The Blue Ridge Center presents

Your 1L Year: An Event Series

Join us for a preview of the first year of law school … for undergraduates.

Here’s the deal.

Every law school in America, including UVA Law, requires first-year law students to take the same basic courses. Even the names of those courses are mysterious to most people: Torts, Civil Procedure, and Contracts. This series of talks will give you a good idea of what each of those six courses will be like. Each Blue Ridge Center event will offer a unique spin on the topic, laying out what the law school course is about and giving examples of how gripping and high stakes each area of the law can be. For example, the talk on torts will explain what that term means and is led by the lawyer (and UVA Board of Visitors member) who was in charge of all tort lawsuits involving the U.S. government in the early 2000s, some of them involving billions of dollars. And E. Jean Carroll’s headline-grabbing case against Donald Trump came down to an issue of civil procedure.

This series is co-sponsored by Phi Alpha Delta.

Part 1: Contracts with Clifton Iler

September 30th, 2024 (Location and Time TBA)

In this first in the series, UVA’s top lawyer explains what contracts are, why they matter, and what disasters can result when lawyers get them wrong.

Part 2: Torts with Paul Harris

October 30th, 2024 (Time and Location TBA)

Now a businessman and member of UVA’s board, Paul Harris handled all tort cases involving the U.S. government in the early 2000s. This is the second in our series about the classes you’ll take your first year in law school. Harris will identify what a “tort” is, how they operate across our legal system every day, and tell tort war stories from his time in the Department of Justice.

Part 3: Civil Procedure with Roberta Kaplan

November 12th, 2024 (Time and Location TBA)

One of the most prominent and impactful litigators in America, Kaplan played a central role in lawsuits on marriage equality and for victims of the KKK rally in Charlottesville in 2017, and represented E. Jean Carroll in her sexual assault case against Donald Trump. This is the third event in our series about classes you’ll take your first year in law school: Civil Procedure.

Part 4: Intellectual Property with Julia Mahoney

December 3, 2024 (Time and Location TBA)

Julia Mahoney taught law at the University of Southern California and the University Chicago before joining the UVA Law faculty. She has a diversity of specialties, she regularly teaches Property law, and she'll discuss Intellectual Property in particular. This is the fourth event in our series about classes you'll take your first year in law school.