Virginia’s law-school market is unusually diverse: one national-elite school, three schools clustered around the high-160s, a strong Richmond-centered private school, and several lower-cost or mission-driven regional options. That makes a single “best law school in Virginia” ranking misleading.
UVA Law is the strongest national option. Washington and Lee, William & Mary, and Scalia Law form a second tier with different strengths: W&L combines a small-school model with strong large-firm placement, William & Mary pairs public-school pricing with strong outcomes and high scholarship participation, and Scalia offers unusually low Virginia-resident tuition plus direct access to the DC/Northern Virginia market. Richmond is a serious statewide/regional option with a strong current 165 median LSAT and generous merit aid.
Below those schools, Regent, Liberty, and Appalachian School of Law serve more specific missions and price points. Applicants should evaluate them through current tuition, scholarship, bar, and employment outcomes rather than treating lower admissions medians as the decision itself.
This guide uses the most current school-published class profiles and 2026–27 tuition available as of September 19, 2026. Where a school has not yet posted a Fall 2026 class profile, the source year is stated explicitly.
| School | Current published LSAT / GPA median | 2026–27 tuition signal | Primary value proposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| UVA Law | 173 / 3.99 (Fall 2026) | $81,900 resident / $84,900 nonresident tuition + fees | National elite placement, federal clerkships, BigLaw, academia, portability |
| Scalia Law (George Mason) | 169 / 3.93 (Fall 2025) | $27,930 in-state / $44,044 out-of-state tuition + fees | DC/Northern Virginia access, public-school value, regulation/antitrust/tech ecosystem |
| Washington and Lee | 168 / 3.81 (Fall 2026) | $62,835 mandatory 1L costs before living | Small-class national-regional portability, large-firm placement, clerkships |
| William & Mary | 167 / 3.81 (Fall 2026) | $47,345 resident / $74,208 nonresident tuition + fees | Public-school value, federal/state clerkships, strong employment, Williamsburg/Richmond/DC reach |
| Richmond Law | 165 / 3.81 (Fall 2026) | Private; current 2025-26 sticker was $57,700, with strong merit aid | Richmond/state government market, clerkships, high scholarship participation |
| Regent Law | Latest 2025 ABA median reported at 158 / 3.64 | $1,449/credit in 2026–27 | Virginia Beach, judicial clerkships, faith-based mission |
| Liberty Law | 154 / 3.54 (Class of 2028 profile) | $44,450 tuition + law/university fees | Christian-law mission, broad practice training, scholarship-heavy enrollment |
| Appalachian School of Law | Latest prior ABA data around 147 / 3.04 | $41,850 tuition + $1,030 direct fees | Rural/regional access, community-service mission, southwest Virginia |
The correct comparison depends on the career you are buying, the scholarship you actually receive, and the market you want after graduation.
UVA Law is the strongest overall option if national portability is the goal. The Fall 2026 class reports a 173 median LSAT and 3.99 median GPA, and UVA operates in a national market for BigLaw, federal clerkships, academia, government, and elite public-interest work.
Scalia, Washington and Lee, and William & Mary are the real strategic middle-upper tier. Their current medians are close enough that cost and market matter more than simple rank ordering. Scalia has the strongest DC/Northern Virginia location and remarkably low in-state tuition. W&L reports that more than 64% of its 2025 law-firm graduates entered firms with 250+ attorneys. William & Mary reports a 96.5% overall employment rate for the Class of 2025 and combines that with public-school pricing for Virginia residents.
Richmond is the strongest Virginia-capital/state-market option below that tier. Its Class of 2029 profile now reports a 165 median LSAT and 3.81 median GPA, and 94% of its 1Ls received scholarship aid.
The remaining schools are more specialized decisions. Regent and Liberty have explicit faith-based missions. Appalachian is a rural-access school with a community-service orientation. The right choice depends heavily on mission fit, scholarship-adjusted cost, and realistic regional employment.
UVA’s Class of 2029, entering in Fall 2026, reports a 173 median LSAT and 3.99 median GPA, with 168–175 LSAT and 3.82–4.04 GPA as the 25th–75th ranges. The school enrolled 303 students from 6,508 applicants.
For 2026–27, tuition and required fees are $81,900 for Virginia residents and $84,900 for nonresidents. UVA’s full estimated cost of attendance is $111,420 resident and $114,420 nonresident.
The price is high, but the school’s value proposition is not regional. UVA recruits and places nationally, which is the main reason it belongs in a separate category from the rest of the state.
For an applicant choosing between UVA and a large scholarship at W&L, William & Mary, or Scalia, the question is whether UVA’s incremental access justifies the additional debt for the career actually desired.
See UVA’s Class of 2029 profile and 2026–27 tuition and cost.
Scalia Law’s Fall 2025 entering class reports a 169 median LSAT and 3.93 median GPA. The school enrolled 159 JD students, and more than half of the entering class had been out of college for two or more years.
Its financial position is exceptional for the Washington market. For 2026–27, full-time JD tuition and fees are $27,930 for Virginia residents and $44,044 for nonresidents. Part-time JD enrollment is also available.
