Criminal Law

An understanding of criminal justice is fundamental to any lawyer’s education. At the University of Virginia, the nation’s leading criminal law faculty offer an in-depth array of courses on both the substantive criteria of guilt or innocence and the procedures used in the arrest, prosecution and punishment of offenders. On topics ranging from the reliability of eyewitness identifications to the consequences of plea bargaining, Virginia’s faculty are looking at the criminal justice system with fresh eyes and considering how to make a more just society.

Virginia students do not study criminal law only from a distance. They also enroll in clinics that offer hands-on involvement in juvenile justice, criminal prosecution or defense, and innocence cases. The Law School supplements its curriculum with a wide range of extracurricular activities dedicated to criminal law, including a journal devoted to criminal law and an active innocence group.

Collectively, these experiences lead Virginia graduates to coveted positions in the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program, in U.S. attorneys’ offices, and in district attorney and defense offices across the country.

• Advanced Criminal Law (15)
• Contemporary Debates in Criminal Law (14,15)
• Crime and Punishment (14,16)
• Criminal Adjudication (14,15,16)
• Criminal Investigation (14,15,16)
• Criminal Procedure (14,15,16)
• Criminal Procedure Survey (14,15,16)
• Criminology (14,15,16)
• Cyber Law and Policy (15,16)
• Cybercrime (14,15)
• Death Penalty (16)
• Federal Criminal Law (15)
• Federal Law of Fraud and Corruption (15)
• Federal Pretrial Litigation (14,15,16)
• Federal Sentencing (14,15,16)
• Habeas Corpus (14,16)
• Immigration Enforcement (14)
• International Criminal Justice: Its Successes, Failures and Future Prospects (15)
• International Criminal Law (14,16)
• International Financial Crimes (15)
• Law of the Police (14,15,16)
• Mental Health Issues in Juvenule Justice (14,15)
• Plea Bargaining (15,16)
• Profiling (14)
• Scientific Evidence (14)
• Social Science in Law (14,15,16)
• White Collar Criminal Defense Practice (14,15)
• White Collar Investigations, Enforcement and Business Risk Mitigation (16)

• LL.M. application, completed and submitted electronically through LSAC along with required attachments and optional forms;
• U.S. $80 application fee paid directly to LSAC;
• Official, school-certified transcripts of grades or marks from all colleges, universities, exchange programs and professional/graduate schools you have attended, even if you did not graduate. These should be submitted directly to LSAC in envelopes sealed by the appropriate school official, who then signs or stamps across the seal. Do not send documents certified by people other than school officials.
• Official, school-certified proof of degree document, if proof of degree does not appear on transcript. This document should be sent directly to LSAC in an envelope sealed by the appropriate school official, who then signs or stamps across the seal. Please do not send documents certified by people other than school officials.
• An official statement of class rank from the institution at which you earned or will earn your first degree in law. These should be submitted directly to LSAC in envelopes sealed by the appropriate school official who then signs or stamps across the seal. If such rankings are not provided by your school, provide a statement to this effect along with a detailed explanation of the grading system employed and a self-evaluation of your performance within that system. 
• An official TOEFL, or IELTS score report submitted to LSAC or to UVA.
• At least two, but no more than four, letters of recommendation, sent to LSAC for processing.  Please follow the instructions provided in your LSAC.org account.

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Scholarships

If you receive a financial aid grant, it will not cover your tuition and living expenses. Generally, our financial aid grants, when given, cover less than one-third of the cost of tuition. University regulations do not permit “waivers” of tuition. We cannot provide assistance for all deserving applicants, and funds must be allocated on the basis of comparative merit and financial need. Most students must therefore expect to meet their expenses from other sources. Applicants from abroad are encouraged to contact the educational attaché at the U.S. Embassy or consulate in their home country for assistance that may be available under the Fulbright or similar programs.

The Law School does not offer financial aid to S.J.D. students.

Applicants requesting financial aid should provide detailed and accurate information regarding their finances and, where applicable, the finances of their spouses or parents. In calculating the amount of financial aid to be requested, it is important to distinguish “wants” from “needs” and to apply only for that amount of aid that is actually needed to attend the Law School. Requests for full or nearly full funding cannot be met and will disadvantage the applicant relative to others in determining the allocation of scholarship funds.

Any award of financial aid from the School of Law is tentative. If you receive an outside award, you are required to notify the Graduate Program of any changes in your financial situation. Any award from the University of Virginia may be reduced or withdrawn completely due to a change in your financial situation.

The employment status of foreign students is closely regulated by U.S. immigration laws. Students with F-1 status may seek limited employment on campus under certain conditions and with the approval of the chair of the Graduate Program Committee. In any case, Law School policy prohibits employment of more than 20 hours per week. The Law School does not have teaching fellowships. Some students may be able to receive limited compensation as research assistants for individual faculty members or from working in the law library. These positions are not available through the Graduate Studies Office but must be individually arranged after the student has completed registration at the Law School.

Admissions decisions are made without regard to requests for financial assistance. Awards are generally made only after an applicant has responded with interest to an offer of admission.