Legal Connections

Since its inception, the Richmond Law & Business Forum has been connecting law students with attorneys in a variety of business law practice areas. The most popular format for making these connections is the forum’s Business Law Over Dinner series.

Each dinner connects 1–3 lawyers — often alumni — with 6–10 students interested in their specific practice area, providing valuable networking opportunities and insights from the real world.

“This format allows truly meaningful exchange to take place,” said Professor Jessica Erickson, the Nancy Litchfield Hicks Professor of Law, who launched the forum in 2021. “A nice dinner takes a while, and this extended time allows participants to really open up and get comfortable in the conversation. By the end of each dinner, students feel like they’ve learned so much more than they would from a presentation or traditional networking event.”

This fall, dinners are planned with lawyers who specialize in real estate law, in-house practice, and business litigation. The Forum has been so popular that the law school also launched a Criminal Justice Forum led by Professor Dave Johnson, L’83, and in the future, hopes to expand the opportunity to include other legal career pathways.

(Reprinted from the 2024 Dean’s Report.)