On Tuesday, the Northwestern University School of Law declared in a press release that the school had received a gift of $10 million from Lanny and Sharon Martin, and that the gift “will provide support … for improving legal education and enhancing the student experience.” The gift is unrestricted by any further covenants.
This year, in March, Northwestern University School of Law had announced that it was reducing the incoming class size by 10 percent and was faced with the prospect of reduction of revenue. This unrestricted gift could help the school to combat negative financial effects of reducing its class size.
Dean Daniel Rodriguez said, “This extraordinary gift to our Law School will provide funding to enable us to implement our innovative strategies for improving legal education and enhancing the student experience at Northwestern Law School. At a time when the legal profession is changing in dynamic ways and in which law schools must rise to new challenges, philanthropic investments like this are essential to moving the law school forward and keeping our commitment to educational excellence at the highest level.”
Martin has been a member of Northwestern University’s Board of Trustees and the Law Board, and has been a consistently generous donor for the school. The school said Martin’s experiences at the intersection of law and business serve as an example of “the eclectic, entrepreneurial careers that Northwestern Law prepares students to undertake.”
The school also praised the fact of the gift being unrestricted. Rodriguez said, “We are thrilled about this unrestricted support of our Law School and are committed to using these funds responsibly and ambitiously to bring Northwestern Law to the highest level of excellence.”
Martin’s career ranges from that of lawyer to businessman, from using his knowledge of law for serving others to using his knowledge of law to serve his own businesses. He started his career as a law firm associate in Kirkland & Ellis and later became a partner and member of the executive and firm committees there. From 1987 to 2003, he served as CEO and president of NL Industries, Inc., a specialty chemical producer. He was also chairman and CEO of Titanium Metals Corporation, the world’s largest supplier of titanium. He currently remains managing director of his private equity firm while serving as a lead director of Halliburton, and holds major stakes in several other big companies.