Frances Lewis Law Center

                                       Portrait of Frances and Sydney Lewis by artist Jack Beal

Since 1978, the Frances Lewis Law Center has continually enriched the intellectual life of the Washington and Lee law school and university community. Established with a generous gift from Frances and Sydney Lewis, the Law Center's initial mandate was to support serious research that advanced law reform. That mission has broadened over the years to include scholarship that describes or promotes legal change. The Law Center has fulfilled its critical mission through sponsorship of numerous scholars-in-residence, support for the scholarly research of the law school's faculty, and organization of symposia and fora that have featured national and internationally renowned scholars.

The center's initial mandate was to support serious research and scholarship related to "law reform," later broadened to "legal change."

The Law Center carries out its primary mandate in several important ways. First, it seeks out and supports the work--or, in the more abstract sense, the thinking--of Scholars-in-Residence, Lawyers-in-Residence, and Judges-in-Residence. Secondly, it supports the scholarly research of many of the law school's faculty. Thirdly, it sponsors conferences that bring leading scholars to Washington and Lee to discuss topics of current legal interest.

It also helps to promote the close faculty-student relationships so characteristic of Washington and Lee, notably through students working with faculty members as research assistants, seminars conducted by each Scholar-in-Residence as part of the regular curriculum, and research stipends for student Frances Lewis Law Center fellows.

Contact Us

Professor Louise Halper
Law Center Director
halperl@wlu.edu
(540) 458-8962

Wendy Rice
Administrative Assistant
ricew@wlu.edu
(540) 458-8509