A Tradition of Innovation

Washington and Lee University School of Law has long been an innovator in legal education, and these innovations have allowed the School to build a singular community that educates students for character and challenges them to solve the problems they will face in a complex world. It fosters a desire not simply to act, but to act intelligently and ethically. There is such a thing as a W&L Lawyer.

Committed to a liberal arts model of legal education and close student-faculty interaction, W&L was one of the first law schools to introduce small-section legal writing classes and to require an administrative law course and a transnational law course in the first year of law school. During the second year, students broaden their knowledge of the law, selecting from a wide array of more specialized and rigorous courses, and author a substantive research paper. The School’s groundbreaking third-year program, which combines the demanding study of legal doctrine and analysis with simulated and actual practice experience, has been hailed by many in both the legal profession and in legal education as the most significant change in law-school curriculum in more than a century.

Having an identifiable role for each year of the curriculum and a meaningful progression in learning over the three years are central to W&L’s approach to legal education. It allows the School to produce lawyers who can excel in their practice area in a professional and principled manner from the outset of their careers. This effort is all the more important given fundamental changes in the legal landscape that will remain a challenge for years to come.

The School of Law is worthy of your support, your enthusiasm and your passion. Generation after generation of caring faculty, engaged students and generous and committed alumni, parents and friends have made Washington and Lee the extraordinary institution it is today. Together we will ensure that future generations of students graduate with the knowledge and commitment required to work and lead in their world just as past generations did for theirs.

Campaign Priorities

Student Financial Aid — $14M
Financial aid for our students is ever more important. Even though nearly 60 percent of our students receive
need-based aid, our third-year students will graduate with an average debt of $110,000. If we are to continue to attract outstanding students to the very special legal education Washington and Lee provides, we must remain committed to assisting many of them financially.
Download Fact Sheet   |   Loan Repayment Information.

Faculty Support — $7M
Support for the teaching and scholarly mission of the Law School is vital. The kind of faculty members we
seek, dedicated in equal parts to teaching, scholarship and mentoring, are unique. Attracting and retaining
these talented individuals, as well as experienced practitioners for our third-year program, is an important
priority in the campaign.
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Programmatic Support — $3M
Gifts in this area will support professionalism education across all three years of the curriculum. Support for clinics, externships and other third-year courses are similarlytargeted, including our international programs that enable students to provide legal services and assistance with legal system development around the globe.
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Lewis Hall Renovations — $5M
Lewis Hall was a superb facility when it was built in the 1970s. But over the past 35 years we have outgrown the space; we now offer more classes and clinics and the building houses more students, faculty, and student organizations than we anticipated when it was designed. Lewis Hall is a wonderful facility, but it does not meet the needs of our new curriculum.
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Law Annual Fund — $6M
A Law Annual Fund gift ensures a secure future for the Law School and supports the foundations of a W&L
legal education. These gifts go directly to the Law School for its general operating expenses and support tuition
subsidies, law journals and more than forty student-run organizations.
Download Fact Sheet.