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University of Richmond School of Law

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Last updated: September 28, 2026

University of Richmond School of Law

University of Richmond School of Law is a private law school in Richmond, Virginia, that enrolled a first-year class of 146 students in Fall 2025 from 1,738 completed applications, with a median LSAT of 164 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.81. It is ranked #62 (tie) in the 2026 U.S. News rankings, and 109 of its 117 Class of 2025 graduates (93.2%) were employed, including 103 in full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar admission and 24 judicial clerkships — one of the strongest clerkship records of any school outside the top tier. The central decision issue for admitted applicants is that Richmond pairs heavy scholarship aid (94% of 1Ls received scholarship assistance, with an average merit award of $31,465) and a 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio with a practice market that is heavily regional — 71 of 109 employed graduates stayed in Virginia — average debt of $116,322 for those who borrowed, and no loan repayment assistance program.

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Richmond Law at a Glance

Category Latest information
Founded 1870
Type Private
ABA approval or accreditation ABA approved (Council of the Section of Legal Education)
Location Richmond, Virginia
Latest U.S. News rank #62 tie (2026 edition)
Latest completed applications 1,738 (Fall 2025, 2025 509 report)
Latest acceptance rate 39.64% (Fall 2025)
Latest LSAT median 164 (Fall 2025, 2025 509 report); 165 for the Fall 2026 entering class
Latest GPA median 3.81 (Fall 2025)
Latest entering class 146 (Fall 2025); 138 new 1Ls plus 3 transfers in Fall 2026
Current tuition $59,900 (2026–27)
Current estimated cost of attendance $85,100 off campus / $85,920 on campus (2026–27)
Latest first-time bar passage 80.1% (U.S. News profile, most recent reported cohort); 91.3% reported for 2025 first-time takers by a third-party compilation
Latest bar-required employment 103 of 117 graduates (88.0% of the class) in full-time, long-term bar-passage-required positions (Class of 2025)
Current dean Jacob H. Rooksby (since July 1, 2026)

The admissions figures are drawn from Richmond Law's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (1,738 completed applications, 689 offers, a 39.64% acceptance rate, 146 students in the first-year class and 413 total J.D. students). Tuition and cost data are from the university's financial aid office, which publishes an itemized law cost-of-attendance table for each year. The school's own class-profile page reports a slightly different, more recent snapshot — 138 new 1Ls for the Class of 2029 (Fall 2026), a median LSAT of 165 and a median GPA of 3.81 — and this profile labels each figure with its source cohort rather than blending them. Jacob H. Rooksby, previously dean of Gonzaga University School of Law, took office on July 1, 2026, succeeding Wendy Perdue, who stepped down after fifteen years as dean.

Introduction

URichmond Campus.jpg




The University of Richmond School of Law, founded in 1870, is the law school of the University of Richmond, a private liberal arts university in Richmond, Virginia. It is housed in a Collegiate Gothic building that opened in 1954 and was expanded in 1972 and 1981 and substantially renovated and enlarged in 1991. With a J.D. enrollment of about 413 and a first-year class in the 140s, it is a small law school attached to a small undergraduate university, which produces an unusually low student-to-faculty ratio for a school of its rank.

Richmond's identity rests on three pillars: an outsized judicial clerkship record, a deep public-service culture organized around the Harry L. Carrico Center for Pro Bono & Public Service, and aggressive scholarship funding that leaves most students paying well below sticker. Its graduates cluster in Richmond and Northern Virginia, with a smaller but consistent stream into New York, Texas and federal government service. The school markets itself on individualized attention and on a student body that arrives from an unusually wide geographic base for a regional school — 24 states and one foreign country, and 74 undergraduate institutions, in the most recent entering class.

