LMU Loyola Law School’s Social Justice Law Clinic Receives a Pivotal Boost from Lifelong Philanthropists

LMU Loyola Law School (LLS) has received a transformative gift of $6.4 million, the bulk of which will support the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic (LSJLC), a collective of 20 live-client legal clinics dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic equity in service of communities whose members have historically been excluded from legal protections. The focused clinics include the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic (LIJC), the Loyola Project for the Innocent (LPI), the youth-focused clinics of the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy (CJLP), and the newly renamed Loyola Justice for Atrocities Clinic (LJAC).

The gift is a bequest from the estate of philanthropists Maurice and Lois Schwartz. Their family business, Pacific Smelting Company, was founded in Torrance, California, in 1943 and under Maurice's direction, became the largest secondary zinc smelter in the United States. The bulk of the Schwartzes' wealth, however, came from well-researched investments. "My grandfather was a champion of education and he lived what he preached," said granddaughter Jennifer Bandow. "He read numerous publications every day to keep up on the business world. He had an uncanny ability to see how an event in one industry would impact another and he was able to leverage that knowledge into some very lucrative investments."

Although the Schwartzes had a long history of giving to various causes, including a 1993 gift to help establish a chair of Jewish law and ethics at LLS, they were reticent about their wealth and rarely discussed their philanthropy. According to documents retrieved by Bandow and her father, David Schwartz, however, it appears that Maurice always had a strong connection to social justice issues: As CEO of Pacific Smelting, he pioneered a profit-sharing plan for all employees, instigated a generous annual scholarship program for graduates of Torrance high schools, enacted strong air pollution control measures as early as 1947, and supported a wide array of community activities and programs.

The Schwartzes' instinct to support equitable policy initiatives finds an apt home at the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic. In keeping with LLS' mission to educate "attorneys for and with others," the clinics strive to create a more humane, inclusive, and compassionate justice system by teaching advocacy skills that honor the inherent dignity of every client served. Their legal services benefit many Los Angeles communities, helping immigrants attain legal status, winning exoneration for wrongfully convicted prisoners, advocating on behalf of juveniles in the justice system, and helping renters deal with unscrupulous landlords, among many other types of cases.

Several years ago, LLS made the decision to unite all the different clinics under the banner of the LSJLC. This gave them many advantages, such as having a central office space and being able to pool their resources, fundraise as a group, offer joint services to clients, and provide students the opportunity to see how different fields of law intersect. Such a structure enables clinic staff to spend more time working on behalf of students and clients and less time tending to administrative tasks. It also boosts the clinics' long-term sustainability, allowing them to fundraise under a larger social justice umbrella while avoiding the vagaries of short-term philanthropic trends.

Elizabeth Bluestein, executive director of the LSJLC, said that a gift of this size enables the consortium to establish an endowment for the first time, which is critical for its long-term success. "Endowed funds create stability so that clinics can commit to serve clients for the long haul and also give students a deeper experience," she explained. "You think of youth justice cases where teenagers are going through multiple stages of a process and they need reliable counsel throughout. Endowed funds also enable us to dream bigger in terms of collaborations among the clinics. For example, how can we better advocate for clients who find themselves at the intersection of juvenile and immigrant justice cases?"

"Lack of financial resources should not be a barrier to justice," said Brietta Clark, incoming Fritz B. Burns Dean of LLS. "Our social justice legal clinics create multiple points of access for both students and clients, and our hope is that with this hands-on training under their belt, our attorneys will go on to help change the system for the better. Maurice and Lois Schwartz were clearly people for and with others, and I am grateful that they chose to affirm their values with this generous gift to the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic."

If you'd like to help LMU Loyola Law School fight for social justice and train attorneys who will advocate for and with others, you can make a gift here or contactKaitlyn Plummer, senior director of development, LMU Loyola Law School, at [email protected] or 310.338.4237.