28 Westhampton Way
University of Richmond, VA 23173
Phone: 804.289.8189; Fax: 804.287.6516
E-mail: lawadmissions@richmond.edu; Website: law.richmond.edu
The University of Richmond School of Law, founded in 1870, enjoys an established reputation for preparing its graduates for legal careers. Accredited by the ABA and a member of the AALS, its graduates are qualified to seek admission to the bar in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Situated on the university's 350-acre suburban campus, the school is only a 15-minute drive from downtown Richmond and its thriving legal community. In addition to being home to a number of international law firms, Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, with numerous state and federal offices, and is the seat of both the Supreme Court of Virginia and the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The law school, located in a collegiate, gothic-style building, includes a moot courtroom that is the site of many classes, events, and mock trials, and where a panel of federal judges from the Fourth Circuit hears oral arguments once a year. The building has both wired and wireless connections, with almost 900 wired network connections. Every student has an individual study carrel, bearing his/her name, which functions as a personal office in the law library. The library offers a comprehensive collection of both electronic and print resources.
Courses in contracts, torts, criminal law, civil procedure, property, constitutional law, and legislation and regulation comprise the first-year curriculum. Required upper-level courses include professional responsibility and a third-year writing seminar. Elective courses in a variety of areas are available. In addition, all students complete a comprehensive, two-year program in legal reasoning, writing, research, and fundamental lawyering skills and values.
Richmond Law has a comprehensive Academic Success Program geared toward assisting students to achieve at their highest possible academic level. The program also supports students in preparing for the bar exam, in whatever jurisdiction they choose to take it. Richmond Law consistently has one of the highest bar passage rates among first-time test takers in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Several dual-degree programs allow students to earn the JD degree as well as a master's degree in a related discipline. Dual-degree programs are available in business administration, health administration, social work, urban studies and planning, and public administration, as well as others.
The law school operates the Children's Law Center through which students may participate in the Children's Defense Clinic, the Education Rights Clinic, the Jeanette Lipman Family Law Clinic, and the Advanced Children's Law Clinic.
Exciting clinical placements are arranged for academic credit in various legal arenas, including civil, criminal, judicial, legislative, corporate, and nonprofit placements. Students receive credit while obtaining valuable work experience in courts, law offices, corporations, and government and public interest agencies.
The Intellectual Property Institute has developed a curriculum to enable students to obtain a Certificate of Concentration in Intellectual Property Law. Students may also participate in the Intellectual Property and Transactional Law Clinic, through which they can represent for-profit and nonprofit organizations, business start-ups, artists, authors, and inventors.
The National Center for Family Law fosters research, scholarship, reports, conferences, symposia, legislative testimony, and other public participation and discourse on issues related to Family Law. Students may earn a Certificate of Concentration in Family Law.
The Robert R. Merhige Jr. Center for Environmental Studies engages in research, instruction, and public outreach on energy and environmental issues in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. The center hosts conferences, symposia, and speakers on pressing environmental issues, generating dialogue for policy solutions.
The Institute for Actual Innocence (IAI) works to identify, investigate, and exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Students, with hands-on involvement by faculty and practicing lawyers, conduct reinvestigations of cases where credible evidence of actual innocence is present. Students learn the subtleties and pitfalls involved in interviewing witnesses, inmates, and other parties central to criminal cases. They learn to analyze a criminal trial or appellate record for new evidentiary perspectives. The IAI offers an environment for students to express their problem-solving, interpersonal, and analytical skills.
UR Downtown, a satellite campus in the heart of the city of Richmond, serves as a hub of community-based service, learning, research, and collaboration with nonprofit and government partners. UR Downtown aims to address pressing community needs through a combination of pro bono legal services provided by law students and attorneys, and community-based research and services provided by undergraduates and faculty.
Richmond Law offers an extremely popular summer program at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, England, and an exchange program with the University of Paris, as well as with more than 20 universities worldwide, 9 of which have acclaimed law programs.
A student board publishes the University of Richmond Law Review on a quarterly basis. The Richmond Journal of Law and Technology, the first student-edited scholarly journal in the world to be published exclusively in electronic form, went online April 10, 1995. The Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest is a second online journal published by our students as an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to current and often controversial issues affecting the public. The Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business provides scholarly and practical insight into major legal and business issues affecting our global economy.
