ALI’s Second Century Campaign Receives $1 Million Gift
The American Law Institute is excited to announce the receipt of a $1 million gift from Victor E. Schwartz of Shook Hardy & Bacon, which will help ensure that ALI has the resources necessary for its next century of clarifying, modernizing, and otherwise improving the law.
“Although, I am not surprised that Victor made the ALI one of his philanthropic priorities, I am nonetheless overwhelmed by his generosity and extremely thankful that he saw fit to make this substantial contribution to ALI’s Second Century Campaign,” said ALI Director Richard L. Revesz. “Launched as part of our 100th Anniversary celebrations, the goal of the campaign is to secure the Institute’s future for the next century and beyond. Victor’s gift moves us one large step closer to our goal, and for that we couldn’t be more appreciative.” (Read the full list of campaign funding priorities.)
Gifts made to ALI’s Second Century Campaign will allow ALI to continue to focus on its Restatements, Principles, and Model Codes that have been identified as areas in need of clarification or reform, including re-examining areas of the law, such as tort law (now in its Third Restatement), a project on which Victor has been consistently involved. A life member of the Institute, Victor has participated on every portion of the Restatement Third of Torts, either as an Adviser or in the Members Consultative Group. Completed portions of this Restatement for which Victor served as an Adviser include Products Liability, Apportionment of Liability, Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm, and Liability for Economic Harm. He currently serves as an Adviser for two Restatement of the Law Third, Torts projects: Concluding Provisions and Remedies.
Prior to entering the full-time practice of law, he was a professor and dean at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He currently serves on the College of Law’s Board of Visitors. In 2012, the College established the Professor Victor E. Schwartz Chair in Tort Law. Victor is a frequent speaker at judicial education state and university programs. He continues to lecture to law students on tort law and how the court system interacts with the law. A co-author of the most widely used torts casebooks in the United States, Prosser, Wade and Schwartz’s Torts (14th ed. 2020), Victor continues to write law review articles on almost every major subject of modern tort and civil justice policy issues, which are frequently cited in state and federal courts. Victor recounted how he met Dean Wade through the ALI, “The ALI Membership provided a gateway me to meet and team up with Restatement of Torts Second Reporter and brilliant scholar, Dean John W. Wade. Dean Wade enlisted me, a young and not well-known professor, as the third co-author of Prosser, Wade & Schwartz’s Torts. Co-authoring that casebook opened many opportunities in my professional life.” (Visit our Donor Profiles page to read Victor’s full profile.)
Looking to ALI’s next 100 years, Victor expressed his hope “that it is a positive influence on the law and encourages respect for the law among persons who may not agree on its content.”
The American Law Institute is forever grateful to Victor for his years of service to the Institute and his unwavering generosity.
