William & Mary Law School

College of William and Mary, William & Mary Law School History

College of William & Mary, William & Mary Law School, was established in 1779 and is a public institution. The 1200-acre campus is in a small town 45 miles west of Norfolk, 45 miles east of Richmond. The primary mission of the law school is to provide students with a superior legal education in a close-knit collegial environment and to offer the opportunity to confront the demands of constructive citizenship and leadership. Students have access to federal, state, county, city, and local agencies, courts, correctional facilities, law firms, and legal aid organizations in the Williamsburg area. The National Center for State Courts and Colonial Williamsburg are nearby. Facilities of special interest to law students include the Courtroom 21 Project, the world center for courtroom technology research, housed within the McGlothlin Courtroom, the world’s most technologically advanced courtroom. The project has an extensive student staff, trains all second-year students in hands-on courtroom technology use, and supports the law school activities and courses, such as the legal technology seminar and technology augmented trial advocacy. The law school is a wireless facility allowing access to on-line Internet services throughout the building and adjacent patios and lawns. Housing for students is available on-campus in graduate apartments located next to the law school building. Commercial apartments, townhouses, and other area housing are available as well. Williamsburg is “family friendly” with many neighborhoods and services for those students with children. All law school facilities are accessible to the physically disabled.

College of William and Mary, William & Mary Law School Academics

In addition to the J.D., the law school offers the LL.M. Students may take relevant courses in other programs and apply credit toward the J.D.; a maximum of 6 credits may be applied. The following joint degrees may be earned: J.D./M.A. (Juris Doctor/Master of Arts in American studies), J.D./M.B.A. (Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration), and J.D./M.P.P. (Juris Doctor/Master of Public Policy).

In addition, clinics, worth 3 credits, combine a classroom component with supervised work in an office setting and include domestic violence, legal aid, and federal tax practice. Seminars, worth 2 to 3 credits, are open to both second- and third-year students (size limited to 15 to 25 students) and include civil rights, corporate drafting, and legal technology. Internships, worth 3 credits, include Attorney General Practice, Department of Employment Dispute Resolution, and Virginia Court of Appeals. Research programs, worth 1 to 2 credits, include independent research, advanced research, directed research, and tax research. They are open to second- and third-year students and must be completed with a supervising professor. Field work is offered through an externship program open to second- and third-year students for 1 to 3 credits. Externships require a minimum of 40 hours of work, a synopsis of work done, a journal, and an evaluation by the supervising attorney or judge. Placements may be made with a judge, nonprofit organization, Virginia Court of Appeals, Department of Employment Dispute Resolution, Attorney General’s Office, or Supreme Court of Virginia. Special lectures include the Institute of Bill of Rights Law, Cutler Lectures, and George Wythe Lectures. Study abroad is available in the summer in Madrid, Spain, with most classes worth 2 credits and open to any second- or third-year student who applies from an ABA accredited law school. In addition, semester abroad programs are available to second- and third-year students in Japan, New Zealand, and Spain. Tutorial programs are available to any first-year student under the direction of the Associate Dean for Programs. Minority programs are arranged by minority student organizations. Special interest group programs are arranged by individual student organizations. The most widely taken electives are Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Corporations.

To earn the J.D., candidates must complete 86 total credits, of which 34 are for required courses. They must maintain a minimum GPA of 1.8 in the required courses. The following first-year courses are required of all students: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts I and II, Criminal Law, Legal Skills I and II, Property I and II, and Torts. Required upper-level courses consist of Ethics and Legal Skills III and IV. The required orientation program for first-year students is a 1-week program designed to introduce legal analysis, legal vocabulary, legal teaching methods, legal writing, and the law firm structure of the Legal Skills Program.

In order to graduate, candidates must have a GPA of 2.0 and have completed the upper-division writing requirement.

