Law School Raises $365 Million in Capital Campaign

Harvard Law School has raised $365 million for its capital campaign since its launch in 2015, according to Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82.

When the campaign publicly launched in 2015, the Law School had already raised $241 million of its $305 million goal. The Law School did not set a new goal after reaching its milestone earlier this year.

Manning said in an interview that the Law School will continue to solicit donations for the campaign—a portion of Harvard’s $8 billion University-wide effort—through the end of the school year.

“We’ve got until June 30th to continue to raise money and we will,” Manning said. “We will be trying.”

The effort is called “The Campaign for the Third Century,” referencing the fact that the Law School celebrates its 200th birthday this year.

The current campaign set a more modest goal than the school’s previous fundraising push—which launched in 2008 and raised $476 million to surpass a $400 million goal. When the “Third Century” campaign was launched in 2015, Steven Oliveira, the Law School’s dean for development and alumni relations, said the Law School wouldn’t be launching a campaign at that time if not for the University-wide effort. The relative recency of this previous campaign and fears of over-soliciting donations led to the current campaign’s tempered goals.

Manning also said that the Law School’s finances remain “on a good course” despite low returns on the University’s endowment in the past few years—Harvard’s endowment grew 8.1 percent in fiscal year 2017, placing it last among Ivy League endowments. He credited the Law School’s stability to former dean of the Law School Martha L. Minow’s financial management.

“I think my predecessor was a fiscally prudent and responsible steward of the institution,” Manning said.

—Staff writer Jamie D. Halper can be reached at jamie.halper@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @jamiedhalper.