Rankings and Reputation

Richmond Law is ranked #62 (tie) in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, out of 194 ranked schools, an improvement on the #71 placement the school held in the prior cycle and the ranking it referenced in its own alumni magazine when the list was reweighted. Its distinctive reputational strength is not the overall rank but the clerkship pipeline: the school states that its students "have an enviable record of securing among the highest percentage of prestigious judicial clerkships in the country," and the Class of 2025 ABA data bear that out, with 24 clerkships (3 federal and 21 state, local or territorial) among 117 graduates — 20.5% of the class.




Overall ranking

U.S. News edition Richmond rank
2026 62 (tie)
2025 71

The 2024 and 2023 ranks were not independently confirmed in the sources reviewed. Applicants should treat movement of this magnitude as substantially a function of U.S. News's shifting weighting of employment and bar outcomes rather than evidence of a change in the school's practical career outcomes.

Specialty rankings

U.S. News's 2026 profile lists Richmond Law among schools offering clinical training, dispute resolution, environmental law, health care law, intellectual property law, international law, business/corporate law, constitutional law, contracts/commercial law and criminal law, but specific specialty rank numbers for the current edition were not confirmed in the sources reviewed and are therefore not listed here. The school's own strongest programmatic claim is experiential: it operates an Intellectual Property Institute that grants a certificate of concentration in intellectual property law, and the Institute for Actual Innocence, founded in 2005, which works to exonerate wrongfully convicted Virginians.

Admissions: What It Takes to Get In

Entering class (Fall 2025)

Admissions metric Fall 2025
Completed applications 1,738
Offers of admission 689
Acceptance rate 39.64%
Enrollees from applicant pool 146
Total in first-year class 146
Yield (enrollees / offers) 21.2%

The school's class-profile page gives a fuller picture for the following cycle: the Class of 2029 (Fall 2026) numbers 138 new 1Ls plus 3 domestic transfers, drawn from 24 states and one foreign country and 74 American undergraduate colleges and universities. Fifty-two percent are in-state (Virginia) and 48% out of state; 44 undergraduate majors are represented; 10% are first-generation college students and 82% are first-generation law students. The entering class is full-time; the 2025 ABA 509 report lists no part-time tuition or part-time enrollment.

LSAT and GPA

Statistic 25th percentile Median 75th percentile
LSAT (Fall 2025 cohort, 509 report) 159 164 167
Undergraduate GPA (Fall 2025 cohort, 509 report) 3.66 3.81 3.92
LSAT (Class of 2029, school profile) 160 165 166
Undergraduate GPA (Class of 2029, school profile) 3.52 3.81 3.88

The two rows come from different reporting sources and cohorts: the standardized ABA 509 figures describe the Fall 2025 entering class, while the school's own Class of 2029 profile describes the Fall 2026 class and uses the school's own rounding. The LSAT band moved up slightly between the two cycles on the school's numbers; the GPA distribution narrowed.

Note: whether Richmond Law accepts the GRE in addition to the LSAT was not confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Interpreting the numbers

Richmond's 39.64% acceptance rate places it in the moderately selective band, but the profile differs from most schools in that grouping: the applicant pool is large (1,738 applications for a class of 146), the yield is low at roughly 21%, and the LSAT median of 164 is high for the school's overall rank — higher than several schools ranked well above it. The explanation is that Richmond is competing hard for a class it then funds heavily, admitting broadly and converting selectively with scholarship money. The median GPA of 3.81 against a 75th-percentile LSAT of 167 suggests real weight on the LSAT, and the class's geographic spread (24 states) indicates that out-of-state recruiting is a deliberate strategy. No LSAT or GPA guarantees admission.

Application timing

There is no application fee — the 2025 ABA 509 report and the U.S. News profile both list $0 — and the application deadline is March 1, with a financial aid deadline of July 1 per the 509 report. Richmond does not publish a binding early-decision program in the sources reviewed. Because the school's scholarship budget is large but finite and its merit awards average $31,465, applicants seeking the strongest packages are advised to apply well before the March 1 deadline.

