J.D. Quick Facts

Student Body

There are 381 J.D. students at W&L Law.  More information about W&L's student body can be found on the annual ABA Report.

The Faculty

A listing of W&L Law faculty can be found here.

The Campus and Area

W&L Law is located in the beautiful historic town of Lexington, Virginia.  The school is a three hour interstate highway drive from Washington, DC and a 50 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, scenes for Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds.
 
For more information about Lexington, please feel free to consult our Life in Lexington webpage and the Lexington Visitor Center's website. 

Entering Class

Please visit our Class Profile page for additional information.

GPA & LSAT Scores

Please refer to our Class Profile page for the median scores of our 1L class.

Admission

To be considered for general admission, J.D. applications should be submitted by July 1, but W&L recommends submission by the priority deadline of March 1. Applicants whose files are completed by the priority deadline of March 1 should expect a decision by March 31. For those applications submitted after March 1, we cannot guarantee a decision by a particular date, but we will make every effort to render a decision in as expeditious a manner as possible.  Thoe applying for the Binding Early Decision program should refer to the program webpage for specific deadline and timeline information.

The Honor System

W&L has an Honor System that has been in place for over 150 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 here.

Journals

We have three journals our students are invited and encouraged to participate in. They are: Law Review, German Law Journal, and the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice. For more information about our journals, visit the journal webpage.

Our Degree

Juris Doctor (J.D.)

Clinics and Externships

We have a number of clinical and externship opportunities, spanning a variety of practice areas. During the 2L and/or 3L year, all W&L Law students are required to have some "real-client" experience as a part of their legal education. Our clinics and externships opportunities are: Immigrant Rights Clinic, Community Legal Practice Center, Clinic for Civil Rights and Racial Justice, Advanced Administrative Litigation Clinic (Black Lung Legal Clinic), Criminal Justice Clinic, Tax Clinic, Public Prosecutors Program, Judicial Clerkship Program, and General Externship Program (which includes the DC externship option).  For more information about our clinical and externship offerings, go to their webpage. 

Tuition

Tuition is set by the University's Board of Trustees at the February meeting prior to each academic year.  More information is available at the Tuition and Fees webpage.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

Most students at W&L Law are receiving some type of financial assistance.  The majority of students receive a merit scholarship, which can range in amount from $5,000 to (in a few cases) almost full tuition.  To receive optimal consideration for a merit scholarship, your application should be completed by February 1.  No separate scholarship application is required.  While we do encourage applicants to complete their applications by February 1 for optimal merit scholarship consideration, this is not a hard deadline. Scholarship award notifications will be made within two weeks of a student being accepted to the law school.  We will continue to make scholarship awards throughout the application cycle, however, we may have less funds available to offer to students whose files are completed later in the cycle. For additional information on financial aid and scholarships, please see our webpage detailing our merit scholarship process as well as the University's Financial Aid webpage.

Employment Rate

Click here for comprehensive employment data. For more information on the career opportunities available to W&L Law students, please consult the webpage for our Office of Career Strategy.

Contact Information

If you would like more information or have a question about W&L Law, contact a member of the Admissions Staff at 540.458.8503 or send an e-mail to lawadm@wlu.edu.