The Lexington Law School, the precursor to W&L Law, was founded in 1849 by
United States federal judge John White Brockenbrough and is the
16th oldest active law school in the United States and the third-oldest in Virginia. The law school was not integrated into Washington and Lee University (then known as Washington College) until after the
Civil War when
Robert E. Lee was
president of the university. In 1866, Lee annexed the school, known at the time as the School of Law and Equity, to the college and appointed Judge Brockenbrough as the first dean. In 1870, after Lee's death, the School of Law and Equity was renamed the Washington and Lee University School of Law, in line with the college's name change in honor of Lee. Also in 1870, former Virginia Attorney General
John Randolph Tucker was appointed to the faculty and later became Dean followed by his son
Henry St. George Tucker III. In 1900, the law school moved into the newly built Tucker Hall in memory of Dean Tucker. Tucker Hall also housed the law school's first law library—the Vincent L. Bradford Law Library. After significant periods of growth, the law school moved into the new Tucker Hall after the original building was destroyed in a fire and the law library was rebuilt with a grant from the
Carnegie Corporation of New York. In 1920, W&L Law joined the
Association of American Law Schools. The
Washington and Lee Law Review began publication in the autumn of 1939 and is still in regular publication. After
World War II, enrollment increased despite a period of low enrollment during the war. In 1950, the School of Law established its chapter of the
Order of the Coif, one of only 80 such chapters in the country. The School of Law admitted its first female students in 1972, and opened its current home, Sydney Lewis Hall, in 1977. In 1992, the
Lewis F. Powell Jr. Wing was added to Sydney Lewis Hall and the
Wilbur C. Hall Law Library at a dedication ceremony attended by Justice Powell and presided over by Chief Justice
William Rehnquist. In 2008, Dean
Rodney Smolla announced the new third-year program, which became compulsory for W&L Law students in 2011 under Interim Dean Mark Grunewald. This new program turned the entire third year into an experiential curriculum that emphasizes practice, professionalism, and service.
Nora Demleitner served as dean from 2012 through 2015, the first woman to hold the position, during which time the school completed its $35 million campaign,
Honor Our Past, Build Our Future, renovated Lewis Hall, established the Washington, DC portion of W&L's third-year program, and significantly increased the employment and bar passage rates of its graduates. On July 1, 2015, Brant J. Hellwig became Dean of the law school, the 18th dean since 1849. Also in 2015, W&L Law formed an academic and professional partnership with the
Future of Privacy Forum, an information privacy think tank in
Washington, DC. The Future of Privacy Forum will facilitate professional, research, and curricular development, and the Washington, DC portion of W&L's third-year program will move into its offices. ==Facilities==