I decided to serve as chair of this campaign because I strongly believe this is a pivotal time for the University of Michigan Law School. Volunteer efforts and financial support from all Michigan alumni are essential to achieving the campaign’s goal of preserving the level of excellence long associated with our Law School.

Our specific campaign objectives all contribute to this goal. First, we want to increase alumni support of and participation in the Law School Fund. The Law School Fund supplements the programs and people of this institution, thereby helping to make the Michigan Difference.  We have one of the strongest alumni communities of any law school, and yet the recent level of giving back to Michigan has fallen behind that of our peer institutions.  It is imperative that all alumni make an additional commitment to Michigan Law through giving generously to the Law School Fund.

Secondly, the building expansion project will create the spaces the Law School needs to carry out its mission for the next century. In recent years, Harvard, New York University, Columbia, Chicago, Penn, Stanford, the University of Virginia, and Yale have all engaged in very aggressive building projects that expand both the breadth and depth of educational opportunities available to our students. By contrast, the last Michigan Law building was completed in 1983, and the current facilities limit our ability to provide a fully competitive range of educational opportunities and related faculty-student interchange. The design and function of the expansion will respect the vision of William Cook, whose gift for facilities and endowment elevated Michigan Law to world-class status, while enabling the Law School to develop as it must.

I also want to underscore the importance of the increase in endowment funds both for student assistance and faculty support. It is absolutely essential that the Law School retain the ability to recruit and retain great faculty and to ensure that the brightest students have access to a Michigan Law education. Faculty and students are at the heart of our mission. Our great Law School must have the resources to keep the quality of its education at the current high level.

We have all benefited in so many ways from our association with Michigan Law. I urge you to share in the responsibility of ensuring the same opportunities for future generations. My deepest thanks to all who have already given of their time and resources to this important initiative.

Best regards,



Bruce Bickner
Campaign Chair