Scalia’s location in Arlington creates direct access to federal agencies, regulators, courts, technology companies, government contractors, and DC firms. The school is particularly visible in regulation, antitrust, law and economics, national security, technology, and public-policy-adjacent legal work.
For a Virginia resident who wants DC or Northern Virginia practice, the sticker-price gap versus UVA or private schools can be enormous. That makes Scalia one of the most important “do the debt math” schools in the state.
See Scalia’s current class profile, 2026–27 JD tuition, and employment disclosures.
Washington and Lee’s Class of 2029 reports a 168 median LSAT and 3.81 median GPA, with 163–169 LSAT and 3.58–3.85 GPA as the 25th–75th ranges. The class size is only 130.
That small-school structure is part of the product. W&L’s current Class of 2025 employment summary reports a 94.5% overall employment rate and says more than 64% of graduates entering law firms joined firms with 250 or more attorneys.
For 2026–27, tuition is $60,325 and mandatory fees for 1Ls/2Ls total another $2,510, bringing mandatory billed costs to about $62,835 before living expenses.
W&L can make sense for students who want a highly residential, small-community law-school experience but still want access to larger firms and portable outcomes. Scholarship-adjusted cost is the major variable.
See W&L’s Class of 2029 profile, 2026–27 tuition, and Class of 2025 employment summary.
William & Mary’s Class of 2029 reports a 167 median LSAT and 3.81 median GPA, with 163–168 LSAT and 3.49–3.91 GPA as the 25th–75th ranges. It admitted 14.8% of applicants and reports that 93% of the entering class received scholarship support.
For 2026–27, tuition is $39,754 for Virginia residents and $66,046 for nonresidents, with fees of $7,591 and $8,162 respectively. That produces tuition-and-fee totals of roughly $47,345 resident and $74,208 nonresident.
The school reports a 96.5% overall employment rate for the Class of 2025, including further education, and has a longstanding federal-clerkship and public-service profile.
For Virginia residents, William & Mary can be one of the strongest combinations of selectivity, employment, and public pricing in the state. For nonresidents, the sticker approaches private-school territory, making merit aid much more important.
See William & Mary’s Class of 2029 profile, 2026–27 costs, and employment outcomes.
Richmond Law’s Class of 2029 reports a 165 median LSAT and 3.81 median GPA, with 160–166 LSAT and 3.52–3.88 GPA as the 25th–75th ranges. The class includes 138 new 1Ls.
The scholarship picture is significant: Richmond reports that 94% of 1Ls received scholarship aid, with an average merit scholarship of $31,465. Its financial-aid page says merit scholarships can reach full tuition and are renewable so long as a student remains full-time and makes satisfactory academic progress.
Richmond’s 2024 employment report showed 91 graduates working in Virginia and 14 in DC, along with meaningful law-firm, government, public-interest, and clerkship placements. The school’s current employment page also provides a Class of 2025 ABA summary.
Richmond is particularly relevant for students targeting the state capital, Virginia courts, state government, regional firms, and clerkships. Its sticker price matters less than its scholarship-adjusted price because merit aid is so common.
See Richmond’s Class of 2029 profile, scholarship information, and employment outcomes.
Regent’s latest broadly available 2025 admissions data place the school around a 158 median LSAT and 3.64 median GPA. The law school is based in Virginia Beach and operates within Regent’s explicitly Christian institutional mission.
For 2026–27, full-time JD tuition is $1,449 per credit. Regent reports more than $7 million in annual scholarships to 97% of law students in 2024–25 and highlights a strong judicial-clerkship profile.
This is not a school to evaluate as a generic “next rung below Richmond.” Mission fit matters. An applicant who wants a faith-integrated legal education may see real value that another applicant does not. Compare current employment, bar, scholarship, and clerkship data directly.
See Regent’s tuition and financial information and current law-school disclosures.
Liberty’s current class-profile page reports a 154 median LSAT and 3.54 median GPA for the Class of 2028. The school states that all entering students in the Class of 2026 received scholarship awards.
For 2026–27, Liberty lists $44,450 in annual tuition, plus university and law-school fees and other direct charges.
Liberty is a strongly mission-driven school, so institutional fit should be treated as a real variable rather than a secondary cultural detail. Applicants should compare the current ABA disclosures, employment data, bar results, scholarship renewal terms, and the legal markets where Liberty alumni actually work.
See Liberty’s class profiles and 2026–27 law-school costs.
Appalachian School of Law is based in Grundy and has a mission closely tied to rural access, community service, and practice in underserved areas. Recent prior ABA data place its entering median around the high 140s.
For 2026–27, ASL lists $41,850 in tuition plus $1,030 in direct fees, with a total estimated cost of attendance of $82,800.
Applicants should evaluate ASL through the most recent ABA disclosures, bar outcomes, attrition, employment geography, and scholarship package. A regional-access mission can be highly meaningful, but lower admission credentials do not remove the need for outcome diligence.
See ASL’s 2026–27 cost of attendance and consumer-information page.
