Whatever your answer to that question, Appalachian School of Law is doing just that. While preserving the deep traditions of the legal academy, ASL is creating a student-centric approach to studying law that focuses on experiential learning and a holistic understanding of our legal system. In short, ASL looks to the honored past while pressing forward into an innovative future.
ASL trains law students to participate in a Medical-Legal Partnership that marshals legal resources in support of low-income medical patients in Virginia and Tennessee. These patients often have unmet legal needs that induce or exacerbate serious health conditions. Pro bono lawyers along with ASL law professors and students together offer their services to accomplish the partnership’s goals while statistical experts study the effects of this legal intervention on a variety of causal factors.
Our Natural Resources Law Program prepares students to navigate the increasingly complex world of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law in terms of energy production, conservation, and improving sustainability. Students have a place to discuss, debate, innovate, and collaborate, becoming more effective and scientifically grounded policy makers and advocates.
This new clinic program allows students to work with the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia on criminal appeals, reflecting our school’s commitment to practical experiential learning, future career opportunities, and an opportunity to serve the Commonwealth.
At Appalachian School of Law, we believe that engaging in public policy debates and events is an essential part of legal education. We provide our students with opportunities to participate in discussions and debates on the critical issues facing our community and our country. By doing so, we help to prepare our graduates to become leaders and advocates for change in their communities and beyond.
In so many ways, we are different. From the beginning until now, ASL has pioneered the effort to reclaim the culture of legal education. We hold high the need for academic excellence and scholarship. But we equally see the value of achieving these goals in a professional, nurturing, collegial, and affirming educational environment. Learning the law is essential. But learning how to use the power of the law to unite and strengthen others is just as essential. The ASL culture lives out this philosophy in a way unique among law schools.
Visit us to understand who we are at ASL and what your future in law could look like.
