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.

Our professors came to ASL for the same reason we believe students should.  ASL professors are fully committed to the student-centric philosophy of our law school.  The faculty to student ratio is among the best in the nation.  ASL professors invest themselves in the success of their students.  This investment begins in the classroom and continues after graduation.

Our faculty includes active and retired judges, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, a former assistant attorney general, former public defenders, judicial law clerks, former and practicing tax attorneys, business lawyers, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and environmental lawyers.  Among our adjunct professors are two sitting Justices on the Supreme Court of Virginia, United States Judge of the Eastern District of Virginia, and a Virginia Circuit Court Judge, and a Judge on the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

ASL provides a practical education that goes beyond theory to the actual practice of the law. The curriculum is rigorous and aimed at giving students the skills and knowledge they will need for their future career.

Students must complete 92 semester hours of courses. The community service program, which requires 25 hours of service each semester, enhances that coursework.