Vanderbilt University Law School

Vanderbilt University Law School (also known as VLS) is a graduate school of Vanderbilt University. Established in 1874, it is one of the oldest law schools in the southern United States. Vanderbilt Law School is one of the most selective law schools in the United States and has a 14.25% acceptance rate. Vanderbilt Law enrolls approximately 640 students, with each entering Juris Doctor class consisting of approximately 175 students. According to Vanderbilt Law School's 2020 ABA-required disclosures, 84.44% of the Class of 2020 obtained full-time, long-term, bar examination passage-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo practitioners. The dean of the law school is Chris Guthrie, who began his third five-year appointment as dean on July 1, 2019. History Vanderbilt Law School was established in 1874, and was the first professional school to open (Vanderbilt University itself did not start its undergraduate classes until 1875). The law school's first class consisted of only seven students and eight professors, with a two-year course of study comprising the school's curriculum. William V. Sullivan was the school's first graduate and would eventually represent Mississippi in the United States Senate. William Frierson Cooper, who had been nominated by Jefferson Davis to serve on the Supreme Court of the Confederate States of America, served as the first dean from 1874 to 1875. He was succeeded by Thomas H. Malone, a veteran of the Confederate States Army, who served as dean from 1875 to 1904.