A newsletter from the William Mitchell Institutional Advancement Office
The Law has Been Good to Me
Berreman ‘70: Giving Back to Mitchell
Tom Berreman ‘70 and Joanne Kane
When Tom Berreman ‘70 attended
William Mitchell College of Law nearly all of the students worked full time at their jobs during the day and attended law school in the evening. In addition to this rigorous work and school schedule, many of the students were married and raising families. Berreman was no different. He ran his own business during the day – a hardware store – and attended night school at William Mitchell. Back then, he and his wife joked that they had heard that going to evening law school was a good form of birth control. (It didn’t work for them, as a fourth child joined the family during Berreman’s second year at Mitchell.) When Tom graduated, he was offered a job at West Publishing, where he spent his career. Like many of William Mitchell’s alumni who attended school in the
evenings after work, Berreman found that it was not easy to develop close relationships with his classmates. Typically he would rush to the school from work and then dash home to catch a glimpse of his family, grab a bite to eat, sleep, and then get up for an early morning study session before another day at work. It was tough, but he got through it. Even though it was difficult, Berreman is appreciative of the opportunity that William Mitchell provided. Without William Mitchell, the only school that offered a part-time program, Berreman said he would not have been able to get his law degree that led to a lifelong career that he enjoyed so much. In talking with William Mitchell alumni, the phrase “the law has been good to me,” is uttered again and again. When Berreman met with the Dean of the Law School and heard about the critical need for scholarships, he felt this was his chance to give back some of what William Mitchell had given him. He started the Thomas H. Berreman Scholarship Endowment to help bright law students beginning their second year of law school and who had performed well in their first year but had not received any academic scholarships. “I decided to go beyond a basic scholarship and attempt to fill a special need,” Berreman said. “The college was lacking in this type of scholarship that could benefit secondyear students who might consider dropping out or transferring for financial reasons.” Wanting to make a Continued on Page 3
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I decided to go beyond a basic scholarship and attempt to fill a special need. The college was lacking in this type of scholarship that could benefit second-year students who might consider dropping out or transferring for financial reasons.
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Deferring Capital Gains Taxes (forever) with Section 1031 Thursday, December 6, 2007 7:30–9 am Adjunct Professor Jeff Peterson discusses deferring capital gains taxes (forever) with Section 1031 Tax Exchanges. Application will be made for 1 CLE credit. Cost: $10. Location: William Mitchell campus, Room 319.
FALL 2007
Building a Legacy