George Rutherglen joined Virginia's law faculty in 1976. He teaches admiralty, civil procedure, employment discrimination and professional responsibility.

While he was a student at law school, Rutherglen was articles editor of the California Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. After graduation, he clerked for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Diego, and Justices William O. Douglas and John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rutherglen has chaired the advisory committee on Fourth Circuit Rules and served as director of the Graduate Program for Judges at the Law School. He has written widely on employment discrimination, civil rights and admiralty.