Quick Facts

The Students:

There are 394 students on campus representing 43 states plus the District of Columbia and 14 foreign countries.

The Faculty:

The student-to-faculty ratio is 9.52:1. W&L School of Law has 35 full-time professors, 25 adjunct professors.

The Campus and Area:

W&L Law is located in the beautiful historic town of Lexington, Virginia.  The school is a 3 hour interstate highway drive from Washington, DC and a 45 minute interstate highway drive from Roanoke, Virginia. Washington and Lee University is the ninth oldest institution of higher learning in the nation, and the law school dates back to 1849. For more information about the history of the law school, please consult this brief history of W&L Law.

A town of roughly 7,000 residents, Lexington is home to Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute. There are more than 100 culturally and historically significant sites in the Rockbridge County area, and the historic core of the City of Lexington is a Nationally Registered Historic District, as are the Washington and Lee Colonnade and the Virginia Military Institute Post. Lexington and the surrounding area has been the filming location for at least six movies, including, most recently, scenes for Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds.
 
For more information about Lexington, please feel free to consult our Life in Lexington webpage. Additional information is also available on the Lexington Visitor Center's website.

For a more comprehensive listing of available activities, please see our list of things to do in Lexington!

Class Size:

The entering class size: Targeted at 129

Our current first year class consists of 135 students and includes graduates from 95 different undergraduate institutions and 30 different states. Females make up 50% of the class and diverse students comprise 23% of the newest group of students to join our campus community. Our median age is 25.

The Honor System:

W&L has an Honor System that has been in place for over 100 years. The system is based on the fundamental principle that a spirit of trust makes Washington and Lee a unique educational institution. As it is not codified, the Honor System applies to all aspects of campus life, and, because of the honor system, our students know they can trust each other, and this trust allows them to relax and focus on being law students.

To learn more about the Honor System, visit: http://ec.wlu.edu/

Journals:

We have four (4) journals in which our students are invited and encourage to participate. They are as follows:

Law Review, German Law Journal, Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, and the Journal of Energy, Climate and the Environment

The journals have varying methods by which they select their staffwriters, and the timing of these decisions can often vary between journals. For more information about our journals,visit: http://law.wlu.edu/journals

Our Degrees:

Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) in United States Law.

Clinics and Externships:

We have a number of clinical and externship opportunities, spanning a variety of practice areas. As a result of our third year curricular reform all W&L Law students will have an opportunity to have a "real-client" experience during their third year of law school. Our Clinic and externships are as follows:

Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, Washington and Lee Community Law Clinic at the Oliver Hill House, Community Legal Practice Clinic, Black Lung Legal Clinic, Public Prosecutors Program, Tax Clinic, Judicial Clerkship Program, General Exernship Program, and, as of Fall 2009, Criminal Justice Clinic.

For more information about our clinical and externship offerings, go to: http://law.wlu.edu/clinics/

GPA & LSAT Scores:

The median GPA for the Class of 2012 is a 3.56; the median LSAT is a 166. Our 25th percentiles for LSAT and GPA are 160 and 3.30, respectively, while our 75th percentiles are 167 and 3.81. 

Admission:

To be considered for admission for the fall '10 academic year, J.D. applications should be submitted by March 1. Applications for the LL.M. program should be submitted by March 1. Applicants whose files are completed by the above deadlines should expect a decision by March 31.

Tuition for 2009-10:

$37,025 for the J.D. program, and $40,730 for LL.M. program.

Tuition is set by the University's Board of Trustees at the January meeting prior to each academic year.

Scholarships and Financial Aid:

Approximately 90% of students at W&L Law are receiving some type of financial assistance.  About 60% receive some form of merit scholarship.  To receive optimal consideration for a merit scholarship, your application should be completed by December 31, 2008.  No separate scholarship application is required.

While we do encourage applicants to complete their applications by December 31 in order to be eligible for merit scholarship consideration, this is not a hard deadline. We typically make our initial round of scholarship decisions in mid-February, and at this point in the admissions cycle, we have our entire scholarship budget at our disposal. We will continue to make scholarship awards throughout the coming months, however, we have less money with which to work with each successive month. Consequently, as this analysis indicates, the chances of you receiving a scholarship award are much better the earlier you complete your application, but it is nevertheless possible to receive a scholarship even if you do not complete your application until after December 31st. As with many other aspects of the law school application process, the sooner you can complete your application the better.

For additional information on financial aid and scholarships, please see our Financing your legal education at W&L webpage.

Employment Rate:

For the Class of 2008:  92%

Statistics on the Class of 2009 will be available February, 2010. For more information on the career opportunities available to W&L Law students, please consult the webpage for our Office of Career Planning.

Contact Information:

If you would like more information or have a question about W&L School of Law, contact a member of the Admissions Staff at 540-458-8503 or send an e-mail to lawadm@wlu.edu