For many of you, the University of Oklahoma College of Law is where your story began. Your OU Law experience inspired you, guided you, and shaped you into who you are today.
An OU Law education is life-changing, not just for its students, but for all who benefit from a civil and just society. As one of our nation’s great public law schools, we must ensure that our mission is carried forward for the next generation of lawyers and leaders.
At OU Law, this is where anything is possible. And those possibilities begin with you.
Current Initiatives
OU Law Emergency Relief Fund
As with many of you, our students are struggling with the current
pandemic and financial concerns. To help alleviate their burdens, please
consider donating to the OU Law Emergency Relief Fund.
The Annual Fund
The Annual Fund, also known as the Julien C. Monnet Memorial
Fund, ensures that alumni dollars go to OU Law’s most pressing needs and
priorities. By supporting the Annual Fund, you help educate the next
generation of lawyers and leaders in an intellectually rigorous learning
environment that promotes diversity, service and collegiality. Gifts to
the Fund provide essential support and enable OU Law to:
- Enhance student activities and support student organizations
- Fund colloquia and seminars for students, faculty and alumni
- Support moot court competition teams
- Enhance the state-of-the-art facilities at OU Law
- Provide support for faculty
OU Law is dedicated to providing a dynamic, intellectual community as
its students incorporate their legal training in preparation for the
practice of law, judicial service and other leadership positions in
Oklahoma, the nation and the world. Your support to the Annual Fund is
critical to attaining this goal. No gift is too small. Every dollar
counts and every donor matters.
General Scholarship Fund
The OU College of Law provides a world-class legal education while being consistently recognized by National Jurist
magazine as a Best Value Law School. With 88% of OU Law students
currently receiving scholarships, the General Scholarship Fund is
critical to achieving our goal of providing a high quality but
affordable legal education. In 2016-2017, we awarded a record of more
than $1.3 million in scholarships to our deserving students. Help
continue this legacy by donating to the General Scholarship Fund.
Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Chair in Civil Rights, Race and Justice in Law
Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher was a leading activist, attorney and educator
who fought to become the first African American student admitted to OU
Law in 1949. Her landmark case opened higher education to African
American students in the state of Oklahoma and paved the way for
national desegregation. In honor of the 70th anniversary of her law
school admission, the College of Law began an initiative in September
2019 to establish an endowed fund in the Foundation to accept
contributions from multiple donors with the goal of creating an endowed
chair, one of the highest faculty distinctions at OU, to honor Dr.
Fisher and ensure that the study of civil rights, race and justice is an
integral part of the OU College of Law into perpetuity.
Through a transformational gift of $910,000 from an anonymous donor,
alongside the collective efforts of nearly 80 supporters, OU Law has
established a chair in September 2020 to honor Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher’s
legacy. The Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Chair in Civil Rights, Race, and
Justice in Law will focus on teaching and research in these areas, and
will support empowering future OU lawyers who also seek legal reform. To
further support this vision, the anonymous donor has pledged to match
up to $90,000 for continuing donations to the fund.
The chair will be used to elevate an existing or prospective faculty
member to the highest academic award available to a professor. The honor
will be awarded to a professor who demonstrates an established interest
and deep knowledge of civil rights law and who will teach and conduct
research primarily in the areas of civil rights law, election law, race
and the law, antidiscrimination law, or critical race theory.
Center for International Business and Human Rights
The University of Oklahoma College of Law has established the first
International Business and Human Rights Center at a U.S. law school.
U.S. businesses often find themselves in difficult operating
environments abroad that have significant human rights problems. At the
same time, the U.S. government expects companies to respect human rights
in line with international standards. Many companies now have human
rights policies and frequently expect their lawyers to implement such
policies. These expectations require leadership by the legal community.
The Center's mission is: 1) to provide students with training,
networking, and practical experience in this emerging field to be
leaders in this space, and 2) to provide academic think tank support on
these issues, with a particular focus on the energy/extractive sector
and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies.
