Santa Clara University School of Law received a $250,000 gift to expand upon its Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) program from John B. Bates JD ’74 and his wife, Deni.
The funds will be used to increase programming, curricular offerings, and awards for the John B. Bates, Jr. Dispute Resolution Award, given in recognition of students’ coursework, publications, performance, and service related to the field of dispute resolution.
“Knowing how to mediate and learning the intricacies of arbitration are important tools for lawyers to have,” said John Bates, Jr. “Santa Clara Law School has a reputation for producing graduates comfortable practicing law. My hope is that our gift to promote ADR will help in this regard to enhance the skills of its students and to solidify the stature of the school.”
Acting President, Lisa Kloppenberg, notes, “John’s tremendous gift will inspire our students to study ADR and learn how to be more effective representatives for their clients’ interests. John has been an innovative leader in this field for decades and his commitment to our students becoming creative problem solvers is a wonderful, concrete legacy that will enhance the legal profession, our justice system and our democracy.”
After graduation from Santa Clara Law in 1974, John joined the Cooley firm in San Francisco, where he became a litigation partner. He began mediating as part of his litigation practice in the mid-1980s and ultimately decided to start the mediation and arbitration firm, JAMS, in 1990 which has now grown to a worldwide company with over 400 mediators and arbitrators. 2022 marks John’s 32nd year as a full time mediator, having conducted over 4,000 mediations.
“This generous gift will enable us to elevate the teaching of conflict resolution at Santa Clara Law as well as to promote scholarly research that will impact the field,” said Gary Spitko, Professor of Law. “Specifically, this funding will translate into a broader offering of conflict resolution courses for our students and the sponsorship of an annual workshop where nationally prominent scholars will debate current issues in conflict resolution.”
Dean Michael Kaufman remarked, “Building on his legacy as a pioneer in the field of alternative dispute resolution, our visionary alum, John Bates has given to our law school a wonderful gift that will enable us to advance our mission of imparting to our law students the knowledge, skills, and values that they need to effectuate the peaceful resolution of conflicts for generations to come. We could not be more grateful.”
To learn more about supporting programmatic or scholarship opportunities at Santa Clara Law, contact Ash Farrington, Director of Development, (408) 554-5496, afarrington@scu.edu.
