Drexel University is changing the name of its law school and expanding its curriculum after receiving a $50 million donation from a Philadelphia trial attorney. The law school is now the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, named after Kline, a well-known plaintiff’s attorney and a member of the board of trustees of the university.
The donation included a former bank building that will become the home of the Thomas R. Kline Institute of Trial Advocacy. The building, previously the Beneficial Bank, is located at 12th and Chestnut streets, 2.3 miles away from the law school.
The new trial advocacy program will include new and improved J.D. courses and an LL.M. in trial advocacy, the school’s first graduate law program for U.S. attorneys. The new building, which has been appraised at $5 million, will house courtroom simulators and offices to better serve students.
“We are enhancing the number of J.D. courses and adding to them,” said Dean Roger Dennis. “We are doubling down and working with our students of the use of technology in law and some increased CLE [continuing legal education] work. The building will have courtrooms, conference rooms and the whole nine yards.”
The donation comes less than one year after the law school announced it was removing the prior benefactor’s name so that it could seek a new donor.
Drexel University had named the law school in 2008 after Earle Mack, a university alumnus and real estate mogul who had donated $15 million. Mack donated an additional $4 million in 2010.
The law school officially removed Mack’s name last December and said the philanthropist “graciously stepped aside as naming benefactor of Drexel’s law school.”
Kline’s donation is the largest in the University’s 123-year history.
Dennis said the donation and name change were finalized a few weeks ago, though the school had been in the process of seeking a new benefactor for nearly a year.
“I’m proud that our law school will be forever associated with Tom Kline,’ said Drexel University President John A. Fry. “His commitment to Drexel will carry great significance for lawyers across America.”
Fry said Kline’s gift will go towards three areas to improve the law school — general operating funds, enhancements to the current curriculum, and renovation of the new building.
The Beneficial Saving Fund Society Building was built in 1916, and designed by Horace Trumbauer, a noted Gilded Age Architect. Kline acquired the 24,000 square-foot building in 2012, but had no plans for it. He had worked across from the building for 15 years.
The building has been vacant for four years. At one point, it was suggested to be used as a pool hall, but the local community did not approve. The law school hopes to renovate and open the building by fall 2016.
The addition of the building will advance courtroom simulation opportunities as well as supporting the LL.M. program.
“There’s a debate about [transportation to the building],” Dennis said. “Tom [Kline] thinks we should walk which if you have your Fitbit on you is a good idea, but I’m the bicycling dean… Philadelphia is getting a bike share program next spring.”
Both the law school and new building are located directly next to subway stops, providing an additional transportation option for students.
Kline’s gift is the sixth largest gift ever received by an American law school.
James Rogers made donations to the University of Arizona that added up to more than $130 million, and led to that institution naming itself the James E. Rogers College of Law in 1999. One of the donations was for $80 million.
Thomas Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza and former owner of the Detroit Tigers, donated more than $100 million to Ave Maria School of Law through his Ave Maria Foundation.
The University of Washington School of Law received a $56.1 million gift last November from the estate of Jack MacDonald, a frugal alumnus.
Chapman University’s law school changed its name in 2013 after it received a $55 million donation from Dale E. Fowler, a real estate developer.
Marquette University Law School received a $51 million donation from Ray and Kay Eckstein that helped it build a new building that opened in 2010.
Other universities have also recently changed the name of their law school after receiving a large donation. University of Maryland received a $30 million donation from the W.P. Carey Foundation and changed its name to the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in 2011.
Indiana University School of Law — Indianapolis changed its name to the Robert H. McKinney School of Law in recognition of an alumnus who donated $24 million to the public school in 2011. With matching funds, the total value of the gift reached $31.5 million.
Hofstra University received a $20 million gift from a pharmaceutical tycoon a renamed the law school the Maurice A. Deane School of Law in 2011.
Kline is chair of the law school’s board of advisers and a member of the university’s board of trustees, as well as the father of an alumnus. Kline is co-founder and partner at personal injury firm Kline & Specter. He founded the firm in 1995 with partner Shanin Specter, son of the late U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. Super Lawyers has named Kline the no. 1 attorney in Pennsylvania for 11 consecutive years.Kline specializes in injury litigation and whistle-blower cases. He is known for representing one of the victims in the lawsuit against Jerry Sandusky, the Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach who has since been imprisoned under child molestation charges.
