The donations are in, and this year’s Partners in Leadership campaign exceeded its lofty $2 million fundraising goal by more than 10 percent. It’s a new record for the program… and then some.
“The success of this year’s campaign gives us plenty to brag about and a great deal to be thankful for,” said Dean Christopher Edley. “Firm captains heard our bold ambitions for Boalt and matched them with record-breaking ambitions of their own. They set the bar high and then jumped right over it.”
The annual campaign challenges law firms with five or more Boalt grads to achieve 100 percent giving among their alumni. The number of firms participating has grown each year since the program’s inception in 2003, says Yury Kapgan ’01, the 2006-07 campaign chair. This year 59 firms and corporations—led by 100 volunteer captains and representing more than 1,000 alumni—accepted the challenge.
“The reception by Boalt alumni has been tremendous,” said Kapgan, who is also an intellectual property attorney with Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles and a board member of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association. “There’s been a lot of excitement during this campaign. It’s all part of an effort to keep Boalt producing the best lawyers in the country.”
Kapgan’s message to alums—especially those who have lost touch with the law school—has been to help spread the word that Boalt’s public funding base has been diminishing and that, like many public universities, the school relies more and more on private funds. “It’s our job to make our grads feel like they’re still connected to Boalt, that it’s still their school and it needs their help,” he said.
33 law firms attained 100 percent participation—including Hengeler Mueller in Germany, the program’s first internationally based firm. In all, more than 750 alumni made gifts totaling more than $2.2 million to the law school.
Those 33 firms have been invited to join Dean Edley at the Spotlight on Leadership reception on August 30. This invitation-only event is a chance to celebrate the campaign’s success and give special thanks to the firm captains. The captains will have the unique opportunity to meet and mingle with Boalt students in the Darling Courtyard, where they can share insights about their practice specialties and the work culture at their firms with students seeking summer positions and eventual full-time jobs.
If your firm wishes to accept the challenge to become Partners in Leadership with Boalt, please contact partners@law.berkeley.edu or call 510.642.7574.