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WARDLAWS ESTABLISH SCHOLARSHIP TO SUPPORT
by UCLA Law
Wardlaws establish scholarship to support UCLA Law’s most promising students
Distinguished UCLA School of Law alumni Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw ’79 and her husband, William Wardlaw ’72, have founded a scholarship to promote the success of promising legal scholars throughout their UCLA Law education.
The Honorable Kim McLane and William Wardlaw Endowed Merit Scholarship awards full tuition to one student for three years. A new student will be selected each school year based on a rigorous assessment of such criteria as exceptional academic merit, superior leadership skills, commitment to the community and equal justice for all, and a demonstrated dedication to the highest standards of integrity. The endowed scholarship was created by a $1 million gift pledged by the Wardlaws in 2016, during the Centennial Campaign for UCLA.
“As a proud UCLA Law alumna, I am grateful that Bill and I are able to help advance UCLA Law’s mission of access, academic excellence, and commitment to justice,” says Kim Wardlaw, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. “My UCLA undergraduate education, and especially UCLA Law School, opened untold numbers of doors for me throughout my career, and I am humbled to be able to give back to the school to help its outstanding law students achieve their dreams of success and service.”
Wardlaw earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, at UCLA and her J.D. at UCLA Law, where she served on the Law Review, was awarded the Order of the Coif, and was named the outstanding graduate of the Class of 1979. A native Californian, she became the first Hispanic American woman on a federal appeals court when President William Clinton appointed her to the 9th Circuit in 1998. She had previously served as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and as a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, where she and Bill Wardlaw met. She also serves on the UCLA Law Board of Advisors and is a founding board member of the UCLA Law Women LEAD network. Bill Wardlaw also served on the UCLA Law Review and was awarded the Order of the Coif. He left the practice of law to spend the last 35 years as a partner in the private equity firm Freeman Spogli. UCLA Law is a meaningful part of both the Wardlaws’ lives. Their son, Billy ’19, also attended UCLA Law School, and their daughter, Katie, is currently a 3L.
Bill Wardlaw says, “UCLA Law is important to our entire family, and we are honored to play a small part helping to educate many of the best legal minds in the nation, as they become among the country’s top lawyers.” Says Interim Dean Russell Korobkin, “This scholarship truly underscores something that I and many others in the UCLA Law community have known for a long, long time: Through their professional successes and the virtue of giving back that they model so well and, apparently, effortlessly, Kim and Bill Wardlaw are, quite simply, an inspiration. Thanks to their outstanding dedication to our law school and commitment to our students, it’s exciting to know that many more UCLA Law students and graduates will be following in their incredible footsteps.”
—KIM MCLANE WARDLAW ’79
Stu Walter
Charles R. Williams
CHARLES R. WILLIAMS AND STU WALTER GIVE $3 MILLION TO THE WILLIAMS INSTITUTE
In March 2022, Williams Institute founders Charles R. Williams and Stu Walter made a gift to the institute of more than $3 million. Their generous donation will support the institute’s endowment and fund a new senior scholar position.
The Williams Institute was founded in 2001 with an initial gift of $2.5 million from Williams and Walter. At the time, it was the largest donation ever made to an academic program focused on LGBT issues. It also allowed for the creation of the very first law school–based center dedicated to LGBT law and public policy in the U.S. Over the past 21 years, the couple has given more than $23 million to support the institute.
The generous gifts from Williams and Walter have supported the institute’s critical work ensuring that laws and policies that affect LGBT people are based on facts and research, not stereotypes. Over the past two decades, the institute’s research has appeared in Supreme Court opinions from Lawrence to Obergefell; informed numerous laws, from bans on conversion therapy to nondiscrimination protections; and shed light on the lived experiences of LGBT people. And in the past two years, the institute has become a go-to resource for the Biden administration as the White House and federal agencies have issued policies supporting LGBT youth, advanced equity for LGBT people across government programs, and expanded data collection on LGBT populations.
Williams and Walter’s most recent gift will allow the institute to advance its mission and expand its reach for years to come.
UCLA LAW WELCOMES BACK IN-PERSON EVENTS
UCLA Law’s 20th Annual Law Firm Challenge
The 2022 Law Firm Challenge, an esteemed UCLA Law tradition, celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. Nearly 1,500 alumni at over 100 law firms across the country participated and continued an inspiring legacy of Bruin philanthropy. Overall, the challenge raised nearly $2 million dollars in support of UCLA Law scholarships
and programs.
Altogether, 65% of UCLA Law alumni in the 118 participating firms took this year’s Law Firm Challenge. 35 firms earned gold stars, meaning that more than half of the UCLA Law alumni partners at each firm made leadership gifts of $1,000 or more.
The School of Law is deeply grateful to the participating law firms and donors—particularly the leaders who spearheaded efforts at their individual firms. Their partnership in promoting the challenge, and encouraging the generosity of their alumni peers, is essential to the continued success of this campaign.
Thank you!
SUPER STAR FIRMS 2022
(100% participation & Gold Star Status)
Baker, Burton & Lundy, PC Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano Garrett & Tully Hoffman, Sabban & Smith Leopold, Petrich & Smith Maron & Sandler Milbank LLP Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, & Anello PC Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP The Cook Law Firm
GOLD STAR FIRMS 2021
Bird Marella Boxer Wolpert Nessim Drooks Lincenberg & Rhow LLP Clifford Chance US LLP Cooley LLP Covington & Burling LLP Danning Gill & Diamond LLP Davis, Polk & Wardwell LLP Duane Morris LLP Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP Fenwick & West LLP Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP Hogan Lovells LLP Hueston Hennigan LLP Larson LLP Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik LLP McDermott, Will & Emery LLP O’Neil LLP Osborn Maledon Paul Hastings LLP Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Shumener, Odson, & Oh LLP Squire Patton Boggs LLP Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Wilmerhale Ziffren Brittenham LLP
100% PARTICIPATION FIRMS
Brown, Moskowitz, & Kallen, P.C. Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, & Schrek LLP Cox, Castle, and Nicholson LLP Enenstein Pham & Glass Glaser Weil LLP Hirscheld Kraemer LLP Lewis Roca LLP Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips LLP Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, LLP O’Melveny & Myers LLP Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl, & Jones LLP Parsus LLP Polsinelli LLP