Richmond's moot court activities allow students to test their research, brief-writing, trial, negotiation, and appellate advocacy skills. Beginning in their 1L year, students participate in intraschool tournaments that lead to membership on the Moot Court Board, the Trial Advocacy Board (TAB), and the Client Counseling and Negotiation Board (CCNB). Moot Court, TAB, and CCNB teams represent the law school in regional, national, and international competitions.
Applications are reviewed as they become complete. All decisions are released by March 31. The admission committee considers the UGPA and LSAT as two important items, although extracurricular and community service activities and employment experience, among other factors, are also of interest. The law school provides an equal educational opportunity without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion.
We encourage class visits and, in keeping with our very personal approach to admission, we also encourage you to take advantage of meeting with a law student. Law students are available to give tours seven days a week and may be reached at LSAR@richmond.edu.
Institutional aid in the form of grants and scholarships is available on the basis of need and merit. Financial Aid decisions are often made based on submission of the FAFSA, and we recommend filing this form by February 25 to get the fullest consideration of all available aid. Parental income is not evaluated in determining financial aid for students who are considered independent by the law school. All applicants are considered for merit scholarships; a separate application form is not required. Merit awards are based on undergraduate academic achievement and aptitude for the study of law.
John Marshall Scholars Program—The law school's most prestigious awards offer $10,000 annual stipends in addition to $20,000 merit scholarships, as well as other honors, and are renewable annually if criteria are met. If invited to compete for the John Marshall Scholarship, a separate application must be submitted. Committee consideration for these scholarships is based solely on merit and personal attributes. John Marshall Scholars participate in a specially designed John Marshall Scholar seminar—a unique educational opportunity taught by a justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Limited on-campus housing is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Richmond offers an abundance of good, affordable housing in proximity to the law school. For information on housing, contact the Admissions Office.
The Career Services Office (CSO) works closely with law students and alumni by helping to align their interests and talents with a desired career path, and assisting them with developing the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct successful job searches. The CSO conducts a comprehensive, on-campus interview program that includes law firms and government and public interest employers, and it participates in a number of national job fairs. It also maintains an extensive employment database and organizes regular informational programs and networking opportunities.
Richmond is home to Fortune 500 companies, the Virginia General Assembly, international law firms, major nonprofit organizations, and more types of courts than any city in the U.S. outside of Washington, DC, or Boston, which affords students a myriad of opportunities for externships and part-time employment while in their second and third years of study.
This grid includes only applicants who earned 120–180 LSAT scores under standard administrations.
| GPA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSAT Score |
3.75+ Apps |
3.75+ Adm |
3.50– 3.74 Apps |
3.50– 3.74 Adm |
3.25– 3.49 Apps |
3.25– 3.49 Adm |
3.00– 3.24 Apps |
3.00– 3.24 Adm |
2.75– 2.99 Apps |
2.75– 2.99 Adm |
2.50– 2.74 Apps |
2.50– 2.74 Adm |
2.25– 2.49 Apps |
2.25– 2.49 Adm |
2.00– 2.24 Apps |
2.00– 2.24 Adm |
Below 2.00 Apps |
Below 2.00 Adm |
No GPA Apps |
No GPA Adm |
Total Apps |
Total Adm |
| LSAT score 175–180 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| LSAT score 170–174 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 12 |
| LSAT score 165–169 | 22 | 18 | 34 | 22 | 39 | 28 | 33 | 16 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 160 | 100 |
| LSAT score 160–164 | 69 | 65 | 116 | 107 | 119 | 59 | 98 | 46 | 38 | 16 | 17 | 6 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 483 | 306 |
| LSAT score 155–159 | 75 | 26 | 131 | 53 | 171 | 7 | 99 | 4 | 72 | 5 | 32 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 609 | 97 |
| LSAT score 150–154 | 48 | 8 | 103 | 13 | 104 | 8 | 116 | 6 | 80 | 3 | 49 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 538 | 41 |
| LSAT score 145–149 | 19 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 73 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 268 | 0 |
| LSAT score 140–144 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 164 | 0 |
| LSAT score 135–139 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 59 | 0 |
| LSAT score 130–134 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| LSAT score 125–129 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| LSAT score 120–124 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 246 | 118 | 446 | 196 | 525 | 107 | 471 | 75 | 304 | 32 | 178 | 15 | 87 | 3 | 47 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 31 | 4 | 2348 | 558 |
Apps = Number of Applicants
Adm = Number Admitted
Reflects 99% of the total applicant pool; highest LSAT data reported.