointed in 2012. He was the first openly gay jurist elected by the Virginia General Assembly.
Denham Arthur Kelsey is an American lawyer and justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. His twelve-year term on the Supreme Court began on February 1, 2015. Kelsey was previously an appellate judge on the Court of Appeals of Virginia and a trial court judge in the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Virginia.
John Baker Boatwright was Virginia lawyer and member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing Buckingham, Appomattox and Cumberland Counties for 38 years beginning in 1922. A member of the Byrd Organization, Boatwright became a leader of its Massive Resistance to racial integration.
Toby Jay Heytens is an American attorney and law professor who is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He served as the solicitor general of Virginia from 2018 to 2021.