University of Virginia School of Law
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The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The School maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students. It has garnered a reputation as one of the best law schools in the country, a fact reflected by its perennial appearance among the "top ten" in the influential U.S. News & World Report rankings. It usually rivals the University of Michigan Law School for the label of best public law school in the nation, with the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall generally running a close third (the latest ranking actually ranks them all tied for 8th place).
Part of a public university, the Law School is unique among its peers in that it receives no funding from public coffers aside from incidentals such as grounds maintenance. Thus, the Law School depends upon the largesse of private donors, its substantial endowment, and its ability to command tuition payments similar to those of elite, private institutions. In 1995-1997, the Law School used entirely donated funds to renovate and expand its buildings on the University's North Grounds to include the former facilities of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration which built a new campus several hundred yards away. The Law School enjoys the highest rate of alumni giving among the nation's law schools - 51%. See Story
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[edit] Student organizations
The Law School maintains an extensive roster of student organizations, including chapters of the Federalist Society, the American Constitution Society, and the Saint Thomas More Society.
It stands as one of only several American law schools to produce a student-run weekly newspaper, the Virginia Law Weekly, which has been published since 1948. It has been cited in several court cases including Patterson v. New York in the Supreme Court of the United States. Today, this newspaper serves dual purposes as a purveyor of news to the Law School community and as an outlet for student humor and creativity.
Additionally, each spring over a hundred students write, direct, and perform in The Libel Show. A comedy and musical theatre production first organized in 1908, it seeks to roast Law School professors, student stereotypes, and life in Charlottesville throughout each of its three nightly showings.
[edit] Law Journals
The Law School also features nine academic journals, including the Virginia Law Review, one of the most cited law journals in the country:
- Journal of Law and Politics
- Virginia Environmental Law Journal
- Virginia Journal of International Law
- Virginia Journal of Law & Technology
- Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law
- Virginia Law & Business Review
- Virginia Law Review
- Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal
- Virginia Tax Review Association
[edit] Notable Virginia Law graduates
[edit] Politics
- George F. Allen ('77) - U.S. Senator and Governor of Virginia
- Alben W. Barkley (1900) - former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Vice President
- Evan Bayh ('81) - U.S. Senator
- Christopher Bond - U.S. Senator
- Alan Stephenson Boyd ('48) - First U.S. Secretary of Transportation
- John Brigeland ('87) - Director, USA Freedom Corps
- Mortimer Caplin ('40) - former Commissioner, U.S. Internal Revenue Service
- John Cornyn ('95) - U.S. Senator
- J. Randy Forbes ('77) - U.S. Congressman
- James Gilmore III ('77) - former Governor of Virginia
- Edward Kennedy ('59) - U.S. Senator
- Robert F. Kennedy ('51) - former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Presidential candidate
- Angus S. King, Jr. ('69) - former Governor of Maine
- Thurgood Marshall, Jr. ('81) - former Cabinet Secretary under U.S. President Bill Clinton
- Robert Mueller - Director, FBI
- Janet Napolitano ('83) - Governor of Arizona
- Bill Nelson ('68) - Astronaut and current U.S. Senator
- W. Robert Pearson ('68) - U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
- Charles Robb ('73) - former U.S. Senator and former Governor of Virginia
- Faryar Shirzad - advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush
- John Warner ('53) - U.S. Senator
- Lowell Weicker ('58) - former U.S. Senator and former Governor of Connecticut
- Sheldon Whitehouse ('82) - U.S. Senator-elect
- Woodrow Wilson (attended 1879) - former U.S. President
[edit] Law
- Jerry Falwell Jr. ('87) - Chief Counsel, Liberty University
- Fred Fielding ('64) - former White House Counsel and D.C. Bar 2004 Lawyer of the Year
- Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. - Justice, Missouri Supreme Court
- J. Michael Luttig ('81) - Senior vice president and general counsel at the Boeing Co. and former Judge, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
- James Clark McReynolds (1884) - former Justice, United States Supreme Court
- Diana Gribbon Motz ('68) - Judge, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
- Stanley Forman Reed (1908) - former Justice, United States Supreme Court
- J. Harvie Wilkinson ('72) - Judge, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
[edit] Media
- David Baldacci ('86) - Novelist
- Linda Fairstein ('72) - Novelist
- Laura Ingraham ('91) - Radio talk-show host
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ('69) - Co-host, Ring of Fire
- N. Scott Momaday ('59) - Novelist and Pulitzer Prize recipient
- Andrew Scheinman ('73) - Movie producer
- Will Shortz ('77) - Crossword Editor, New York Times
[edit] Business
- Tim Finchem ('73) - Commissioner and CEO, PGA
- Michael Slive ('65) - current commissioner of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and formerly the first commissioner of both Conference USA and Great Midwest Conference
- Bob Wright ('68) - Chairman and CEO, NBC
Please see a longer list of notable UVA alumni.
