Dean Mark A. Sargent welcomed the new class with remarks describing what distinguishes Villanova Law, “We aim to produce not just lawyers, but elite lawyers. We do so by providing an excellent, challenging legal education, by placing in the classroom teachers who are themselves elite (teachers and scholars who are among the best I have known in my career) and by holding you to very high standards, not just of academic performance, but of expectations for yourself. We expect you to say to yourselves, ‘I want to meet every challenge that is placed before me; I want to understand

what it means to be a lawyer responsible for the lives and fortunes of others; I want to be someone who can climb a mountain of facts, wade through a swamp of cases, regs and judicial decisions, while maintaining ideals and avoiding the cynicism that the law tends to spawn.’ If you can do all that, then you will become an elite lawyer. You will become a Villanova lawyer.”

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Kathryn S. Lewis ’76 administered the oath. The Class of 2010 comprises students from 26 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and is evenly split male/female, is 18% racial and ethnic minorities, and includes a pilot, a competitive ice skater, a choreographer and a student fluent in Russian and Ukrainian.

For first year student oath - Click here.