Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Law School Alumni Support

From the National Law Journal:

Top law schools are reporting record-breaking donations that are helping to cover tuition costs, hire faculty and promote public interest programs. But in the world of fundraising, apparently it’s never enough. ...

Columbia is one of several elite law schools buoyed by recent huge gifts. Harvard, the king of the fundraisers, has received $214.9 million in donations in the past five years. New York University School of Law has collected $169.7 million since 2003 and Yale Law School, with a student body much smaller than its competitors, has garnered $111.7 million in five years. ...

Although fundraising is “separate and apart from rankings,” said Michael Schill, dean of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, the annual publication can influence how effectively they use that money once it comes in.

“It’s crazy,” Schill said. “In a business, you’d be ranked on how cheaply you deliver a product. In law schools, you get a higher ranking if you spend more money.” UCLA law school in April will publicly launch a $100 million campaign. Schill expects to have about 50% of that amount pledged by April.

BTW, UCLA accepts gifts online.