“We are grateful to Briggs and Morgan, our alumni at the firm, and to Xcel Energy,” said Eric S. Janus, president and dean of William Mitchell.  “Their generosity will enable us to expand our teaching and outreach in these growing and critical fields which are of concern to all of us.”

With an endowment of about $1 million, the new chair was recently awarded to Professor Mehmet Konar-Steenberg.  Konar-Steenberg joined Mitchell in 2006 after serving as a Minnesota assistant attorney general and as an associate at Greene Espel PLLP.  He has advised state environmental agencies and has written extensively on public policy, interstate commerce, and regulatory issues.

Mitchell has held successful conferences over the past three years on carbon management, energy and environmental law issues which have attracted national speakers.  The conferences explore emerging issues in these fields, and feature experts from state and federal government, environmental advocates, regional and national practitioners, and industry leaders. The endowed position will help strengthen Mitchell’s curriculum in energy and environmental law and policy, and regulatory practice and theory, and provide programming, such as these annual conferences, for practitioners and policymakers in energy and environmental regulation.

Briggs and Morgan is one of Minnesota’s largest law firms and serves a wide range of national and international clients including utilities, transportation service providers, governmental agencies, public bodies and energy companies.  The firm employs 185 attorneys, with more than 40 Mitchell graduates.  Mitchell graduates at the firm pledged or gave $150,000 in addition to the firm’s gift, making it the largest contribution by Mitchell alumni at one firm.

Xcel Energy, a leading U.S. electricity and natural gas company with operations in eight western and mid-western states, created an endowment at Mitchell in 1985 to support Mitchell’s work in regulatory policy.  That endowment was combined with its new gift and that of Briggs and Morgan to create the chair in energy and environmental law.  The company also has collaborated with Mitchell on its annual energy and environmental law conference.

The endowed chair is the sixth created at Mitchell since 2010, bringing the college’s total endowed positions to nine. It is also the latest example of how Mitchell, Briggs and Morgan, and Xcel Energy are working together to help students and practitioners develop a better understanding of energy and environmental regulation and policy.

William Mitchell College of Law was established in 1900. Its alumni are leaders in the state’s top law firms, the judiciary, government and public service sectors, and in the general counsel offices of many Fortune 500 companies.

Helen Meyer and Bill Bieber

The Justice Helen M. Meyer Chair in Child Protection is dedicated to advancing the protection and best outcomes for children and families in the legal system. In addition to the gift, Justice Meyer and Bill Bieber have created a matching fund of $500,000 for additional gifts to the chair.

“William Mitchell is now in a unique position to take a leadership role in teaching, interdisciplinary research, policy and legal system reform for the protection and well-being of our children,” said President and Dean Eric Janus, “and I am deeply grateful for Justice Meyer’s and Bill Bieber’s vision and commitment.  I have seen the powerful influence of faculty who, when they have the resources, are able to increase awareness and understanding of societal needs and bring together the broader community to begin to address them.”

The endowed chair is one of only a few in the country dedicated to creating a legal system that protects and facilitates the well-being of vulnerable children.

The ultimate goal of the gift, according to Justice Meyer, is to help children by strengthening families.  “Resolving problems and keeping families together helps children, it helps society, and it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “We need to take what we know about kids and families and then develop best practices for lawyers, lawmakers, and judges. The bottom line is that we want the best advocates, well-trained and equipped, who can help parents resolve the problems that brought them into the courts in the first place.”

Since graduating from Mitchell in 1983, Justice Meyer has dedicated much of her personal and professional life to advancing child protection. During her 10 years of service on the Minnesota Supreme Court, she served as chair of the Minnesota Judicial Council’s Workgroup on Legal Representation of Parents in Child Protection Cases and as the court’s liaison to the Judicial Branch’s Children’s Justice Initiative. In 2010, she and Bieber created the Child Protection Clinic at William Mitchell, which is aimed at training law school students to effectively represent parents in the courts and child protection system.