Cost, Scholarships, and Debt

Tuition

Tuition for the 2026–27 academic year is $59,900, up from $57,700 in 2025–26 and $57,700 as reported in the 2025 ABA 509 report. Richmond is private, so there is no resident/non-resident distinction. The 509 report lists no separate mandatory fees beyond tuition; the U.S. News profile likewise shows tuition and fees of $57,700 for the most recently reported cycle.

Year Tuition
2025–26 (509 report and U.S. News) $57,700
2026–27 $59,900

Cost of attendance

Expense 2026–27 (off campus)
Tuition $59,900
Housing and food $17,820
Books and supplies $1,200
Personal expenses $2,250
Transportation $3,720
Direct Loan fees, if applicable $210
Total cost of attendance $85,100

The university publishes three variants of the budget: $85,100 for students living off campus, $85,920 for students living on campus (based on the average of available rooms and the Spider Unlimited meal plan) and $73,760 for students living with their parents. Third-year students should add $1,240 for bar-related fees, an allowance intended to cover costs typically incurred in the spring term. The comparable 2025–26 figures were $83,910 off campus, $84,210 on campus and $72,660 living with parents.

Financial aid

Per the 2025 Standard 509 report, 319 students — 81% of the student body — received grants, with a median grant of $40,000, a 25th percentile of $20,000 and a 75th percentile of $55,550. Those are unusually large awards for a school at this rank: the median grant covers roughly two-thirds of tuition, and the 75th percentile approaches full tuition.

The school's own class-profile page adds detail on how aid is distributed among first-year students: 94% of 1Ls received scholarship aid, with an average need-based scholarship of $10,855 and an average merit scholarship of $31,465. Richmond also states that it awards no conditional scholarships — a policy in place since the class entering in 2012 — and publishes the ABA conditional-scholarship table showing zero students entering with conditional awards and zero whose awards were reduced or eliminated for both 2022 and 2023 matriculants. Scholarship assistance continues in the second and third years in the amount originally awarded provided the student remains in good standing and meets the standards for satisfactory academic progress.

Debt perspective

U.S. News reports average indebtedness of $116,322 for 2025 J.D. graduates who incurred law school debt, with 68.4% of graduates borrowing. Richmond Law does not offer a loan repayment assistance program for 2025 J.D. graduates, which distinguishes it from peer private schools with generous LRAPs and is a material consideration for graduates entering public-interest, legal-aid or government work; those graduates should plan around federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The arithmetic is nonetheless more favorable than the debt figure alone suggests: with a median grant of $40,000 against tuition of $59,900, a typical aided student finances a gap well under half of sticker, and the school's large merit awards push the 75th percentile of grants to $55,550.

Employment Outcomes

Employment (Class of 2025)

Richmond Law's Class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary reports 117 total graduates, of whom 109 were employed as of March 16, 2026 — a 93.2% employment rate — with 108 of those in full-time, long-term positions and none in law-school-funded jobs.

Employment metric Class of 2025
Total graduates 117
Employed (all categories) 109 (93.2%)
Employed, full-time long-term 108
Bar admission required / anticipated 104 (103 full-time long-term, 1 full-time short-term)
J.D. advantage 4
Professional position 1
Enrolled in graduate studies 3
Unemployed, seeking 5 (4.3%)
Unemployed, not seeking 0
Employment status unknown 0

What these numbers mean

The verified figures are strong on nearly every axis that matters for a school at this rank. A 93.2% employment rate with only five unemployed job-seekers — 4.3% of the class, against a national underemployment-plus-unemployment picture that has hovered in the high single digits — indicates very little placement risk. The distribution across employer types is unusually balanced and unusually clerkship-heavy:

Employment type Number
Law firms (all sizes) 58
State, local and territorial clerkships 21
Public interest 13
Government 9
Business and industry 5
Federal clerkships 3
Total 109

Within the 58 law-firm placements, the distribution tilts toward smaller offices but includes a real large-firm presence: Solo 2, 1–10 attorneys 16, 11–25 attorneys 11, 26–50 attorneys 7, 51–100 attorneys 6, 101–250 attorneys 4, 251–500 attorneys 6 and 501+ attorneys 6. Twelve graduates landed at firms of 251 or more lawyers — about 10% of the class — which is the number that matters for applicants weighing Richmond against higher-ranked schools for BigLaw purposes. The 24 clerkships, equal to 20.5% of the class, are the standout figure and are consistent with the school's own claim to place among the highest percentage of judicial clerks in the country.

