Rodney  A. Smolla

In the News

Media Appearances

3/30/2010 - USA Today
Washington and Lee Law School Dean Rodney Smolla comments in a USA Today article exploring free-speech claims in a series of cases before the Supreme Court that will test the boundaries of the First Amendment.

1/20/2010 - Newsweek
Washington and Lee Law School Dean Rod Smolla comments in Newsweek about Army Specialist Marc A. Hall, who has been charged with threatening fellow soldiers in a rap song he sent to the Pentagon.

10/25/2009 - Richmond Times-Dispatch
Washington and Lee law school dean Rod Smolla writes about a new book profiling the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

10/4/2009 - USA Today
Washington and Lee Law Dean and First Amendment scholar Rodney A. Smolla comments in a USA Today story exploring a federal law that makes it a crime to sell depictions of animal cruelty.

9/24/2009 - ABA Journal
The ABA Journal's Legal Rebels project, which features lawyers, scholars and others who are committed to innovation in the legal profession, made a stop in Lexington to meet with students and faculty involved in the School's new third year program.



Law School News about Professor Smolla

7/28/2009 - Law Dean Reflects on Role as Gubernatorial Debate Moderator
Washington and Lee Law Dean Rodney A. Smolla explains how he prepared to moderate the first debate in the closely watched Virginia governor's race and shares his impressions of the event.

7/15/2009 - Law Dean to Moderate First Debate in Virginia Governor’s Race
Washington and Lee School of Law Dean Rodney A. Smolla will moderate the first debate between Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell for the closely watched Virginia governor's race.

2/17/2009 - Dean Smolla Elected to Board of Governors of Virginia Bar
Rodney A. Smolla, dean and Roy L. Steinheimer, Jr. Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law has been elected to the Board of Governors of the Virginia Bar Association.

10/29/2008 - Strict Enforcement of State Electioneering Laws Problematic
Election officials who interpret their state's prohibitions against electioneering as prohibiting voters from wearing campaign buttons or T-shirts into the polling places on Election Day may be strictly within the law, but Washington and Lee University law dean Rod Smolla, an expert on the First Amendment, believes the interpretation would be unconstitutional.

10/20/2008 - Dean Smolla Named 2008 Leader in the Law for Curricular Innovation
Law Dean Rodney A. Smolla has been named a 2008 Leader in the Law by Virginia Lawyers Weekly for his work on Washington and Lee Law School's innovative third-year curriculum reform.