The Justice Helen M. Meyer Chair in Child Protection has been awarded to Nancy Ver Steegh, Mitchell’s Associate Dean for Academic Programs, who will continue her work to advance needed reforms in the courts and in public policy as well as promote best practices that benefit children at risk because of abuse, neglect or other adversity. Ver Steegh joined Mitchell in 2002 after working extensively on behalf of children and families. After earning her J.D. and M.S.W. degrees, she worked as a legal aid attorney concentrating on law reform in the areas of child protection, domestic violence, housing, and public benefits. Her publications and current work focus on national efforts to enhance court system response in cases where children are exposed to abuse.

The new chair will expand Mitchell’s work in child protection.  Through a gift from Jeff ’75 and Julie Anderson, Mitchell entered into a partnership this year with the National Child Protection Training Center (NCPTC), Winona, Minn.  A number of conferences for practicing professionals and law students are planned, including a conference early next year on the public policy of effective child abuse prevention.  Thanks to the leadership of Justice Meyer, Mitchell also has created a child protection clinic which is training students to represent parents and working to help families stay together.

William Mitchell College of Law is the largest law school in Minnesota, enrolling about 900 students from 38 states and 27 countries. Established in 1900, its alumni are leaders in the state’s top law firms, the judiciary, government and public service sectors, and in the general counsel offices of many Fortune 500 companies.

Even so, Baker’s lifelong belief in the power of education and how it can transform a life and a career, compelled him to enroll at William Mitchell College of Law in 1999. He worked as  vice president of research at Samsung Information Systems of America during the day, and attended law school at night.

For Baker, the experience was like no other.

“They were some of the best years of my life so far,” Baker says of his time at Mitchell. “I remember being able to go to class every night and thinking of it as a mini mental vacation. For me, law school was almost a recreational activity, both intellectually challenging and mentally relaxing. It was a high point of my educational “career” to go to law school at William Mitchell.”

His wife, Lana Perkins, agrees. She jokes that Baker looked like a kid in the candy story every time he headed off to class.

Baker, who has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and is named as an inventor on 76 issued U.S. patents, was so impressed with his experience at Mitchell he wanted to give something back to the school. First, he volunteered his time. Ever since graduating from law school, he’s coached Mitchell’s IP moot court teams. He also developed and co-teaches Mitchell’s IP appellate practice course.

Baker and Perkins then decided to give back to Mitchell financially, after discussing their retirement goals, their daughter’s best interests, and their legacies. Through their yearly financial gifts and an estate gift, Baker and Perkins established the Baker Intellectual Property Law Scholarship in honor of Baker’s mother and father, which is awarded to a top student who attends William Mitchell part time, is interested in intellectual property law, and, preferably, has honorably served in the U.S. military. Baker is senior intellectual property council at 3M Company, which matches his annual donations with a donation to Mitchell’s Annual Fund. Baker and Perkins have structured their estate plan so that the bulk of Baker’s retirement plan will eventually permanently endow the scholarship.

“Everybody wants to leave some kind of legacy,” Baker says. “For me the legacy I want to leave is the student legacy, law students whose lives I have touched in a positive way.” At the end of my career, whenever that happens, I want to be able to look back and see hundreds of young attorneys that I’ve helped to become better attorneys through my teaching, or my coaching, or through the Baker IP Law Scholarship.”

Attending William Mitchell transformed Baker’s career and life. Now through his scholarship and volunteer work at Mitchell, he’s helping others experience that same transformation.

Please join in the long tradition of alumni support that has meant so much to so many Mitchell students, yesterday and today.

If we use the full $10,000 challenge grant, we’ll quickly raise $20,000 to fund scholarships and other vital programs at Mitchell. That’s meaningful support that will make a major impact for deserving students. But it won’t happen without your help.

Making an online gift is easy and fast. Please take few moments and give now.

Students, faculty, alumni, and the community will benefit from a Leadership Gift to William Mitchell College of Law

William Mitchell College of Law received one of the largest gifts ever made to the college from Stephen B. ’72 and Lisa S. Bonner. The gift will help the law school recruit outstanding students and advance its excellence and innovation in legal education.

