University of Richmond School of Law
Coordinates: 37°34′38″N 77°32′19.2″W / 37.57722°N 77.538667°W
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Established | 1870 |
| Dean | Wendy C. Perdue (since July 2011) |
Academic staff | 37 full-time, 60 adjunct[1] |
| Students | ~500[1] |
| Location | Richmond, Virginia, USA |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Website | law.richmond.edu |
The University of Richmond School of Law (T.C. Williams School of Law), a school of the University of Richmond, is located in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Law is considered "highly selective" by US News & World Report,[2] top tier by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,[3] among the top twenty law schools by the National Jurist,[4] and one of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools of 2016.[5]
One of the three highest ranked small private law schools[6]—alongside Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School and W&L Law—with approximately 150 J.D. candidates per class year, the University of Richmond School of Law has full accreditation by all recognized standardizing agencies in the United States, as a member of the Association of American Law Schools on the American Bar Association registry.[7]
Richmond Law is also regionally accredited by the Virginia State Board of Bar Examiners,[7] and is the #1 alma mater of judges in the state.[4] Above the Mason–Dixon line, U of R Law's Juris Doctor degree is fully accredited by the Regents of the University of the State of New York;[7] below, Richmond Law is among Above the Law's top ten Law Schools of the South.[8] Located near the border of America's cultural demarcation line, the University of Richmond campus can be found on 350 acres (1.4 km2) located about six miles (10 km) west of the center of the city of Richmond, Virginia.
Past and Present
The school was founded in 1870 as a college within the University of Richmond. In 1890, the family of the late T.C. Williams, a university trustee, donated $25,000 as the nucleus of an endowment for the law school. In recognition of this gift, the school was named The T.C. Williams School of Law in 1920. In recent years, the school has adopted the name "University of Richmond School of Law" in order to promote a unified identity for the university.
In 1914, Richmond College (as the university was then known), including its law department, moved from its location downtown to the present campus. Returning servicemen from World War I created space problems for the college and the law department had to be relocated to the old Columbia Building at Grace and Lombardy streets. In 1920, the law department was reorganized as a separate School of Law within what was now the University of Richmond.[9]
The current Law School building, constructed in the Collegiate Gothic architectural style, was originally opened in 1954, and it was enlarged in 1972 and 1981. In 1991, the building was significantly expanded, renovated, and refurbished. The Law School building now provides modern and technologically equipped classrooms, seminar rooms, a law library, a moot courtroom, faculty and administrative offices, faculty and student lounges, and offices for most student organizations.
The Richmond School of Law was ranked 51st in the most recent ranking of law schools by U.S. News and World Report.[10] According to US News, the school has 460 students with a student-to-faculty ratio of 11.4:1.
Cost of Attendance
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Richmond Law for the 2014-2015 academic year is $55,440.[11] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years, based on data from the 2013-2014 academic year, is $208,801.[12] In 2013, 55% of entering students received scholarships. The average scholarship award was $23,356.[13]
Employment
According to Richmond School of Law's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 58% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[14] Richmond's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 19.7%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[15]
Richmond Law's 2013 employment grade by the National Jurist is B+.[16] Comparatively, Georgetown Law is graded slightly below with a "B";[17] Cornell Law is just above with an "A-".[18]
City of Richmond
Richmond, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a city of more than 200,000, with a metro population of more than one million. The Virginia General Assembly holds its annual sessions downtown at a capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson. The Supreme Court of Virginia, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit also hold regular terms here. In addition, the State Corporation Commission, the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission, and many federal administrative agencies hold hearings in the city. Washington, D.C., home to the United States Supreme Court, is only a two-hour drive from Richmond. The school's proximity to the capitals of both Virginia and the United States give students "unsurpassed opportunities for observation of the legal process".[19]
Initiatives
Richmond Law has recently launched several new initiatives focusing on expanding areas of the law such as intellectual property, wrongful convictions and family law. The school is making a strong push to become a center for intellectual property law, as evidenced by the recent founding of the Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) and the offering of a joint degree program with Virginia Tech that will enable students to earn both a Bachelor of Science degree and a law degree in as little as six years’ time. Through the IPI, Richmond law students are able to obtain a certificate of concentration in Intellectual Property Law.
The Institute for Actual Innocence, founded in 2005, works to identify and exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Institute is an academic program that partners students with local attorneys and community leaders to seek post-conviction relief for wrongfully convicted prisoners in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Furthermore, the school is working to establish the The National Center for Family Law, which will serve the best interests of families and children through academic and service programs dedicated to enhancement of the quality of the American legal system in relation to family law.
