Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School International Student Insurance

Vermont Law School (VLS), located in South Royalton, Vermont, is a private law school that was established in 1972. It opened its doors to students in 1973. It gained provisional American Bar Association approval in 1975 and full approval in 1978. It joined the Association of American Law Schools in 1981. Today, VLS enrolls more than 650 students and counting each year.

VLS is notable as one of two law schools in the U.S. to protest the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays serving in the military. It lost between $300,000 and $500,000 per year in federal funding between 1999–2011 for refusing to cooperate with a Congressional statute requiring colleges and universities to allow military recruitment on campus. Following the 2011 repeal of the policy, VLS now allows recruitment on campus.

Academic Offerings and Institutes

VLS offers Juris Doctor degrees, master’s degrees, LLM degrees, and joint and dual degrees. The school partners with domestic schools like Yale, Dartmouth, the University of Vermont, and the University of South Carolina, as well as international universities like the University of Cambridge and the University of Seville. 

Notable centers and programs at VLS include the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, the Environmental Law Center, the Institute for Energy and the Environment, and the Sports Law Institute. The school’s students publish two legal journals, the Vermont Law Review and the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. 

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