Bar passage

Bar statistic Most recent reported figures
First-time bar passage rate (U.S. News profile) 80.1%
Average first-time passage among the states where graduates sat 77.3%
Ultimate bar passage (2-year), Class of 2022 93.6% (school magazine)
First-time pass rate, 2023 takers (Wikipedia, citing school data) 79.59%
First-time pass rate for 2025 takers (third-party compilation) 91.3%, versus an average of 82.3% where those graduates sat

Bar passage is the least settled figure in this profile. U.S. News reports 80.1% first-time passage against a 77.3% state average, and a third-party compilation reports 91.3% for 2025 first-time takers against an 82.3% average in the jurisdictions where they sat — a nine-point gap between the two reported rates that most likely reflects different cohorts and methodologies rather than a real swing. The school's own consumer-information page did not display current bar passage tables in machine-readable form when retrieved, so neither figure could be reconciled to a primary source. What is consistent across sources is the direction: Richmond's first-time rate has run modestly above the average of the jurisdictions where its graduates sit, and its two-year ultimate passage rate was 93.6% for the Class of 2022. Applicants should consult the school's own ABA bar passage report before relying on any single number.

Where graduates go

Employment location Number
Virginia (largest employment state) 71
New York (second largest) 6
Texas (third largest) 4
Employed in foreign countries 2

The geographic concentration is the clearest structural fact about Richmond's outcomes: 71 of 109 employed graduates — 65% of the employed class — stayed in Virginia, with New York and Texas the only other markets of any size. That is a strong regional network and a weak national one. The school does not publish NALP salary figures or a median starting salary in the sources reviewed, so no salary figure is asserted here.

Academics and Programs

The J.D. requires 87 credits over three years, beginning with a required first-year curriculum followed by upper-level electives, clinics, externships and skills courses. Richmond Law's small enrollment supports an unusually low student-to-faculty ratio — 5:1 on the school's own class-profile page and 4.7:1 on the U.S. News profile — and the school markets individualized attention and mentorship as its central academic proposition. Students may not count more than 12 total credits from clinics and clinical placements toward the 87 required credits, with the exception that students in the D.C. Externship program may count up to 19.

Curriculum and special strengths

Richmond's academic identity is built around integrated skills training and intellectual property. The Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) allows students to earn a certificate of concentration in intellectual property law, supported by the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology. The Institute for Actual Innocence, founded in 2005, works to identify and exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals in Virginia, and the school's clinical offerings include matters involving disability rights, trademark registration and wrongful conviction. The U.S. News program list also identifies dispute resolution, environmental law, health care law, international law, business and corporate law, constitutional law, contracts and commercial law, and criminal law as areas of instruction. Faculty totals 128 members — 60 full-time and 68 non-full-time, the latter dominated by practitioners from Richmond's legal community. The school publishes three student-edited journals: the University of Richmond Law Review (founded 1958), the Richmond Public Interest Law Review (PILR) and the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology (JOLT).

Note: Richmond Law's joint-degree offerings were not confirmed in the sources reviewed and are therefore not listed.

