Law School Overview
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Law School Overview
The Washington and Lee University School of Law is a small private law school with a total enrollment of about 410 students. While the first and second year curriculums include required courses and electives, the third year at W&L focuses on lawyer engagement, training students through problem-based practicum courses, externships, and clinics. There are no specialty tracks or concentrations within the law school curriculum, though students can tweak their education through electives.
Students can choose from close to 10 legal clinics for hands-on training, such as the Black Lung Legal Clinic, which assists coal miners in getting federal benefits for their years spent breathing in coal mine dust, and the Virginia Capital Cast Clearinghouse, which aids attorneys representing capital murder defendants in Virginia. Students can also get involved with four legal journals at the law school: the Washington and Lee Law Review; the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice; the German Law Journal; and the Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment. The Washington and Lee School of Law has its own campus in Lexington, Va., separate from the undergraduate university. Students can live in university-owned housing, though about 90 percent choose to live off campus.
After graduation, close to a fifth of Washington and Lee Law graduates practice in Washington, D.C., and some of the school’s most notable alumni include Stokely Caldwell, Jr., a renowned sports lawyer at Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, and Christopher Wolf, director of the Privacy and Information Management practice group at Hogan Lovells.
| Year founded | 1849 |
| Public/private | Private |
| Law school designation | National |
Admissions
| Application deadline | March 1 |
| Full-time program application fee | $0 |
| Part-time program application fee | $0 |
| Admissions Phone | (540) 458-8504 |
| Admissions E-mail | lawadm@wlu.edu |
| Web site | http://law.wlu.edu |
U.S. News Law School Compass
By signing up for a premium subscription, you'd get access to:
- Expanded Profiles & Advanced Search for 188 Law Schools
- All Entering Class Stats, Including Average LSAT Scores
- Average Starting Salary of Graduates (Public and Private Sector)
- Percent of Graduates Employed Upon Graduation
- New "My Home" Feature: Save & Compare Schools and Take Notes
- Plus: All Graduate School Data (Full Access for 1 Year from Purchase)
Academics
| Full- and part-time faculty | 57 |
| Student-faculty ratio | 9.5 - Low |
| Total faculty | 62 |
U.S. News Law School Compass
By signing up for a premium subscription, you'd get access to:
- Expanded Profiles & Advanced Search for 188 Law Schools
- All Entering Class Stats, Including Average LSAT Scores
- Average Starting Salary of Graduates (Public and Private Sector)
- Percent of Graduates Employed Upon Graduation
- New "My Home" Feature: Save & Compare Schools and Take Notes
- Plus: All Graduate School Data (Full Access for 1 Year from Purchase)
Student Body
| Enrollment (full-time) | 407 |
| Gender distribution (full-time) | |
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| J.D. candidates graduating in 2009-2010 | 123 |
U.S. News Law School Compass
By signing up for a premium subscription, you'd get access to:
- Expanded Profiles & Advanced Search for 188 Law Schools
- All Entering Class Stats, Including Average LSAT Scores
- Average Starting Salary of Graduates (Public and Private Sector)
- Percent of Graduates Employed Upon Graduation
- New "My Home" Feature: Save & Compare Schools and Take Notes
- Plus: All Graduate School Data (Full Access for 1 Year from Purchase)
Cost
| Tuition and fees | |
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Full-time: $39,937 per year |
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| Room and board | $10,970 |
U.S. News Law School Compass
By signing up for a premium subscription, you'd get access to:
- Expanded Profiles & Advanced Search for 188 Law Schools
- All Entering Class Stats, Including Average LSAT Scores
- Average Starting Salary of Graduates (Public and Private Sector)
- Percent of Graduates Employed Upon Graduation
- New "My Home" Feature: Save & Compare Schools and Take Notes
- Plus: All Graduate School Data (Full Access for 1 Year from Purchase)
Careers
| Graduates known to be employed at graduation | 79.7% - Medium |
| Median private sector starting salary | $145,000 |
| Median public service starting salary | $54,000 |
U.S. News Law School Compass
By signing up for a premium subscription, you'd get access to:
- Expanded Profiles & Advanced Search for 188 Law Schools
- All Entering Class Stats, Including Average LSAT Scores
- Average Starting Salary of Graduates (Public and Private Sector)
- Percent of Graduates Employed Upon Graduation
- New "My Home" Feature: Save & Compare Schools and Take Notes
- Plus: All Graduate School Data (Full Access for 1 Year from Purchase)
Library
| Total volumes and volume equivalents | 467,830 |
U.S. News Law School Compass
By signing up for a premium subscription, you'd get access to:
- Expanded Profiles & Advanced Search for 188 Law Schools
- All Entering Class Stats, Including Average LSAT Scores
- Average Starting Salary of Graduates (Public and Private Sector)
- Percent of Graduates Employed Upon Graduation
- New "My Home" Feature: Save & Compare Schools and Take Notes
- Plus: All Graduate School Data (Full Access for 1 Year from Purchase)
* Law School Overview details based on 2010 data
