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

UCLAW Announces $100 Million Campaign

UCLA School of Law announces:

… that it has launched a campaign to raise $100 million to increase student scholarships, attract and retain faculty and support centers and institutes that inform law and public policy.

“We are an ambitious law school and this is an ambitious plan,” said Dean Michael H. Schill in announcing the campaign and goal at a meeting of 150 prominent alumni and friends of the law school. “It reflects a fundamental shift in the funding paradigm for UCLA Law.  This funding will enable us to secure our future as one of the nation’s leading law schools in terms of the quality of our students, the scholarship of our faculty and the influence of our centers and institutes.” ...

Kenneth Ziffren ‘65, chairman of the campaign and a founding partner of Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca, Fischer, Gilbert-Lurie, Stiffelman, Cook, Johnson, Lande & Wolf LLP, noted that state funding has declined to 37% of the law school’s resources and was expected to fall further. “I am extremely impressed with the law school’s ambitious plans and am confident that this campaign will receive strong support from our alumni and friends. It is imperative that we continue to compete successfully for the most talented students and most accomplished faculty in the nation.  We can only do that with private resources.” ...

Founded in 1949, UCLA School of Law is the youngest of the nation’s top 20 law schools and has one of the smallest endowments. “There is intense competition among law schools for the best and most diverse students and for world-class faculty,” said Schill. “The endowment raised through this campaign will enable us to compete more effectively against older, better financed and mostly private law schools.”

In addition to seeking funding for student scholarships and to attract and retain a world-class faculty, the campaign will also seek support for law school clinics, centers and programs, in fields such as business law and policy, law and philosophy, critical race studies, entertainment, media and intellectual property, human rights and environmental law. “Through these programs and in our clinics we not only affect law and policy, we also give our students the opportunity to experience the law as it is practiced,” noted Schill. ...

The Daily Bruin reports:

Since the planning phase of the campaign began in July 2005, the School of Law has received $44.3 million from several large donations. The remaining $56 million is expected to come largely from within the alumni circuit.

Personally, I think what we need to raise money for is a Wine and the Law Center. Second choice: Corporate Governance and the Law Center. In either case, with a very generous stipend and release time for the director, a large staff of minions, and a fractional share in a jet.