Clinics and experiential learning

Richmond Law operates four in-house clinics in which students represent real clients on real matters under faculty supervision, alongside an externship program open to second- and third-year students. The school describes the clinics as a capstone experience that moves students from learning law to practicing it, with emphasis on the working relationships — with clients, supervising attorneys and opposing counsel — that define practice. Students must hold a third-year practice certificate to appear in court. The Jeanette Lipman Children's Defense Clinic is a six-credit, graded in-house clinic providing hands-on representation. The Harry L. Carrico Center for Pro Bono & Public Service organizes the school's pro bono programming and connects students to the Richmond community and to regional, national and international service programs, reflecting the school's statement of an attorney's professional obligation to serve the public. A D.C. Externship program places students in Washington for a semester, with a higher clinical credit cap to match the workload.

Student Life and Location

Living in Richmond

The law school occupies a Collegiate Gothic building on the University of Richmond campus in Richmond, Virginia, originally opened in 1954 and expanded in 1972, 1981 and again substantially in 1991. The building provides modern, technologically equipped classrooms, seminar rooms, a law library, a moot courtroom, faculty and administrative offices, faculty and student lounges and offices for most student organizations. The university campus is a self-contained, wooded setting on the city's western edge, distinct from the urban downtown law campuses of some peer schools — students get a residential liberal arts campus environment while living in a metro area of about 1.3 million.

Richmond itself is consistently described as an attractive place to live: the school's admissions materials highlight historic neighborhoods, a strong restaurant scene, riverside parks, festivals and an international airport with Amtrak service, plus a two-hour drive to Washington, D.C., the Blue Ridge mountains and the Atlantic beaches. The cost of living is materially lower than in Washington or New York — and the 2026–27 housing and food allowance of $17,820 reflects that — while Richmond remains a genuine legal market with a federal appeals court, a substantial corporate presence and an active public-interest bar. The trade-off relative to higher-ranked private schools is market size and national reach: Richmond is a strong regional school, and students targeting New York or Chicago BigLaw must build those networks largely themselves.

Student body

With roughly 413 J.D. students and a first-year class in the 140s, Richmond Law is small enough that students and faculty know one another, and the school's 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio is a genuine structural advantage. The student body is geographically diverse for a regional school — the most recent entering class came from 24 states and one foreign country and 74 undergraduate institutions, with 52% in-state — and roughly gender-balanced. Students run three journals, the Moot Court Board, the Trial Advocacy Board, a full slate of affinity groups and competition teams, and the Student Bar Association's organization fair. There is no part-time or evening division; the J.D. is full-time and residential.

How Richmond Law Compares

Choose Richmond Law if

  • You want judicial clerkships. Richmond placed 24 clerks (20.5% of the Class of 2025), including 3 federal clerkships, which is a strong record for a school at #62 (tie).
  • You want a small school with real faculty access — a 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio with classes and seminars that stay small.
  • You are cost-sensitive and have strong numbers: 94% of 1Ls received scholarship aid, the average merit award is $31,465, the median ABA-reported grant is $40,000, and there are no conditional scholarships.
  • You want to practice in Virginia, particularly Richmond or Northern Virginia, and you value the Carrico Center's pro bono and public-service programming.

Consider alternatives if

  • You are targeting large-firm "BigLaw" in a major market. Only about twelve Class of 2025 graduates joined firms of 251 or more attorneys, and 65% of employed graduates stayed in Virginia.
  • You need robust bar-preparation evidence. Richmond's reported first-time bar passage figures conflict across sources — 80.1% (U.S. News) versus 91.3% (a third-party compilation for the 2025 cohort) — and the school's own consumer page did not display the current tables when retrieved.
  • You expect loan repayment assistance for a public-interest or government career; Richmond offers no LRAP for 2025 graduates, and average debt for borrowers is $116,322.
  • You need a part-time or evening program — Richmond's J.D. is full-time only.

