1. Which production asked to film at UVA Law—and was turned down?
A) “Paper Chase”
B) “Legally Blonde”
C) “How to Get Away with Murder”
D) “Rounders”
2. Who starred as the best friends who met in law school at UVA in the film “True Colors”?
A) Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
B) John Jeffries and Peter Low
C) John Cusack and James Spader
D) Chris Pratt and Bradley Cooper
3. Music lawyer Mark F. Schottinger ’12, a former attendant at the Corner Parking Lot in Charlottesville, appeared in “The Parking Lot Movie.” How does he characterize law students in the documentary?
A) They are the worst parkers in Charlottesville.
B) They are the best tippers.
C) They are the most likely to complain about the parking fees.
D) They are the most likely to park illegally on the Corner.
4. This alum co-wrote a famous album with his brother, establishing what some music critics called “the Virginia sound.”
A) David Bishop
B) James Malkmus
C) John Matthews
D) Jonathan Hornsby
5. Which best-selling author of lawyer-focused thrillers has connected to the Law School through its Innocence Project and by hiring students as research assistants?
A) Michael Connelly
B) John Grisham
C) Scott Turow
D) Lisa Scottoline
6. Which TV show features two stars as a fictional UVA Law grad and former professor?
A) “The Night Of”
B) “Damages”
C) “Madam Secretary”
D) “The Good Wife”
7. Which UVA Law alumnus voiced a role on “The Simpsons”?
A) Will Shortz ’77
B) Robert Mueller ’73
C) Janet Napolitano ’83
D) Elaine Jones ’70
8. Which actor won an Oscar playing a role inspired by the true story of a UVA Law alum?
A) Tom Hanks
B) Denzel Washington
C) Meryl Streep
D) Julia Roberts
9. Who was the first Cavalier—and Law School alum—to medal in the Olympics?
A) Mortimer Caplin
B) Leah Smith
C) Inge Janssen
D) John “James” Alcorn Rector
10. Which notable authors attended UVA Law?
A) Louis Auchincloss and Linda Fairstein
B) James W. Huston and Emily Giffin
C) David Baldacci and Helen Wan
D) Corban Addison and N. Scott Momaday
E) All of the above
11. Which famous TV and film “Brat Pack” actor was born in Charlottesville to a UVA Law graduate?
A) Andrew McCarthy
B) Rob Lowe
C) Judd Nelson
D) Emilio Estevez
12. Which professional sports team did Harrison “Harry B.” Wilson III ’80 play for?
A) Baltimore Orioles
B) New York Giants
C) San Diego Chargers
D) Los Angeles Lakers
13. Which one of these famous juniors did NOT go to UVA Law?
A) Franklin Roosevelt Jr.
B) Thurgood Marshall Jr.
C) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
D) William F. Buckley Jr.
KEY
1. Which production asked to film at UVA Law—and was turned down?
B) “Legally Blonde.” Former Dean Robert Scott turned down filmmakers’ request to shoot portions of the 2001 hit movie at the Law School. “I was unwilling to have the University of Virginia building be characterized as the Harvard Law School, but they were absolutely committed that she was going to Harvard, and all they were looking for was a venue,” Scott said. Elle Woods, the film’s protagonist, can be seen studying with a copy of “The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance in Law School” by former UVA Law professor Charles Whitebread, who later joined the faculty of the University of Southern California. Most of the film was shot in Los Angeles.
2. Who starred as the best friends who met in law school at UVA in the film “True Colors”?
C) John Cusack and James Spader. In a twist from their usual 1980s-era casting, Cusack is power-hungry and Spader is righteous in the 1991 film.
According to Wikipedia, much of the filming took place in Charlottesville, including the nightclub scene at TRAX, a popular dance spot once run by Coran Capshaw, manager of the Dave Matthews Band and other major music acts.
3. Music lawyer Mark F. Schottinger ’12, a former attendant at the Corner Parking Lot in Charlottesville, appeared in “The Parking Lot Movie.” How does he characterize law students in the documentary?
A) They are the worst parkers. Schottinger also worked as a music consultant on the film. He is currently an attorney with Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton in Nashville, Tennessee, and focused on the music industry.
4. This alum co-wrote a famous album with his brother, establishing what some music critics called “the Virginia sound.”
D) Jonathan Hornsby ’87. While his brother Bruce Hornsby is better known, Jonathan Hornsby co-wrote most of the hit album “The Way It Is” with his famous sibling, including “Mandolin Rain.” Though the other siblings listed in this question are fictional, the last names connect to musicians in Gwar, the Dave Matthews Band and Pavement, all of which have connections to Central Virginia.
5. Which best-selling author of lawyer-focused thrillers has connected to the Law School through its Innocence Project and by hiring students as research assistants?
B) John Grisham has spoken at the Law School several times over the years and has been a supporter of the national and UVA Law Innocence Projects. He wrote “The Innocent Man,” a nonfiction work about a wrongful conviction, in addition to his blockbuster thrillers, and was a guest on UVA Law’s “Common Law” podcast.
