Dean Mark A. Sargent describes to new students 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.”

The Honorable David R. Strawbridge ’71, Magistrate Judge, United States District Court of Pennsylvania, administered the oath. The Class of 2011 comprises students from 28 states, and 1 foreign country, is 18% racial and ethnic minorities and includes students from 122 different undergraduate schools.