The evidence of this institution’s greatness has never been stronger, and the case for sustaining it has never been more compelling.

Generation after generation, Boalt Hall has drawn together a remarkable intellectual community: bright, searching and superbly qualified students drawn to an institution admired for its brilliant and accomplished faculty. It’s a center of learning renowned for innovation in the professional preparation of leaders, boldness in creating knowledge that matters, and engagement in every sphere of the law, government and society.

No friend of Boalt, no admirer of our mission, should assume that our greatness is an easy inevitability. Boalt faces many serious challenges, among them a precipitous drop in state support to our school, a surge in the tuition and fees we must charge students, a continuing lack of capital essential for basic facilities needs, and stiffening competition for the best faculty and student talent. No one has ever accused me of being a reckless optimist, but I am certain that a solution to these challenges lies within our grasp. It's a solution, however, that requires our community to adopt a new mindset regarding the shared responsibility for ensuring that Boalt flourishes. Given the undeniable realities of the state budget and the ambitions of our competitors, the future we all want for Boalt requires an added measure of commitment from alumni and friends. With such commitment we will build upon Boalt’s great tradition and raise it to new heights of accomplishment and leadership.

It’s in that spirit that we’re launching The Campaign for Boalt Hall—a drive to raise $125 million as the centerpiece of a long-term effort to invest in Boalt Hall’s key priorities. The ambition of our new goal is more than matched by the ambition we have for what the campaign will help support. The four main pillars of our effort—detailed in our Campaign for Boalt Hall website—include:

• a 40 percent increase in the size of our core faculty;
• a collection of new and expanded multidisciplinary research centers to focus innovative work on research, policy, practice and curriculum;
• updating our existing facilities to house our ambitions; and
• investments in financial aid to ensure access to Boalt, freedom of career choice to debt-burdened graduates, and the special excellence and richness characteristic of the Boalt Hall student body today.

I often say that there are more tough problems than there are terrific people to tackle them. So, we are justly proud that we produce effective leaders for the profession, for communities, and for organizations both public and private. I also argue that no major challenge facing the state, the nation or the world can be met without lawyers and the law playing a key role, and quite often a leading role. So, the need for a world-class law school, committed to making a difference, has never been greater.

I see tremendous fiscal challenges ahead, but also great opportunities for us to lead by building Boalt’s new greatness. Be proud of Boalt. Invest in Boalt. Join us.

Christopher Edley, Jr.
Dean and Professor of Law