Law Schools
Harvard Law Tops for Donations
Posted Jan 29, 2008, 01:14 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Harvard Law School is leading the nation’s top law schools in an era of record-breaking donations, raking in nearly $215 million in the last five years.
It is followed by New York University and Yale law schools, which took in $169.7 million and $111.7 million respectively in the same half decade, the National Law Journal reports.
Elite schools are using the money to hire specialized faculty members, expand facilities, provide scholarships, open student-run legal clinics and forgive loans for public-interest grads. The extra cash has even sparked a talent war, as top professors are leaping from one school to another for more money.
TaxProf Blog noted the story and tied it to another NLJ report that said Florida lawmakers are cutting the budget for state law schools, causing a shortfall of $1 billion. The funding problems are prompting three out of four of the state’s law schools to announce they will seek tuition increases of 10 percent next year.