Canadian Lawyer 4Students

million by himself with one of the larg- est history, and law firms were again a sig- nificant source of funds. National firms Davis LLP and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP each gave $1 million, as did B.C. stalwarts Richards Buell Sutton LLP and Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy LLP. Jeffrey Lowe, managing partner of 140-year-old Richards Buell Sutton, says the landmark building project was a perfect opportunity to honour the firm's long relationship with the univer- sity. The firm helped draſt the legislation that brought UBC into existence in 1908, and has been its legal counsel in the century ever since. "The old law school was a bit of a concrete bunker and this is an extraordinary project," says Lowe. "It checked a lot of boxes for us, because UBC is such a focus for us, whether it's community involvement or recruitment. We draw a lot of our people from the law school." According to Hilton, Canadian law law school donations in Canadian schools rely much more heavily on law firms for contributions than their Amer- ican counterparts. In addition to being a large source of alumni, the collective nature of a firm can give the extra peer- pressured spur Canadians sometimes need given our less-ingrained philan- thropic culture. "I' are much more generous than Ameri- can firms. The philanthropy in the U.S. is a much more individualistic model, so you get individuals who write a cheque each year to their local hospital, the art gallery, and their old law school, d say our law firms Hilton. Large capital campaigns serve a galvanizing function, she says. "They're effective for mobilizing donors who have maybe not been writing a cheque every year since graduation. People are really generous when they can see the case for giving right in front of them." For deans, that means schmoozing " says donation came from outside that group, when businessman and philanthro- pist Seymour Schulich pledged a mas- sive $20-million endowment that was enough to see the whole faculty renamed in his honour. Annually, the school collects about one-fiſth of its total budget from a vari- ety of sources outside of tuition, govern- ment, and the university, including large one-time donations, and regular smaller contributors. Much of Schulich's contri- bution goes towards bursaries and schol- arships that Brooks says help the school improve the quality of the students en- tering each year. But law firms are rarely a homoge- law firms is an increasingly important part of the job. Brooks says about one- third of her time is spent on alumni re- lations and fundraising efforts. She says Dalhousie's 70,000 alumni are the most likely source of donated funds, although the law school's most significant recent neous group, and a multitude of almas mater means competition for cash. Since the unveiling of its $2.5-million charitable causes fund in the mid-1990s, Oslers partner George Valentini says he's noticed a shiſt in the role of law school deans. "Deans now are not a passive group of people anymore. They're out there hustling for their schools. They're marketing to us," he says. Oslers' fund 30 F A L L 2012 C ANADIAN Lawy er 4STUDENTS Untitled-2 1 12-07-18 9:53 AM

• Cover