Washington and Lee University Law School
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Former names
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Lexington Law School (1849-1866) School of Law and Equity (1866-1870) |
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| Motto | Non incautus futuri (Latin) |
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Motto in English
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"Not Unmindful of the Future" |
| Type | Private school of law |
| Established | 1849 by John White Brockenbrough 1866 (merger with Washington College) |
| Endowment | US $85.7 million (2013) |
| Dean | Brant J. Hellwig |
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Academic staff
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35 full-time, 57 adjunct |
| Students | 318 |
| Location | Lexington, Virginia, USA |
| Campus | National Historic Landmark, Rural, 325 acres (1.32 km2) |
| Colors |
Royal Blue and White |
| Nickname | "The Generals" |
| Website | law.wlu.edu |
Coordinates: 37°47′29.2″N 79°26′37.9″W / 37.791444°N 79.443861°W
Lexington Law School (1849-1866)
The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. Facilities are on the historic campus of Washington and Lee University in Sydney Lewis Hall. W&L Law has a total enrollment of approximately 315 students in Juris Doctor and Master of Laws programs and a 8-to-1 student to faculty ratio.
The Lexington Law School, the precursor to W&L Law, was founded in 1849 by United States federal judge John White Brockenbrough and is the 16th oldest active law school in the United States and the third-oldest in Virginia. The Law School was not integrated into Washington and Lee University (then known as Washington College) until after the Civil War when Robert E. Lee was president of the university. In 1866, General Lee annexed the school, known at the time as the School of Law and Equity, to the college and appointed Judge Brockenbrough as the first Dean. In 1870, after Lee's death, the School of Law and Equity was renamed as the Washington and Lee University School of Law, in line with the college's name change in honor of General Lee. Also in 1870, former Virginia Attorney General John Randolph Tucker was appointed to the faculty and later became Dean followed by his son Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. In 1900, the law school moved into the newly built Tucker Hall in memory of Dean Tucker. Tucker Hall also housed the law school's first law library—the Vincent L. Bradford Law Library. After significant periods of growth, the law school moved into new Tucker Hall after the original building was destroyed in a fire and the law library was rebuilt with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In 1920, W&L Law joined the Association of American Law Schools. The Washington and Lee Law Review began publication in the Autumn of 1939 and is still in regular publication. After World War II, enrollment increased despite a period of low enrollment during the war. In 1950, the School of Law established its chapter of the Order of the Coif, one of only 80 such chapters in the country. The School of Law admitted its first female students in 1972, and opened its current home, Sydney Lewis Hall, in 1977. In 1992, the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Wing was added to Sydney Lewis Hall and the Wilbur C. Hall Law Library at a dedication ceremony attended by Justice Powell and presided over by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. In 2008, Dean Rodney Smolla announced the new third-year program, which became compulsory for W&L Law students in 2011 under Interim Dean Mark Grunewald. This new program turned the entire third year into an experiential curriculum which emphasizes practice, professionalism, and service. Nora Demleitner served as Dean from 2012 through 2015, the only woman to hold the position, during which time the school completed its $35 million campaign, Honor Our Past, Build Our Future, renovated Lewis Hall, established the Washington, DC portion of W&L's third-year program, and significantly increased the employment and bar passage rates of its graduates. On July 1, 2015, Brant J. Hellwig became Dean of the law school, the 18th Dean since 1849. Also in 2015, W&L Law formed an academic and professional partnership with the Future of Privacy Forum, an information privacy think tank in Washington, DC. The Future of Privacy Forum will facilitate professional, research, and curricular development and the Washington, DC portion of W&L's third-year program will move into its offices.
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