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W&L Law Faculty Named Finalist for Most Influential in Legal Education

The faculty of Washington and Lee University School of Law has been named to 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 second year of full operation.

“It is exciting to see our faculty recognized for the monumental amount of effort it has put into the development of the 3L curriculum and for its commitment to making a major change in legal education become reality,” said Dean Nora V. Demleitner.

W&L’s third-year curriculum is entirely experiential. The course of study consists of practice-based simulations that bring together doctrine and practice across the curriculum, real-client experiences, and advanced explorations into legal ethics and professionalism. The curriculum builds upon and expands the lessons of the first and second years of instruction, moving students from a passive classroom role into one more closely connected to a sophisticated world of legal practice.

The Most Influential finalists will be published in order of influence in the January issue of National Jurist, due on stands at the start of January.

Here is the complete list of finalists in alphabetical order:

  • Catherine Carpenter, Professor, Southwestern Law School
  • Paul Campos, Professor, University of Colorado Law School
  • Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, University of California Irvine School of Law
  • Jim Chen, Professor, University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law
  • Hiram Chodosh, Dean, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
  • The Faculty of Washington and Lee School of Law
  • Bryant Garth, Professor, Southwestern Law School, University of California Irvine
  • John Garvey, Professor, University of New Hampshire School of Law
  • Claudio Grossman, Dean, American University Washington College of Law
  • Phoebe Haddon, Dean, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
  • William Henderson, Professor, Indiana University Maurer School of Law – Bloomington
  • Kevin Johnson, Dean, University of California Davis School of Law
  • David Levi, Dean, Duke University School of Law
  • Lizabeth Moody, Professor and Dean Emeritus, Stetson University College of Law
  • Jerry Organ, Professor, University of St. Thomas School of Law – Minneapolis
  • John O’Brien, Dean, New England Law Boston
  • Sophie Sparrow, Professor, University of New Hampshire School of Law
  • Richard Sander, Professor, University of California at Los Angeles School of Law
  • Brian Tamanaha, Professor, Washington University School of Law
  • William Treanor, Dean and Executive VP, Georgetown University Law Center
  • Kyle McEntee, Co-founder, Law School Transparency
  • Blake Morant, Dean, Wake Forest University School of Law
  • Patricia White, Dean, University of Miami School of Law
  • Philip Weiser, Dean, University of Colorado Law School
  • Frank Wu, Chancellor & Dean, University of California, Hastings College of the Law