Canadian Lawyer 4Students

BY MICHAEL MCKIERNAN Part of private donor Peter Allard's $11.86- million gift supported the construction of UBC Faculty of Law's new building. External donations have become integral to the health of law schools but it's a delicate balance both within the schools and at the law firms that provide much of the funding. THE T dingy old space with fewer electrical out- lets than doors, and whose iff y acoustics, stale air, and dim lighting mean it bears a closer resemblance to a dungeon than a temple of learning. "We all know what it's like to sit in a lousy room," says Kim Brooks, the dean at Dalhousie Univer- sity's Schulich School of Law. But with operational budgets pushed oday's law students are 21st- century creatures, but the same can't always be said for the classrooms they call home for a large part of the day. Most know at least one to the limit and government funding tak- ing hits over the last couple of decades, Dalhousie, like most other law schools, has turned to private donors to fi ll in the gaps. "It's very hard to set aside a chunk of money to do those renovations, even though they're really important. Stu- dents are engaged with technology in ways that they weren't 20 years ago, but getting classrooms that are designed to accommodate the way they engage is seen as a bit of a luxury in today's univer- sity climate, " says Brooks. "So law fi rms and private individuals have helped us out with some very signifi cant contribu- tions." Tuition hikes may help boost law revenue, but internal fi rewalls school make external benefactors particularly crucial when it comes to construction projects, according to Kate Hilton, as- sistant dean in the advancement offi ce of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. "Your tuition money and your govern- ment grant will cover basic expenses, but typically tuition dollars can't be used for capital projects," she says. "So whenever you want to do anything in addition to the essential functions, you really need private philanthropy to step in." In November 2011, U of T launched a campaign to raise $53 million to fund a new building to house the faculty aſt er three external reviews and student feed- back cited shortcomings in the physical facilities as hindrances to the faculty's research and leadership capabilities. Th e new addition, designed by Toronto ar- chitects Hariri Pontarini, will increase space by 50 per cent, and the money raised will also cover work on the ex- isting Bora Laskin Law Library and the faculty's current home in the heritage building Flavelle House. Law fi rms Torys LLP and Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP kick-started the campaign, with each unveiling a $2-million donation towards the target on the launch date. Th e University of British Columbia's THE ASK OF law school also recently completed a ma- jor building project, moving into its new $56-million home, Allard Hall, last fall. More than half that total was generated in a fundraising campaign targeting the local legal community. "We were just thrilled with the response and the enthu- siasm they showed, the law faculty's assistant dean of exter- nal relations, who managed the fund- raising campaign, and is hoping to keep the momentum going by drumming up money for new projects involving cen- tres for business law and environmental law. "Now that we have this wonderful infrastructure, we can pivot and focus on investments in students and faculty and diff erent programs," she says. For the new UBC building, alum- nus Peter Allard kicked in almost $12 " says Kari Streelasky, C ANADIAN Lawyer 4STUDENTS FALL 2012 29 UBC ART

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