Two New Accolades for W&L Law

By Peter Jetton
January 10, 2014

Washington and Lee School of Law has received two recent accolades recognizing its program and faculty.

W&L Law ranked second nationally in a student satisfaction survey conducted by Above the Law, the popular blog that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the world of law. According to the site, the ratings are a “function of how schools were rated by current students in the areas of academics, financial aid advising, career services, practical/clinical training, and social life.”

W&L trailed only the University of Virginia School of Law in the survey. Other law schools in the top-ten included Stanford, Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Michigan and Northwestern.

Also, for the second time in as many years, the faculty of W&L was included on the National Jurist’s list of the 25 most influential ‘people’ in legal education. Joining some of the most prominent voices from law schools around the country, the W&L faculty was recognized for their visionary leadership in adopting the School’s third-year curriculum reform.

The National Jurist requested nominations from every law school in the nation. Its editorial team narrowed the list down to 50 and then asked 350 people in legal education, including every law school dean, to rate each nominee based on how much they influenced them in the past 12 months.

W&L has led the way on law school curriculum reform since announcing the third-year reform in March of 2008. After several years of partial implementation, the program is now in its third year of full operation.

“We all know how fickle rankings can be,” said Dean Nora Demleitner. “But we appreciate outside validation of the quality of our institution, especially when that praise comes from our students and respected peers.”