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Northwestern law school scores $10M gift
JENN BALLARD
Law Bulletin staff writer
Published: July 30, 2013
Northwestern University School of Law will receive a $10 million donation — a gift the institution's dean wants to use to help students pay for their education.
"We want to keep tuition at a manageable level and reduce the enormous burdens of debt that our law students, like all law students, face in this difficult economy," said Daniel B. Rodriguez, the school's dean.
Tuition for the upcoming school year is $54,764.
"Lowering those burdens by reducing student-debt burdens is directly dependent on our ability to bring in nontuition money and unrestricted gifts like this," Rodriguez said. "They allow us the bandwidth to make a dent in it."
The gift — from alumnus J. Landis Martin and his wife, Sharon — will also help Northwestern compete with other law schools, Rodriguez said.
"We want to enhance our academic programs — in our teaching, in our support of advocacy and our clinic and our scholarly agenda across the board at the high level that it is," he said.
"What students expect, what lawyers in the community expect and what folks thinking about going to law school expect is that the law schools square the circle — which by that I mean keep very high-quality, resource-intensive programs and keep doing what we're doing reasonably well while keeping the costs down."
Martin, a Northwestern University trustee, received a degree in business from the school in 1968 and a law degree four years later.
Martin has been a significant donor to Northwestern for more than 30 years, making his first contribution — a gift of $50 — to the law school's annual fund in 1975.
In January, Northwestern announced the Martins' plan to donate $15 million to support university's athletics and recreation programs.
"Lanny and Sharon are great friends, and their generosity and support have benefited Northwestern in so many ways," Northwestern President Morton Schapiro said in a statement. "Their latest gift will be critically important in advancing the law school."
Paul A. Meister, Northwestern Law Board chairman and managing director and vice chairman at Grosvenor Capital Management LP, said the donation helps Rodriguez in his goal to garner more graduates' support.
"He hopes to increase the overall level of giving by alumni so that Northwestern can remain competitive with its peer schools in terms of academic offerings, quality of faculty and facilities," Meister said. "This gift by Lanny and Sharon, who are extraordinary supporters of the school, is an enormous step in that direction."
From 1973 to 1987, Martin worked as a law firm associate and then partner and member of the executive and firm committees at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, specializing in mergers and acquisitions.
From 1987 to 2003, he was CEO and president of NL Industries Inc., a specialty chemical producer with operations in the U.S., Canada, Belgium, Germany and Norway.
From 1989 to 2005, he was chairman and CEO of Titanium Metals Corp., the world's largest supplier of titanium used in aerospace and other industrial applications.
In 2005, Martin founded Platte River Equity, a private equity investment firm in Denver focused on small- and middle-market operating companies.
Martin was not available for comment.
Rodriguez said Martin exemplifies the "eclectic, entrepreneurial careers that our law school prepares our students to undertake."
"One of the nifty pieces of this story to me is that someone with a traditional law degree has pursued a nontraditional path that has put his family in the position to make these kind of fabulous gifts," he said.
"It sends a message to our students about the versatility of their legal training at Northwestern. I hope it sends a signal of ambition and risk-taking that sometimes it pays off, like it paid off for his family and the charities they support."
Emerson Tiller, the J. Landis Martin professor of law and business at Northwestern, said he's seen firsthand Martin's passion for education over the last five years.
"He's a very insightful guy who gives extremely insightful advice about what's valuable to a lawyer and to a businessperson," Tiller said.
"His accomplishments and experience in life, he reflects those back on the institution in a very positive way. Every engagement with him is a new experience that's beneficial to everybody."