Notable faculty
- Ronald J. Bacigal - Specializes in Criminal Law and Procedure. He also serves as Reporter of Criminal Decisions for the Court of Appeals of Virginia.[20]
- Harry L. Carrico - Senior Justice, Supreme Court of Virginia; Visiting Professor of Law and Civic Engagement; Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Judge, 1956–1961
- Donald W. Lemons - Supreme Court of Virginia, Justice, 2000–present; Court of Appeals of Virginia, Judge,1998-2000; Circuit Court for the City of Richmond, Judge, 1995–98; John Marshall Professor of Judicial Studies [21]
Notable alumni
- Watkins Abbitt - U.S. Representative from Virginia, 1948-1973[22]
- Ward Armstrong - Minority Leader, Virginia House of Delegates [23]
- Leon Bazile - Trial judge in the case of Loving v. Virginia [24]
- Jose M. Cabanillas - Executive officer of the USS Texas
- Walter S. Felton, Jr. - Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia [25]
- Mark Herring - Current attorney general of Virginia, former member of the Senate of Virginia [26]
- Lawrence L. Koontz, Jr. - Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia[27]
- G. Manoli Loupassi - Member, Virginia House of Delegates[28]
- Robert R. Merhige, Jr. - former U.S. District Court Judge, Eastern District of Virginia[29]
- Nathan H. Miller - former Virginia State Senator[30]
- Willis D. Miller - former Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia
- A. L. Philpott - former Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates[31]
- Owen B. Pickett - U.S. Representative, 1987-2001[32]
- A. Willis Robertson - U.S. Senator, 1946-1966[33]
- Frederick Pfarr Stamp, Jr. - Senior U.S. District Court Judge, Northern District of West Virginia[34]
- Harvey E. Schlesinger - Senior U.S. District Judge, Middle District of Florida[35]
- Harold Fleming Snead - former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia[36]
References
- 1 2 University of Richmond School of Law: Fast Facts
- ↑ http://www.usnews.com/usnews/store/law_school_compass.htm?src=lockl&ref=/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/university-of-richmond-williams-03161
- ↑ see: Find the Best's Law School Guide
- 1 2 http://www.nationaljurist.com/law-schools/university-of-richmond
- ↑ http://www.princetonreview.com/schools/1037682/law/university-richmond-school-law
- ↑ http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings/sort%2Bv_ft_enrolled/sortdir%2Basc/page+4
- 1 2 3 Accreditation – University of Richmond
- ↑ http://abovethelaw.com/2013/04/comparing-the-law-schools-of-the-south/
- ↑ University of Richmond School of Law: History
- ↑
- ↑ "Cost of Attendance".
- ↑ "University of Richmond Profile".
- ↑ "Scholarships and Financial Aid".
- ↑ "Employment Summary for 2013 Graduates" (PDF).
- ↑ "University of Richmond Profile".
- ↑ http://www.nationaljurist.com/compare-schools?title=&field_type_value=Private&field_state_value=VA
- ↑ http://www.nationaljurist.com/compare-schools?title=&field_type_value=Private&field_state_value=DC
- ↑ http://www.nationaljurist.com/compare-schools?title=&field_type_value=Private&field_state_value=NY
- ↑ University of Richmond School of Law: Mission, History, Accreditation, and Location
- ↑ http://law.richmond.edu/faculty/rbacigal.php
- ↑ http://law.richmond.edu/faculty/lemons.php
- ↑ "Watkins Moorman Abbitt". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
- ↑ "WARD LYNN ARMSTRONG'S BIOGRAPHY". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Leon M. (Leon Maurice) Bazile Papers, 1826–1967MSS1 B3483 a FA2". Virginia Historical Society. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Alumni News". Richmond The Alumni Magazine. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Attorney General Biography". Office of the Attorney General of Virginia. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ↑ "The Honorable Lawrence L. Koontz - University of Richmond School" (PDF). University of Richmond. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "REPRESENTATIVE G. MANOLI LOUPASSI'S BIOGRAPHY". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Biographical Directory of Federal Judges: Merhige, Robert Reynold Jr.,". Federal judicial Center. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Nathan H. Miller". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Faculty Resources - Faculty Recognition: The A. L. Philpott Adjunct Chair in Law". University of Richmond. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "PICKETT, Owen Bradford, (1930 - 2010)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "ROBERTSON, Absalom Willis, (1887 - 1971)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Biographical Directory of Federal Judges: Stamp, Frederick Pfarr Jr.,". Federal judicial Center. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Biographical Directory of Federal Judges: Schlesinger, Harvey Erwin,". Federal judicial Center. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Scholarships Awarded by the School of Law". Richmond School of Law. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
External links
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