6. Which TV show features two stars as a fictional UVA Law grad and former professor?
C) “Madam Secretary” star Téa Leoni’s character went to law school at UVA, and one of her professors, played by Morgan Freeman, would go on to become a Supreme Court justice. Anthony Pantaleoni ’64 is Leoni’s father.
7. Which UVA Law alumnus voiced a role on “The Simpsons”?
A) Guest-starring as himself, Will Shortz ’77 appears in voice and cartoon form on “The Simpsons” episode “Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words” in Season 20.
8. Which actor won an Oscar playing a role inspired by the true story of a UVA Law alum?
A) Tom Hanks played “Andrew Beckett” in the 1993 film “Philadelphia,” inspired in part by the life story of Clarence Cain (Col ’74, Law ’77). Cain was a practicing attorney who won a discrimination case against his employers for firing him soon after learning he had AIDS. Cain later died of his illness. As an under-graduate student at UVA, Cain was one of the first African-American resident advisers.
9. Who was the first Cavalier—and Law School alum—to medal in the Olympics?
D) James Alcorn Rector 1909, who took the silver medal in the 100 meters at the 1908 Olympic Games and set school records in track and field, was also the first Arkansan to win an Olympic medal. Leah Smith (Col ’16) and Inge Janssen (Col ’10) are UVA graduates who medaled in Rio in 2016 for swimming and rowing, respectively.
10. Which notable authors attended UVA Law?
E) You didn’t think you’d get through this list without a trick question, did you? Collectively, fiction authors such as Louis Auchincloss ’41, Linda Fairstein ’72, James W. Huston ’84, David Baldacci ’86, Emily Giffin ’97, Helen Wan ’98 and Corban Addison ’04 have entertained, by our guesstimate, hundreds of millions of readers. (Baldacci alone has sold more than 130 million books worldwide.) N. Scott Momaday ’59, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning “House Made of Dawn,” setting off a renaissance in Native American literature, attended UVA Law for one year.
11. Which famous TV and film “Brat Pack” actor was born in Charlottesville to a UVA Law graduate?
B) In his final year of law school, Charles D. “Chuck” Lowe ’64 and his wife, Marcia, a nurse, welcomed their son Rob Lowe. The actor posted a happily nostalgic picture of himself as a child, with mother and father, on Instagram in 2016: “Just found this pic of me and my beautiful, amazing mom and dad (just out of law school at UVA) #family.” In an interview with the Dayton Daily News, Chuck Lowe made reference to his son having been named one of People magazine’s “101 Sexiest Men Alive.”
“All I wanted to be was the 17th (sexiest) in Anderson, Indiana,” quipped the Dayton, Ohio, attorney, who focuses on family and divorce law.
12. Which professional sports team did Harrison “Harry B.” Wilson III ’80 play for?
C) San Diego Chargers. Though he was a standout athlete at Dartmouth and class president at UVA Law, Harrison “Harry B.” Wilson III ’80 wanted to fulfill one more dream by walking on to a professional foot-ball team. He caught a touchdown pass in preseason play but was cut before the regular season began. “I jumped from the Harlem Rednecks (a team in the Charlottesville flag football league) to the NFL,” he said in an interview published in UVA Lawyer.
Wilson went on to work in the legal department of Proctor & Gamble, and later as executive director of the Hard Road to Glory sports hall of fame. He died in 2010, but his family’s sports legacy lives on: In 2014, his son, quarterback Russell Wilson, led the Seattle Seahawks to victory in Super Bowl XLVIII.
13. Which one of these famous juniors did NOT go to UVA Law?
D) William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of the National Review, is not an alum.
When Franklin Roosevelt Jr. ’40 graduated from the Law School on June 10, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his famous “hand that held the dagger” speech at UVA’s Memorial Gym. The morning of the ceremony, Italy had declared war on Britain and France. In his graduation speech, Roosevelt said the country “has manifested disregard for the rights and security of other nations,” referring to the move as a knife “into the back of its neighbor.” The New York Times reported that the audience broke into cheers, applauded and stamped their feet as the president neared the end of his speech.
The younger Roosevelt went on to serve as a naval officer in World War II, a U.S. congressman and chairman of the Equal Employment Commission.
Thurgood Marshall Jr. ’81 went on to work in the Clinton administration as assistant to the president and White House Cabinet secretary. He also coordinated the federal government’s efforts in preparing for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Thurgood Marshall Sr., the groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court justice and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, served as a judge for the William Minor Lile Moot Court’s 50th anniversary competition and was the commencement speaker at UVA’s graduation in 1978. Alumni created the Thurgood Marshall Research Professorship in Law in 2004.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’82 went on to become a noted environmentalist. He is president of the board of Waterkeeper Alliance, chairman of the World Mercury Project and former senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
—Eric Williamson and Mary Wood