For many applicants, the real Virginia decision is not “Which school ranks second?” It is whether UVA’s national platform is worth the net-cost premium over a substantial scholarship at W&L, William & Mary, Scalia, or Richmond.
The correct model is:
A student committed to federal appellate clerkships or national elite firms may rationally value UVA very differently from a student committed to Virginia government, Richmond litigation, or Northern Virginia regulatory practice.
| Dimension | Scalia | William & Mary | Washington & Lee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current median LSAT | 169 (2025) | 167 (2026) | 168 (2026) |
| Resident/public price advantage | Very strong | Strong | Private tuition |
| Primary geography | Arlington / DC / Northern Virginia | Williamsburg / Richmond / Virginia / DC | Lexington / Virginia / broader regional-national |
| Distinctive strength | Regulation, antitrust, law & economics, DC access | Clerkships, public service, public-school value | Small-school model, large-firm placement, strong community |
| Part-time JD | Yes | No standard part-time JD | No |
These schools are close enough in current academic profile that a scholarship can change the answer more than a small difference in medians.
Scalia has the clearest geographic advantage. It is in Arlington, directly inside the DC/Northern Virginia legal economy. UVA also places nationally and into DC at a high level, but at much higher sticker cost. W&M, W&L, and Richmond can also place into DC, but geography and recruiting access are less immediate.
If DC BigLaw is the goal, compare large-firm placement. If federal regulatory, government, national-security, tech-policy, or antitrust work is the goal, Scalia’s location and curriculum become especially relevant.
Richmond Law is the most geographically direct option. UVA and William & Mary also have strong statewide networks, and Scalia is more naturally oriented toward Northern Virginia/DC.
For Virginia state-government work, clerkships, local/regional firms, and state-court litigation, scholarship-adjusted price can matter more than paying for national portability.
At current published prices, Scalia is the standout resident-price option among the more selective Virginia schools at $27,930 in tuition and fees. William & Mary follows at roughly $47,345 resident tuition and fees. UVA’s resident status provides only a modest discount from nonresident pricing.
That means Virginia residency changes the Scalia and William & Mary analysis much more than the UVA analysis.
| LSAT band | Current Virginia schools around the band | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| 173+ | UVA | National-elite band; GPA and full-file strength remain essential. |
| 167–170 | Scalia, W&L, William & Mary | Highly competitive Virginia tier; compare scholarships, geography, and career platform. |
| 163–166 | Richmond | Strong statewide/regional school; scholarship positioning becomes important. |
| Mid/high 150s | Regent | Mission-driven Virginia Beach option; inspect current outcomes and aid. |
| Low/mid 150s | Liberty | Faith-based, scholarship-heavy option; compare bar/employment with cost. |
| High 140s | Appalachian | Regional/rural-access option; outcomes and debt discipline are critical. |
This is not an admissions-probability table. Medians describe enrolled classes; they are not minimums or guarantees.
William & Mary reports 93% of its current entering class received scholarship support. Richmond reports 94% of 1Ls received aid. Regent reports scholarships reaching the large majority of its students, and Liberty reports scholarship awards across its entering cohort.
That means sticker tuition should be treated as the starting line. Compare:
Use our scholarship negotiation guide once the offers arrive.
UVA is the strongest national-elite option. Scalia, Washington and Lee, and William & Mary form a highly competitive second tier with different price and market advantages. Richmond is a strong statewide/regional option with generous merit aid.
UVA’s Fall 2026 entering class reports a 173 median LSAT, with a 168 25th percentile and 175 75th percentile. Those are enrolled-class percentiles, not cutoffs.
Yes. Scalia’s 2026–27 full-time Virginia-resident tuition and fees are $27,930, unusually low for a school with a recent 169 median LSAT and direct DC/Northern Virginia access.
Neither is universally better. W&M offers public-school pricing for Virginia residents and strong employment/clerkship outcomes. W&L offers a smaller residential model and strong large-firm placement. Compare scholarship-adjusted cost and preferred market.
Richmond’s Class of 2029 reports a 165 median LSAT, with 160 at the 25th percentile and 166 at the 75th.
Scalia has the strongest geographic advantage because it is in Arlington. UVA also places strongly into DC and nationally, while W&M, W&L, and Richmond can reach the market from farther away.
Current profiles and prices were verified from school-controlled sources wherever available: UVA’s Class of 2029 profile and 2026–27 cost page; William & Mary’s Class of 2029 profile and cost page; Washington and Lee’s Class of 2029 profile, employment summary and tuition page; Scalia’s current profile/fast-facts pages and 2026–27 JD tuition; Richmond’s Class of 2029 profile and scholarship/employment pages; Liberty’s class-profile and tuition pages; Regent’s tuition and law-school disclosures; and Appalachian’s 2026–27 cost page and consumer-information materials.
Some schools publish Fall 2026 entering data faster than others. We label the source year rather than silently mixing 2025 and 2026 statistics. The page does not rank all schools solely by LSAT median because cost, employment geography, program format, and career portability are more decision-relevant.
Written by Ali Unar, Founder, Lovare Institut. Verified September 19, 2026.