Alice Moore Batchelder

We are, above all, committed to excellence in teaching. Our students expect and deserve it. We have, as a faculty, determined that this is the most important way that we can serve our students, and ultimately, our great responsibilities. Our commitment includes both the determination to assure a high quality of teaching in all areas and the recognition that we must address the particular needs of our students and the profession in these times. We must be careful to instill in our students an understanding of the professionalism and high ethical standards that lawyers must achieve. We also must assure that they leave the school with a firm grounding in the essential skills they will need to practice law.

Virginia is justly famous for its collegial environment that bonds students and faculty, and student satisfaction is consistently cited as among the highest in American law schools. Intellectual challenges are met in a spirit of cooperation. Small first-year sections promote individual inquiry while providing support and friendship. Students learn together, reading each other's work and freely sharing course outlines and other materials, confidently relying on the nation's oldest student-run Honor System to maintain the highest ethical standards.