College of William and Mary, William & Mary Law School Unique Programs

Library

The law library contains 391,000 hard-copy volumes and 912,777 microform volume equivalents, and subscribes to 4234 serial publications. Such on-line databases and networks as CALI, CIS Universe, DIALOG, Dow-Jones, Infotrac, Legal-Trac, LEXIS, LOIS, Mathew Bender, NEXIS, OCLC First Search, WESTLAW, Wilsonline Indexes, First Search, and VIVA are available to law students for research. Special library collections include Thomas Jefferson law collection, environmental law, Roman law, constitutional law, jurisprudence, intellectual property, and taxation. Recently, the library was expanded and completely renovated. The $16.5 million project was completed in the summer of 2007. The ratio of library volumes to faculty is 10,026 to 1 and to students is 633 to 1. The ratio of seats in the library to students is 1 to 1.

Special Consideration

The law school recruits minority and disadvantaged students by means of on- and off-campus recruitment, brochures, grant proposals, LSDAS Candidate Referral Services, BLSA Programs, and financial aid. Requirements are not different for out-of-state students. Transfer students must have attended an ABA-approved law school and approximately 26 credit hours.

College of William and Mary, William & Mary Law School Admissions

In the fall 2007 first-year class, 4250 applied, 1151 were accepted, and 217 enrolled. Fourteen transfers enrolled. The median LSAT percentile of the most recent first-year class was 91; the median GPA was 3.68 on a scale of 4.0. The lowest LSAT percentile accepted was 30; the highest was 99.

Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and take the LSAT. Minimum acceptable GPA is 2.0 on a scale of 4.0. All factors in a candidate’s background are considered important in the application process. No specific undergraduate courses are required. Candidates are interviewed.

The application deadline for fall entry is March 1. Applicants should submit an application form, LSAT results, transcripts, a personal statement, a nonrefundable application fee of $50, and 2 letters of recommendation. Notification of the admissions decision is from November through April. The latest acceptable LSAT test date for fall entry is February. The law school uses the LSDAS.

College of William and Mary, William & Mary Law School Financial Aid

About 80% of current law students receive some form of aid. The average annual amount of aid from all sources combined, including scholarships, loans, and work contracts, is $27,830; maximum, $42,136. Awards are based on need and merit. Required financial statement is the FAFSA. The aid application deadline for fall entry is February 15. Diversity is considered as a factor in the packaging of aid. First-year students are notified about their financial aid application from November through April.

College of William and Mary, William & Mary Law School Students

About 49% of the student body are women; 17%, minorities; 11%, African American; 5%, Asian American; 1%, Hispanic; 1%, Native American; and 14%, unknown. The majority of students come from Virginia (32%). The average age of entering students is 24; age range is 19 to 57. About 53% of students enter directly from undergraduate school, 8% have a graduate degree, and 47% have worked full-time prior to entering law school. About 1% drop out after the first year for academic or personal reasons; 99% remain to receive a law degree.

Students edit the William and Mary Law Review, William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, William and Mary Journal of Women in the Law, William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, and the newspaper The Advocate. Ten teams compete each year at competitions such as the National Tournament, ABA Tournament, and Vanderbilt University First Amendment Invitational Tournament. Each year the school sponsors the National Trial Team competitions and the Bushrod T. Washington Moot Court Tournament, which is open to first-year students with the top 32 students earning the right to compete on one of the moot court teams. The William B. Spong, Jr. Invitational Moot Court Tournament attracts 24 teams from throughout the nation annually. Law student organizations, local chapters of national associations, and campus organizations include the Institute of Bill of Rights Law-Student Division, Law Students Involved in the Community, Lesbian and Gay Law Student Association, Black Law Students Association, Christian Legal Society, Phi Alpha Delta, Sports and Entertainment Law Society, International Law Society, and Military Law Society.

The law school operates on a traditional semester basis. Courses for full-time students are offered days only and must be completed within 3 years. There is no part-time program. New students are admitted in the fall. There is a 4-week summer session. Transferable summer courses are offered.