The Center is grateful for those who believe in its mission and have helped make it possible.
J. Michael Nordin Scholarship Fund
Established by McAfee & Taft and other donors to honor the memory of
J. Michael Nordin, 1957-2019. Nordin was a beloved partner of McAfee
& Taft, joining the practice in 1982 after earning his Juris Doctor
from the College. Through his 37-year career with the firm, he developed
extensive expertise in a broad range of complex business transactions,
including real estate and healthcare transactions, and served at various
times as the firm’s leader of its Business Transactions and Finance
Group, Real Estate Group, Healthcare Group, and Opinions Committee. He
was a Fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys and was
included in The Best Lawyers in America and Oklahoma Super Lawyers
organizations. Recipients of the scholarship must express an interest in
real estate and/or business/corporate transactional work.
ONE and Complex Litigation Fund
The fund may be used to support OU Law’s concentration in oil, gas,
natural resources, and energy and related support for civil procedure in
the College. Support may include, but is not limited to, student
scholarships, recruiting scholarships for those with an interest in
these areas, research, and travel for students and professors in
relation to these areas.
Judge Charles L. "Buzz" Goodwin Endowed Scholarship Fund
The namesake gift was made in memory of the Honorable Charles “Buzz”
Goodwin, a graduate of the OU College of Law who spent 24 years in
western Oklahoma as a district judge.
“Throughout his career, Judge Goodwin was widely respected for his
earnest commitment to advancing justice and serving his community,” said
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “This scholarship established in his
honor is a testament to his character and ensures that his legacy will
continue to inspire future generations of law students.”
The scholarship endowment agreement allows the OU College of Law dean
and the college’s scholarship selection committee to determine each
year how best to use the funds, which could include recruitment, reward,
financial need or some other individual student need. Priority
consideration will be given to students from Judge Goodwin’s judicial
district, including Ellis, Roger Mills, Beckham, Washita, Harmon, Greer
and Custer counties. Additionally, priority consideration will be given
to students who express a desire to practice in Western Oklahoma.
Goodwin worked to support and advance the justice system, serving as a
practicing lawyer for 24 years and then, as district judge for 24 years
from 1986 to 2010. During that time, he also served as a mentor to many
other lawyers and judges. It is hoped that others who benefited from his
counsel and friendship will contribute to the scholarship, thereby
serving even more Western Oklahoma student beneficiaries. Judge Goodwin
revered the United States Constitution and the men and women of the bar
who spend their careers working for the fair and just administration of
the law. As a judge and peer, he earned the affection and acclaim of
lawyers across the state.
Reid Robison Endowed Scholarship
Reid Robison, a retired partner with McAfee & Taft and a highly
accomplished trial lawyer known for his consummate professionalism and
commanding presence in the courtroom handling high-stakes litigation,
passed away on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, at the age of 76. Reid
graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1966 and went on to earn
his law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law two years
later. He fell in love with the practice of law and the challenge and
excitement of the courtroom while serving as a captain in the U.S. Air
Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps for more than 3 years. Immediately
after completing his military service, he joined McAfee & Taft,
where he would spend the next 48 years building a reputation as a
preeminent trial lawyer. Within a week of joining McAfee & Taft as a
young associate, he tried his very first case, defending a client
against environmental contamination charges brought by a sympathetic
plaintiff with the hometown advantage and three lawyers to represent
him. At the outset of the trial, even the judge thought Reid was
outmatched. He wasn’t. He won. Over the course of his career with the
firm, his cases got bigger — much, much bigger — and his reputation
grew. Reid is remembered as the firm’s “litigation racehorse,” a
bet-the-company lawyer who attracted more and more cases with each
successive win in courtrooms nationwide.
This fund is to be used for scholarships designed to honor and retain
2L and 3L students at the College of Law who demonstrate an interest in
litigation in honor of Reid Robison.