Alumni and friends raised $181.2 million for UCLA School of Law during the Centennial Campaign for UCLA, far exceeding the school’s goal during the campus-wide fundraising drive that was designed to prepare the university for its second century of excellence.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of UCLA, the Centennial Campaign raised $5.49 billion.

At UCLA Law, the Centennial Campaign, which ended in December 2019, sparked generosity on an unprecedented scale. More than 10,000 donors contributed more than 30,000 gifts to a wide array of student scholarships, endowed faculty chairs, academic institutes, impactful advocacy efforts and more. The law school surpassed its fundraising goal for the campaign by more than $31 million.

“My heartfelt thanks to everyone who made a contribution, large or small, during this incredible effort,” says Dean Jennifer L. Mnookin. “Our alumni, professors, students and friends have propelled our stellar law school to even greater heights, and the results of their generosity will make a huge difference as we develop new generations of lawyers and leaders.”

Forty-two gifts were of $1 million or more, and individuals from 37 countries contributed. Donors gave or pledged nearly $99 million to the school’s endowment during the campaign. Gifts received during the campaign increased the school’s endowment by 69%, propelling the fund past $200 million for the first time.

Donations made or committed to UCLA Law during the campaign created 57 new scholarships, attracting and benefiting many of the most promising law students in the nation.

The school launched seven endowed full-tuition scholarships as a result of campaign gifts. These included scholarships awarded through the Achievement Fellowship program, which since its 2017 founding has supported 24 exceptional students who overcame substantial obstacles before enrolling in law school, as well as scholarships created in honor of founding faculty member Roscoe Pound and distinguished alumni Dorothy Wright Nelson ’53 and Billy Mills ’54.

Donors also endowed eight new faculty chairs, allowing UCLA Law to bring in or retain distinguished scholars across disciplines including human rights, taxation, legal ethics and international and comparative law. Among those honored with chairs in their names were Dean Emerita Rachel Moran, Interim Dean Emeritus Stephen Yeazell and Professor Emeritus Eric Zolt. The single most generous donors to endowed faculty chairs at the law school during this period were alumnus Ralph Shapiro ’58 and Shirley Shapiro, who funded two chairs and contributed generously to several others.

UCLA Law opened six major centers of scholarship and practice as the result of campaign gifts: the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy; the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law; the Promise Institute for Human Rights, founded with a $20 million donation, the largest single gift in the history of UCLA Law; the A. Barry Cappello Program in Trial Advocacy; and, most recently, the Institute for Law, Technology and Policy and the Center for Immigration Law and Policy.

Additional generous gifts deepened the impact of other well-established centers, including the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy and the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy.

A great variety of symposia, fellowships, programs and other major events, many of them annual summits that draw leading members of the academy and profession to UCLA Law, also received considerable boosts from giving during the Centennial Campaign.

“From the commitments of Dean’s Circle members to the visionary gifts of our largest donors, and from the class gifts offered by our graduating students to the contributions of those alumni who returned for their reunions, we witnessed an incredible outpouring of support and love for UCLA Law,” says Mnookin. “Our community of students, educators and alumni will truly feel the positive impact of these contributions every day.”