$202 million total sets record among U.S. law schools
U.Va. Law School campaign far surpasses original goal -- and all expectations

Staff Report

The dean of U.Va.'s School of Law, Robert E. Scott, announced the close of the school's seven-year campaign earlier this week, after raising a record-setting $202 million. That number far exceeds the campaign's original $50 million goal, and places U.Va. at the top of law school fund-raising efforts nationwide.

"We thought it was a far-reaching goal at the time, but it quickly became evident that we would surpass it," Scott said. "We next raised the goal to $75 million, then in 1998 we passed $100 million. At that point we stopped chasing our goal and realized we were chasing peer schools. Other great law schools have raised significant sums, but none has crossed the $200 million threshold."

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, New York University's law school set the previous record in 1998 with a campaign total of $185 million.

Scott said he is especially grateful to the Law School's alumni for their loyal support, which he credited with helping the school stretch beyond its earlier expectations. Seventy percent of U.Va.'s nearly 13,000 law alumni participated in the campaign.

"Bob Scott and his faculty are to be congratulated for this extraordinary achievement," said University President John T. Casteen III. "Their dedication and the generosity of their loyal alumni during the campaign have brought in resources that will help transform what was already a great law school into a national powerhouse." 

The campaign began with Scott spearheading the most ambitious capital improvement project in the school's history, a $30 million renovation that was the result of the generosity of numerous school donors, including Law School alumnus David A. Harrison III, one of the campaign's most committed participants and for whom the law grounds are now named. The final capital project of the Law School campaign, a $5 million student-faculty center, will be completed within the next two years.

In addition to expanding the school's buildings and grounds, the campaign has had a significant impact on academic areas, including the establishment of 18 faculty professorships and 34 student scholarships, as well as the creation of public service fellowships and a loan assistance program for graduates seeking public service careers.

The campaign also has enabled Scott and his faculty to introduce a number of innovative programs. The "Ethical Values" seminars, taught in faculty homes, provide insights into the moral and ethical responsibilities of the lawyer as public citizen -- one of the main tenets of studying law at Thomas Jefferson's university. The Principles & Practice Program, the first of its kind in the country, teams law professors with practitioners and judges in the classroom for a semester of applying legal theory to real-life situations.

The U.Va. Law School, consistently ranked among the top 10 law schools, is known for its intellectual rigor, dynamic teaching and rich diversity of courses. The school fosters creative scholarship in all aspects of law, promoting a greater understanding of the law's ever-evolving role in contemporary society.