Regent University School of Law

Regent University School of Law

Regent University School of Law

1000 Regent University Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23464
(757) 352-4584
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REGENT LAW STUDENTS SAY…

Academics & Programs: Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach provides a caring and helpful Christian environment in which “students can earn a law school degree without going through the typically brutal law school experience.” Judging from current students, it’s possible to get through school here on the sky-high morale of the student body alone, with the “strong sense of community and unity both among the law school administration and student body” serving as huge motivators for success. Regent does a good job of “encouraging all its students to be men and woman of integrity,” and even warns students “to only take on as much debt as [they] absolutely need” and to be “aware of the consequences of borrowing money.”
Despite being a “smallish school,” there is no shortage of professional opportunities, including nationally recognized trial advocacy, moot court, negotiation, and mediation teams. The “incredibly accessible and helpful” faculty is “very intentional about keeping students abreast of new developments in the legal field.” Many of the names that stand up at the podiums—former Attorney General John Ashcroft, for example—are “truly proven experts in their respective fields” who are “actively working to prepare you to become an ethical and moral lawyer.” “Professors are able to strike a remarkable balance between extremely high expectations and a genuine concern for students’ well-being as individuals,” says a 1L. Neatly put, “If professors were real estate I would say [their greatest strengths are] accessibility, accessibility, accessibility.”
The school’s very strong focus on hard skills (oral, research, and written) is an emphasis “which is tremendously beneficial for future attorneys,” though quite a few students wish that an emphasis on “more practical skills” were added into the curriculum. Still, “I have no doubt that I have the legal knowledge to compete with anyone,” says a student. The Career Services Office gets rave reviews for “[working] hard to provide a variety of programs and opportunities. They are available for reciprocity requests, cover letter and resume drafting, mock interviews, and more.” “If you don’t have a job or internship, it isn’t their fault,” says a 2L. A resounding number of students do wish that the school would pay more attention to moving up in the rankings and attracting larger firms for recruitment, and that it would “focus more on students who know they will become transactional lawyers, and support them in that choice,” instead of pushing public interest work. One thing that everyone is clear about is that the school is thorough in its training, and demands the best: “If you’re not ready and willing to become the best in the field, you will not thrive in this environment.”
Campus Life/Facilities: Classroom facilities here are “second-to-none,” with “plenty of space, power outlets, and wireless Internet throughout campus.” Though the law school shares classroom space with two other grad schools, no one seems to have any problems. The law library is similarly “amazing.” Life is as beautiful as the campus at this incredibly safe school, where “you can leave your laptop in a public area and it will still be there when you return.” “Nothing was ever taken from my study area in the law library,” says a 3L nearing graduation. The atmosphere is equally as trusting, with a “mutual encouragement toward excellence” shared by all the students. “Competitive, but not cutthroat,” students are very helpful and “will go out of their way to aid each other, whether that means sharing notes, mentoring, or simple encouragement.” “The students are very supportive and happy to help each other, without a hint of the your-loss-is-my-gain mentality that one might expect from the curve,” says one.
As a Christian university, Regent has “certain rules…but it’s not prison.” “We are adults and they expect us to behave as such, especially in the legal profession…but plenty of us have active, if not too active, social lives and find time to go on vacations, go out to restaurants, movies, play intramural sports or just have a party.” Others disagree with the idea of an overflowing extracurricular calendar, claiming that “Most law students are too busy with schoolwork to spend much time socializing outside of class.” One second-year student speculates that “perhaps the expectations are higher than other like-tiered schools because of the desire to refute any negative perceptions of a Christian law school.” “Pretty much everyone who comes to visit, even devout atheists or agnostics, are pleasantly surprised, especially with the hospitality,” says a 1L. A rising problem here is the lack of on-campus housing, which is “almost intolerable.” “You will definitely need a reliable car if you attend here,” says a student.
* The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.