WS Chronicle

Wake Forest Law Professor Steve Virgil has been named executive director of Experiential Education for the Wake Forest University School of Law. He will assume his new role this month.

“In this new role, Steve will work to coordinate and integrate our current and future experiential opportunities throughout the law school,” explained Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Suzanne Reynolds. “The role will both support existing programs, including our clinics, internships, externships, and practicum extensions and will look for new opportunities for meaning ful experiential education.”

In addition, Virgil, who is also director of the law school’s Community Law and Business Clinic, will provide support to faculty who integrate practical training into their doctrinal courses.

Reynolds added that Virgil’s new position was created in part to help the law school adhere to proposed new standards set by the American Bar Association for oversight of experiential learning.

Reynolds

“Steve will take the lead in providing the structure to insure appropriate oversight,” she said.

Virgil has served as founding director of Wake Forest Law’s Community Law and Business Clinic and Associate Clinical Professor since 2008. He has practiced law for more than 20 years with an emphasis on community economic development and the nonprofit sector. His clients include nonprofit organizations of all sizes and scope, from neighborhood associations to major private foundations and he maintains an active pro bono public interest litigation practice. He teaches courses on community economic development, poverty, evidence and the nonprofit sector.

Virgil is also the founding Director of the Institute for Public Engagement at Wake Forest University; a university-wide institute that promotes community based participatory research and engaged teaching across Wake Forest University.

Prior to joining Wake Forest, Virgil taught at another law school for several years and practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio and Omaha, Neb. He clerked for the Honorable George W. White, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, is a former Legal Aid lawyer, an Equal Justice Fellow and a recipient of the Joseph Branch Excellence in Teaching Award.

“Wake Forest Law’s clinical/experiential programs are fantastic, invaluable resources for both law students and the local community,” said Mark Vaders of the Class if 2013.