Areas of Support

If you would like to support all areas of the Southwestern experience, give to the Annual Fund. Your gift to the Annual Fund enables Southwestern to respond to its highest-priority needs. Gifts to the Annual Fund also provide scholarships to qualified students with major financial need who would otherwise be precluded from attending law school. You will be supporting student academic programs such as the Writing Center, Academic Success and Bar-Related Programs, and the Dean's Fellows Program. Your gift will also support student organizations and publications such as the Student Bar Association, Moot Court, Negotiation and Trial Advocacy Honors Programs, Southwestern Law Review, and Southwestern Journal of International Law, in addition to professional development and faculty research.

Scholarships are essential to Southwestern’s ability to compete with other law schools to recruit a diverse and talented entering class each year and to reward and retain the most dedicated and promising students as they progress through their studies. Many students begin their legal education with significant undergraduate debt, and continuing financial hardship can impact their choice of school and eventually limit their opportunity to pursue public-service careers. If you would like 100% of your gift to go toward scholarships, give to the General Scholarship Fund or consider endowing a scholarship of your own.

One of the cornerstones of all leading law schools is an excellent faculty. Southwestern’s faculty members have taught and practiced law around the country. They have distinguished themselves as accessible and caring teachers and as nationally recognized experts in many areas of the law, from criminal procedure to national security law. As competition increases among law schools, Southwestern must have the resources available to keep pace. If you would like to support our faculty, give to one of our existing faculty chairs or professorships, or consider endowing one of your own.

A well-rounded program of legal education requires more than gifted teaching, a comprehensive curriculum, and modern classrooms. Students need and expect a range of excellent externships, clinics, public-service opportunities, interscholastic competitions, dynamic guest speakers, and authentic networking opportunities that will help them connect theory and doctrine with the actual practice of law.

While Southwestern has long offered excellent Honors Programs and experiential opportunities, to continue as a national leader in this area, we must continue to invest and innovate. We need donor support so that we can expand clinical offers, leverage additional externship placements, develop cutting-edge courses, retain outstanding adjunct professors, and provide students with the ability to seek individualized professional development opportunities off campus.

Endowed lectureship series will bring inspiring leaders to campus. Summer work stipends will enable more students to gain legal experience in public service and nonprofit agencies. Expanded clinics and externships allow more students to gain experience representing actual clinics with real legal problems to solve. Contributing to the professional development fund allows students to attend off-campus conferences and programs to gain knowledge about specific practice areas and build their networks for future opportunities.

Honor your legacy or an individual who positively impacted your life by creating a new endowed fund. We have a range of opportunities, including scholarships, chairs, professorships, special programs, physical spaces, and more that you can name. To learn more contact Jeff Poltorak, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, at jpoltorak@swlaw.edu or by calling 213-738-6814.