Discovery Winter 2025 % Volume 11, No. 1
the newsletter from washington and lee university school of law
THE DEAN’S PERSPECTIVE
What’s Next for W&L Law Melanie Wilson, Dean and Roy J. Steinheimer, Jr., Professor of Law, is now in year three of her deanship. In the Q&A below, Dean Wilson looks back on the school’s progress and shares her priorities for the future. As you reach the midway point of your third year as dean, what accomplishments are you most proud of? I am proud of the outstanding people we’ve attracted to this wonderful place. In this regard, I think about the students who have enrolled here. I’m proud that we continue to attract students who are incredibly talented. During the past three years, we’ve enrolled the most highly credentialed students in the history of the law school, as well as the most diverse group of students in our history. At the same time, we’ve hired more than a dozen exceptional faculty, including nationally known scholars and rising academic stars. These students, who will become alumni before we can blink, and these extraordinary faculty will continue to guarantee excellence at W&L Law for decades to come. Together with our impressive staff, they will also ensure that we continue to foster the close-knit, supportive community we inherited.
What have been the most and least surprising aspects of your tenure as dean? I continue to be amazed at the beauty of this region and Lexington. I continue to be impressed with the loyalty of our alumni and our entire community. Our staff and our faculty are so dedicated to the law school and to each other. I continue to be amazed by their deep commitment every day. I also continue to be surprised by just how collegial the faculty are and how focused on the students they are. That’s not a slogan. I heard this during my interview for the position of dean, but it’s more true than I imagined. I see that dedication to the students every day. It’s a nice surprise. I’m not surprised, though, at how this law school continues to focus on practical and experiential education. That’s something that I knew about long before I arrived on campus. For well over a decade, W&L Law has been synonymous with smart, practical legal preparation, and that continues to be a focus and strength of W&L Law.
Can you share a story that, for you, encapsulates the spirit of W&L Law? One event comes to mind immediately. We host a “50 Days to Graduation” gathering for the 3L students. As part of that, many of the students address their colleagues to recount a special moment or express appreciation for a faculty member or a fellow student. During the event, a student recounted gratitude for two classmates. He worked a job overnight at a local hotel. This was a student who needed to work to support himself financially. Every Friday, as he was working the late shift and no one was around, his two classmates would bring him a late meal and spend about an hour with him. His peers supported him in a way that was thoughtful and tailored to his needs. It was really touching, and it captured this sense of community and support that I see every day in the classroom and throughout the building—faculty for students and students for other students. I could
describe a number of similar instances of kindness and caring. This community is special in this way. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that the W&L Law community is unique.
What’s one thing you want alumni to know about W&L Law today or about legal education in general? We have a number of new academic programs for students because we are intent on providing every law student with the tools needed to succeed. In other words, we continue to adapt and to innovate. But we enjoy and maintain the same commitment to honor and integrity that our alumni experienced 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. So, as we continue to pursue excellence and to foster our community, that core commitment and those core values remain intertwined and beneath everything we do. I’d like the alumni to come back to campus, see for themselves all of the progress we are making, meet some of our exceptional students, faculty, and staff, and know that they can be very proud of what has changed and what continues today.
What are your priorities going forward? I am so excited about the positive momentum of the law school, with student credentials and employment rates at all-time highs. We’re going to continue to focus intently on raising money for student scholarships. We are fortunate to have a commitment from a generous anonymous donor who is matching up to $2.5 million dollar-for-dollar new philanthropy pledged to scholarships. That generosity is going to make a difference to the students who choose W&L
Law because every dollar in scholarships reduces student debt and allows students to pursue law jobs that they really want and came to law school to pursue. Many such positions are in the public sector. I’m also really excited about collaborating with the university on housing opportunities for law students. Housing has been an ongoing challenge for us at times. There’s on-campus university housing for most of the undergraduate students, of course, but none for law students. Occasionally, we lose an outstanding prospective student because they are unable to find suitable housing, and another law school in a larger city can easily accommodate them. The university has agreed to work with us to develop additional housing options for professional students, which will allow us to continue to attract and enroll the very best students from across the country and beyond. I’m excited about that and appreciative of the university’s support. We will also continue to focus on the full W&L Law experience. That means devoting resources to academic excellence that we’ve expanded in the past two and a half years, emphasizing student wellness, and making sure students receive the guidance they need to become ethical, capable lawyers. We will continue to grow funding to support our intensive Immersion experiential program and to ensure that every student who needs funding to travel for a position in a judge’s chambers or a public service opportunity, or who cannot afford a commercial bar preparation course can afford those necessities. These are my three primary priorities at this time. That last one fits nicely under the umbrella of wellness for our community, and that’s something that we all continue to prioritize.