The TLS Verdict

Richmond Law is a genuinely well-run regional school whose numbers compare favorably with schools ranked above it. The verified case for it is employment security, clerkships and price after aid: 109 of 117 Class of 2025 graduates employed (93.2%) with only five unemployed job-seekers, 108 in full-time long-term positions, 24 judicial clerkships including three federal, and a 2026 U.S. News rank of #62 (tie). On cost, the school is far more generous than its sticker suggests — $59,900 tuition for 2026–27 against a median grant of $40,000, a 75th-percentile grant of $55,550, aid to 94% of 1Ls, no conditional scholarships, and an average merit award of $31,465. The verified case against it is geography and debt: 71 of 109 employed graduates stayed in Virginia, only about a tenth of the class entered firms of 251 or more lawyers, average indebtedness for borrowers is $116,322, there is no LRAP, and the bar passage picture cannot be pinned down to a single reliable figure from public sources. For an applicant with strong numbers who wants to practice in Virginia, wants a clerkship, and values being funded rather than merely admitted, Richmond Law is one of the better bets in the #50–75 band. For an applicant paying near full price to pursue national BigLaw, the arithmetic is much weaker.

Frequently Asked Questions

How hard is it to get into Richmond Law?

Moderately selective with a low yield: for Fall 2025, Richmond received 1,738 completed applications, made 689 offers (a 39.64% acceptance rate) and enrolled 146 students — a yield of about 21%.

What LSAT score is competitive for Richmond Law?

The median LSAT for the Fall 2025 entering class was 164, with a middle-50% range of 159 to 167. The school's own profile for the Fall 2026 class reports a median of 165 with a 160 to 166 range. Scores at or above 164 are competitive.

What GPA do Richmond applicants typically have?

The median undergraduate GPA for the Fall 2025 entering class was 3.81, with a middle-50% range of 3.66 to 3.92 (the school's Fall 2026 profile shows 3.81 median and a 3.52 to 3.88 range).

Does Richmond give scholarships?

Yes, heavily. Per the 2025 ABA 509 report, 319 students (81%) received grants, with a median grant of $40,000, a 25th percentile of $20,000 and a 75th percentile of $55,550. The school reports that 94% of 1Ls received scholarship aid, with an average merit scholarship of $31,465 and an average need-based scholarship of $10,855. There are no conditional scholarships.

What is Richmond's bar passage rate?

This figure is disputed across sources. U.S. News reports 80.1% first-time passage against a 77.3% average among the states where graduates sat, while a third-party compilation reports 91.3% for 2025 first-time takers against an 82.3% average. The two-year ultimate pass rate was 93.6% for the Class of 2022. Applicants should consult the school's own ABA bar passage report.

Is Richmond good for BigLaw?

Partially. About ten percent of the Class of 2025 entered firms of 251 or more attorneys, and the largest single employer category is small firms: 16 graduates joined firms of 1–10 attorneys and 11 joined firms of 11–25. The school's signature outcome is judicial clerkships, not BigLaw.

Does Richmond offer a part-time J.D.?

No. The J.D. is full-time and residential, requiring 87 credits over three years, with no part-time tuition or enrollment reported in the 2025 ABA 509 report.

What is Richmond Law best known for?

Judicial clerkships (24 in the Class of 2025, including 3 federal), its public-service and pro bono culture through the Harry L. Carrico Center, its Intellectual Property Institute and Institute for Actual Innocence, heavy scholarship funding without conditional awards, and a small, high-contact academic program.

How much does Richmond Law cost?

Tuition is $59,900 for 2026–27. The total cost of attendance is $85,100 for students living off campus, $85,920 for students living on campus and $73,760 for students living with their parents; third-year students should add $1,240 for bar-related fees. Average indebtedness for 2025 graduates who borrowed was $116,322, and 68.4% of graduates borrowed.

Contact and Key Links

University of Richmond School of Law
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, VA 23173

Financial Aid Director: William Bryan, (804) 289-8438

Carrico Center for Pro Bono & Public Service: (804) 287-1207

Admissions Contact: The admissions page did not expose a current phone number or email in the sources retrieved; current contacts are listed at law.richmond.edu/admissions.

Official links

TLS Forum Links

Sources

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