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The Appalachian School of Law is a private law school in Grundy, Virginia, a small town near the convergence of Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The school offers a three-year Juris Doctor degree, and enrolls approximately 370 full-time students from numerous states and several foreign countries. The school also has 482 alumni and 50 staff. The school was founded in 1994 with a deep commitment to community service and leadership, and it admitted its first class of students in August 1997. Appalachian distinguishes itself from almost all of the other 192 American Bar Association-accredited law schools in the country, as its students are required to volunteer 25 hours each semester on community service projects, ranging from dispute resolution training to humane society management. Only 11 other law schools have similar mandatory programs. ASL also conducts Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) training in local schools. This program has drawn national attention, particularly from former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who has publicly congratulated the school on this effort. The school was provisionally accredited by the American Bar Association in February 2001. The school was recommended for full accreditation by the ABA's legal education committee in April 2006. The law school was granted full accreditation from the ABA on June 12, 2006, with an effective date of June 11, 2006. ASL has two buildings, which are the main academic building and the law library. A third building, Booth Hall, is under construction. Booth Hall will be situated directly behind the main academic building and will open in 2008.
2002 shooting On January 16, 2002, ASL's dean, a professor, and a student were shot and killed by disgruntled student Peter Odighizuwa, 43, of Nigeria, before Odighizuwa was stopped by two students, one of whom had a pistol of his own. At trial, Odighizuwa was found mentally competent, plead guilty to the murders to avoid the death penalty, and was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison. 15-5-4 a/k/a Slate Creek Social Club In 1999 a group of students from second graduating class (class of 2001) formed 15-5-4 which stands for 15 hours of studying, 5 hours of drinking and 4 hours of sleep. Only five students form the original 9 survived the rigorous requirements of the club at the time of the graduation in 2001. 15-5-4 also adopted “Slate Creek Social Club” as its un-official nickname. Journals | ||||||||
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