Judge Edward Devitt

The late Judge Edward J. Devitt served on the U.S. District Court from 1954 to 1981 and was one of the most respected and influential judges in the nation. Throughout his distinguished career, he established himself as an arbiter committed to improving the administration of justice, advancing the rule of law, and bettering society as a whole.

He was also one of Mitchell’s most ardent supporters.

“Many law schools—most in fact—just don’t do well in making available to students or in teaching, trial advocacy and practical skills courses,” Devitt once said. “They do well in imparting the principles and theory and philosophy of the law, but are not disposed to teach the utilitarian tools so essential to practicing the law. This certainly is not true of Mitchell …. Lamentably, I have only an honorary law degree from Mitchell. Perhaps I would be a better lawyer and judge if I also had the real thing.”

Eric Tostrud

In addition to serving as an adjunct professor at Mitchell, Devitt mentored and hired many Mitchell graduates as law clerks, including Eric Tostrud ’90, a partner with Lockridge Grindal Nauen. Tostrud so valued the opportunities and knowledge that Devitt shared with him that he recently created the Judge Edward J. Devitt Professorship, which will be awarded to a Mitchell professor who reflects or promotes the high standards of professionalism and ethics that characterized Judge Devitt’s 37 years on the federal bench.

Diane Dube ’82, resident adjunct professor and director of Mitchell’s Community Development Clinic, works with students to improve the quality of life for St. Paul’s residents.

William Mitchell is ranked among the top U.S. law schools in public service law. Every year, students provide more than 15,000 of hours of pro bono and public service work to individuals, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses.

Faegre & Benson has been a continuing supporter of Mitchell’s public service programs, and it recently made a significant gift to its Faegre & Benson Public Service Endowment. The endowment was set up at the college in 2001, and the firm recently made another $250,000 commitment, which will help the law school expand volunteer opportunities for students.

“I am proud of our long-standing commitment to public service, and I am grateful for the additional support Faegre is providing to our public service program,” said Eric Janus, William Mitchell’s president and dean. In addition, Faegre & Benson and its Foundation have partnered with Mitchell to host an event at the college featuring Esther Lardent, president of the Pro Bono Institute at the Georgetown University Law Center and a leading expert on public service. Lardent will speak on the future of pro bono work Tuesday, April 26

Susan and Louis Ainsworth

For decades, Louis Ainsworth ’77 was immersed in law and business, most recently as senior vice president and general counsel for Pentair, a large local industrial manufacturing company. His work went well beyond the law; he was involved in nearly every aspect of the company’s strategic transactions and significant operational issues.

He values his Mitchell education, which he credits with his success in law and business. Ainsworth is also one of a long list of graduates who leveraged their law school experience in the business world. He and his wife Susan now are helping ensure that others will have the opportunity to do the same. The Ainsworths recently provided critical seed funding to help launch the Center for Law and Business, an innovative new program at Mitchell, and to help the college invest in other strategic initiatives. The Center for Law and Business is helping students enhance their legal educations by taking business courses focused on everything from finance to entrepreneurship to marketing. Ainsworth is currently developing a mergers and acquisitions course for Mitchell, which he’ll teach with Professor Thuy Vo during the 2011-2012 school year.

Larry Bell with Professor Mike Steenson at a Minneapolis Club gathering to celebrate recent gifts and the people who made them.

The William Mitchell Law Review holds a special place in the heart of Larry Bell ’79. The recently retired general counsel and secretary of Ecolab helped lead the law review in 1977 and 1978. It taught him to think critically, he says, write clearly, and to appreciate the value of an engaged and committed advisor. Professor Mike Steenson is one such advisor. He started the law review in 1974 and has served as its advisor ever since. Bell and Steenson worked with the rest of the editorial staff, reading submissions, editing, and crafting two volumes of what has become one of most respected law reviews in the country.

The experience was so rewarding for Bell, a current member of Mitchell board of trustees, that he and his wife, Chris, recently created the Bell Distinguished Professorship to support the professor who serves as the William Mitchell Law Review advisor. “It feels great to be able to give back to Mitchell and the law review in this way,” Bell says, “and we’re hoping it provides an example to others whose lives also have been so positively shaped by this college.”