​​UCLA School of Law Receives Transformative $10 Million Gift From Alumnus Lowell Milken

UCLA School of Law has received a transformative $10 million gift — the largest single gift in the school's history. The $10 million gift from 2009 Public Service Alumnus of the Year Lowell Milken '73, a leading philanthropist and pioneer in education reform, establishes the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy. The institute's creation is the culmination of a three-year process of exploration initiated by UCLA Law leadership with Milken to develop initiatives in business and law that will serve students, faculty and the greater community through innovative research, hands-on skills training and real-world problem-solving. 

To read more about the gift and the Institute, please click here.


 Lowell Milken ’73 and Dean Rachel F. Moran at UCLA  
 School of Law
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Andrew M. Kaufman named head of UCLA's Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy

Andrew M. Kaufman, a professor at Vanderbilt University Law School and formerly a senior transactional partner and now "of counsel" in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, has been appointed executive director of the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law.

The Lowell Milken Institute was established in 2011 by a $10 million gift from UCLA Law's 2009 Public Service Alumnus of the Year, Lowell Milken '73, a leading philanthropist and pioneer in education reform.

​"We are delighted to welcome Andy Kaufman to UCLA School of Law," said UCLA Law dean Rachel F. Moran. "His real-world experience in practice and his teaching experience in transactional law make him an ideal choice to serve as founding executive director of the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy."

Professor Eric M. Zolt, faculty director of the Lowell Milken Institute, added, "We are excited about the opportunity to work with Andy to make an already excellent business law and policy program even better."

The Lowell Milken Institute influences the field of business law and policy through innovative research, targeted policy analysis and sophisticated training that prepares UCLA School of Law students to become leaders in an entrepreneurial economy.

Kaufman, founder and former head of Kirkland & Ellis' debt finance group, received his bachelor's degree (cum laude) from Yale University in 1971 and his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1974, where he was editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review and was elected to Order of the Coif.

He is presently a member of the TriBar Opinion Committee, a well-respected non-partisan panel addressing legal opinions in transactional practice, and serves as program chair for the national Working Group on Legal Opinions.

He is also a member of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee, the Commercial Financial Services Committee, the Legal Opinions Committee and the Audit Responses Committee for the American Bar Association Section of Business Law.

Kaufman lectures and writes frequently on financing, commercial law and legal-opinion issues at national professional seminars and programs and in related publications. Since 2009, he has been a professor of the practice of law in the law and business program at Vanderbilt University Law School, teaching courses on secured transactions, transactional practice, leveraged buyouts and syndicated loan transactions in commercial lending. At Vanderbilt, he also serves on the dean's board of advisors.

Kaufman is admitted to practice in Illinois, Texas and Georgia. He and his wife, Michele, will be relocating to Los Angeles later this spring.