UCLA LAW FIRM CHALLENGE 2010-2011
The Law Firm Challenge reconnects UCLA School of Law’s alumni, each year encouraging participants to make regular, annual contributions to the school, particularly the UCLA Law Fund. The school owes a great deal to the representatives of the participating Challenge firms and the alumni at those firms for their leading role in expanding the connections between their firms and the school and reinvigorating the Law Annual Fund. Please note that ALL gifts made to the law school, not merely those to the UCLA Law Fund, are applied to firm participation rates.
A note from Jim Barrall '75, Founding Chair of the UCLA Law Firm Challenge:
UCLA Law Firm Challenge: Another record-breaking year
The UCLA Law Firm Challenge once again set new records this year, as it has each year since its inception in 2002. In 2011, 1435 alumni at 95 law firms took on the Challenge, and of those alumni, a remarkable 79% made a gift to the school, with 50 of our firms getting to 100% support (you can see our most recent results
here). These numbers are what make ours the top Law Firm Challenge in the nation.
The Challenge is about more than us heralding our annual records however (though I do believe a little bragging is in order). The Challenge has also helped drive UCLA Law’s overall annual alumni giving percentage to 30% in 2011, placing us 4th among our fellow top-tier law schools. This is especially notable since it was only nine years ago, when we were motivated to start the Challenge, that the percentage of our alumni who made a gift was tied for last place among the nation's top 20 law schools. As we know, these numbers are often viewed as a proxy for alumni satisfaction and are an important factor in law school rankings.
Most importantly, the Challenge is helping to create a culture of alumni involvement and giving back at a time when public institutions like UCLA Law are being funded less and less by the state. Because of California’s budget cuts, today’s students and recent graduates are burdened with tuition costs and debt that are disproportionate to what most of us experienced in our law school years. This means that private support from friends and alumni is critically important to keeping the school competitive with our better endowed private and public school peers.
But the Challenge is not all about work and showing your financial support! Over the years, we have built a cadre of caring alumni, all of whom enjoyed and value their UCLA Law education and who want to get involved and give back. The alumni who are active in the Law Firm Challenge have fun and are proud to be part of the successes of the Challenge and the growing excellence of the school. We hold events throughout the year for our firm representatives and friends at the school, which allows us to build on the collegiality and camaraderie that is a hallmark of UCLA Law’s alumni culture. And our work together gives our law firms an opportunity for greater involvement in UCLA Law and greater exposure Los Angeles legal community.
If you and your firm are not already in the Challenge, we encourage you to join us. You will find great satisfaction and personal opportunities in it. Please contact Michelle deBaroncelli at (310) 206-1170 or
debaroncelli@law.ucla.edu to enroll your firm in the Challenge.
Finally, many thanks to all of our Challenge law firm representatives for your great work and spirit. Let’s set new records this year, our 10th year of the Challenge.
James D. C. Barrall '75
UCLA Law Firm Challenge Founding Chair
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